Maximum Exposure

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Connecting with the Ryerson Community: Facebook for Maximum Exposure

When we initially began looking at Maximum Exposure and its social networking platforms we discovered that there were two Maximum Exposure accounts: a person and a Page. At the time the personal account had 1493 friends and more consistent posting. Alternatively, the page had 357 Facebook users who liked it with a 5 star rating from 6 reviews of previous Maximum Exposure events. 7 people had also used the geotagging tool to say they had visited those aforementioned exhibits. Unfortunately, the last post had been from Sept. 29, 2015 -- a change in the profile pic -- showing that this page was inconsistent and under utilized.

We had determined that Maximum Exposure only needed one account, and despite requiring to add “friends” back, the personal page was the better one to keep as it already had such a high number of friends. We also deemed that Maximum Exposure must engage users by posting more often and potentially having a weekly draw or AMA with featured artists. Maximum Exposure needs more traffic on this platform, and this platform actually allows Maximum Exposure to use text and photo, as well as share interesting links or create events. As such, this is the social platform to focus on. It requires good, consistent content that will continue to generate dialogue. One more thing Maximum Exposure’s personal account should consider is creating a more public account. We want users to Request Friends with Maximum Exposure, however, we also want them to see a bit of the content. Just enough to get them to click that button.

Since our initial proposal Maximum Exposure has implemented a weekly post about art events in the city. This post will happen on Thursdays. This type of scheduled posting will generate buzz amongst the art community at Ryerson, and eventually will create new followers (or Facebook friends, as we hope that Maximum Exposure keeps the personal account, and deletes the page account).

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Engaging Beyond the Ryerson Community: Instagram for Maximum Exposure

As Maximum Exposure is the Ryerson School of Image Arts annual end-of-year exhibition, it is very image based. Instagram becomes the second most important social platform for the event to utilize. The very nature of Instagram allows the Social Content Manager to post images that will entice students, faculty and the general public to come visit the exhibit.

When we took a look at Maximum Exposure’s Instagram account we noticed that the account manager was moving towards consistent posting. Unfortunately, after each annual event ends, it seems that there was a distinct lack of posts, until the following campaign began. A proper schedule needs to be implemented so that the account doesn’t lose followers along the way. Another issue we noticed was that the account name changes each year. For example, the username was changed to @MaxEx2016 this year. This creates a lot of discontinuity for the account and any users who are trying to interact with this account. We have suggested that Maximum Exposure use one account name, such as @MaxEx (or something along those lines) and instead create a new hashtag each year. This year’s hashtag would be #maxex2016. This would allow users to locate specific posts. We also believe that artists who will be on exhibit should use the correct hashtag for any relevant work or posts, thus promoting the hashtag further. This platform can also be used to showcase feature artists, town meetings and bake sales, as well as advertisements.

Since our proposal, Maximum Exposure has taken our ideas into account and created a holiday feature leading into the new year, 12 days of Artists. Any social media or networking platform is to further Maximum Exposure’s brand marketing. We want the changing of content managers to be imperceptible to the followers, which it hasn’t been thus far. By implementing different marketing campaigns throughout the year, the new content managers already know what type of strategies they need to use to continue pleasing an already strong follower base. Holiday marketing is the perfect way to create buzz for the upcoming event. It also keeps the posting consistent. We hope that Maximum Exposure continues to use this image based platform to its full potential, by using art events they will be sharing on Facebook, and sharing posts on this platform from those events. This will create a conversation between the two platforms, without posting the same content on both.

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Understanding Social Media: Twitter for Maximum Exposure

This is the most under utilized social platform that Maximum Exposure is on. They currently have a decent follower base of 447 users. However, the tweets were very inconsistent. There was no schedule to speak of, and the tweets themselves were erratic. The content manager did not seem to understand the platform because tweets were in all caps (as if being shouted) or in a letter format (Dear so-and-so). As Maximum Exposure is an exhibit that focuses on image, it might be better for them to forget Twitter altogether. However, Twitter could be used successfully. In order to do so, the content manager needs to understand how Twitter works. This platform is about direct communication. As such, the same information should not be repeated amongst all the platforms that Maximum Exposure uses. Instead, specific dates and times or relevant things happening within the Ryerson community and beyond that, within in the city, should be shared here. It should be a platform users go to ask specific questions. They should also be able to find links to relevant articles or artist features through this platform.

Unfortunately, there have been no changes to this platform since we shared our proposal. We maintain that Twitter could be a useful tool for Maximum Exposure, however, we feel that eliminating Twitter and focusing on creating better content for Facebook and Instagram would be a better marketing strategy for the exhibit. Ultimately, we want to see Maximum Exposure become a brand, as opposed to individual events using existing accounts on social networking platforms. This exhibit has been ongoing for twenty-one years, and it would be best to streamline the management of social content going into the future.

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Maximum Exposure 2016 and Beyond

Maximum Exposure is a successful event, as evidenced by its long history. However, we want to help this event become a brand, and continue to garner success in the future by learning to market this brand across several social platforms. In order to do this, Maximum Exposure needs to have a content manager who understands what types of information should be shared on each platform and get those platforms to converse with each other. If that’s too much for one person to handle, then there should be a content manager for each platform. The different accounts (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) should not be posting the same information. Instead, if Facebook is used to share an art event happening in the week, then Twitter should post a reminder the day of the event, and Instagram should post an image from the event. This way, all three platforms are posting unique content that converse with each other. There also needs to be consistent and interesting content being posted on a schedule. Lack of consistency will breed boredom and disregard from the current followers and as a brand, Maximum Exposure does not want to lose followers, but gain new ones.

Once these two things happen (focused content per platform and consistent posting), it will be easier for Maximum Exposure to continue as a brand in the future. Future content managers will already have an understanding of how each platform is handled. They will have a schedule and certain marketing strategies (such as holiday marketing) in place to follow. To ensure continuity into the future Maximum Exposure also needs to ensure that all account names are the same (or as similar as they can be) and do not get changed annually. Instead, to group annual events, there should be promoted hashtags.

All these simple and easy strategies will help take Maximum Exposure beyond Ryerson and Toronto and expose the event, the school, the city and most of all the artists to the world. We want Maximum Exposure to garner maximum exposure, and social media is such a brilliant way to do that, if used properly.