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Hi Tony,

In this case “success” to me meant a few different things:

1. The number of images posted: you can’t control that and had the Instagramers not been that bothered, they wouldn’t have posted anything.
2. The quality of images: this was expected, but it was still a joy to see and we have been able to use some of the images since in different ways online.
3. Their perspective: seeing your museum in a different and unique way and understanding how pro/amateur photographers see it was fascinating and useful, especially in a purely creative context (as opposed to standard press images, etc.). They took and shared images in a style that we perhaps couldn’t or just hadn’t thought of yet.
4. The reach of the Instagramers: their followers consisted of many, many people who would likely be interested in Wellcome Collection, but who may not be aware of the museum, so it was great for reaching those audiences as well as raising our profile on Instagram (we’d only been on there for about a year at this point).
5. Their feedback: we gave them coffee and breakfast, which they hadn’t received at the previous “emptys”. We also gave them more freedom; they were more restricted in other museums. Making those connections was great and the way we did it helped our reputation (we’ve had the Instagramers in since).
6. It was very cheap
7. Nothing got broken
8. They photographers didn’t think we were lame :D

This was done as a fun, dynamic thing, to try something a bit different. It didn’t replace the Press view for example. As an aside, Wellcome Collection also organises Instagram meetups with members of the public. I think there’s huge value in doing something special with an elite set of pro-Instagramers, using their skills and large followings in a mutually beneficial way. But it’s also important to offer similar opportunities to everyone else. When I still worked there, I organised 45 members of the public to come in before we opened for breakfast, a tour and then a photo walk. I believe this happened again just after I left. Both tied into photo projects we were running as part of temporary exhibitions. Some of the above points can be achieved using members of the public, but some of them need “influencers” and their audiences (whether that’s in terms of volume or demographic) so it’s good to do both if you can.

I hope that’s somewhat useful. It was a couple of years ago now…

(



On 01/08/2017, 11:56, "Museums Computer Group on behalf of Tony Crockford" <[log in to unmask] on behalf of [log in to unmask]> wrote:

    > On 1 Aug 2017, at 11:32, Russell Dornan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
    > 
    > Hi Christina,
    >  
    > Following on from Helen’s mention of the “empty” style event, you can read about Wellcome’s one here:https://next.wellcomecollection.org/articles/emptywellcome
    >  
    > It was fun, easy and successful ☺
    >  
    > Russell
    
    Can I ask, out of curiosity, how you measured successful?
    
    i.e.
    
    a spike in paying visitors?
    a spike in Website visitors, attributed to instagram image sources?
    
    some other metric?
    
    (or nothing got broken [1] and the instagrammers didn't eat too much?)
    
    
    Would it have been *as* successful or *more/less* successful if you'd invited a random group of people by offering free passes on Twitter?
    
    Is it cheaper than inviting 'the press' ?
    
    Again, just curious from an influencer point of view.
    
    :o)
    
    
    [1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/14/selfie-woman-causes-200000-dollar-damage-artworks-la-gallery
    
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