Including... 3D selfies, practical guidance for Mailchimp users and marketing data benchmarks.
Welcome back to The Digital Snapshot, a fortnightly round-up of all the news, innovation and new ideas in the world of digital, as relevant to the arts, culture, museums and heritage sectors.
Before we start we want to make you aware of a new report that I hope will provide you with some food for thought. The Audience Agency was commissioned by Arts Council England to conduct research into how Creative People and Places teams are using digital - whether for marketing, collaboration, participation or as part of the artistic programme. You can download the resulting report here. Of course, we're biased but we think there are some interesting findings and conclusions in here, in particular about the potential of the Creative People and Places model of collaboration to help mitigate issues around digital exclusion.
This issue of Digital Snapshot is a little shorter than usual but as ever we hope you find it useful. REMEMBER: The Audience Agency can help you with your digital research and consultancy projects and/or training needs - please do get in touch.
News & Updates
- Facebook has some new video tools. If you've been using Facebook Live, in particular, you'll want to have a read of this announcement. And you can schedule Instagram content through Facebook Creator Studio.
- Because we all love selfies so much...Snapchat now has the option (as long as you have an iphone X or newer) to create 3D selfies.
Useful & Bookmarkable
- Lots of email marketing data benchmarks, including by industry.
- A couple of really good guides about email marketing accessibility, with tips and best practice guidance from Mailchimp and Campaign Monitor.
- New regulations mean that public sector websites will soon have to meet certain accessibility standards. As a result .gov has published some useful advice, which although aimed at public bodies, is still relevant to arts & culture organisations.
- A brilliant practical guide to dealing with online trolls, published by the newly launched CCDH: Center for Countering Digital Hate.
Inspiration, Ideas, Entertainment
- If you're ever seeking inspiration for your email newsletters, Email Love is one to bookmark.
- I'm quite often asked for examples of 'good' Instagram accounts, here are a few I like: Scottish Ballet for the carefully curated, beautiful style. Wellcome Collection for the brilliant way they use Instagram to showcase their collections. Cold at Night, for stunning images with a consistent, aspirational style. (If you have examples of your favourite cultural Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or YouTube accounts, do send them my way).
Good Reads
- "Teens care about the news, they just don't like traditional media". An informative read from Teen Vogue about how teens are using Instagram to curate the news.
- All the negative stories around social media's recent role in politics and the impact of big tech has led to talk of a 'tech backlash' but this author thinks that the evidence suggests we love our devices more than ever.
That's all for this issue. You can find our past editions here. If you have been working on any interesting digital projects that you can share, please do let me know. You can find me or The Audience Agency on Twitter.
Need some help with Digital?
The Audience Agency can help you get the most out of your digital activity, taking an audience-centric approach, focusing on the needs of the audience, rather than the technical features or functions of different channels.
Improve your digital platforms and tactics
The Digital Snapshot newsletter shares the latest, most important news from the social media and digital world - as relevant to the arts, culture and heritage sectors.