Annelisa Stephan’s Bio
My interview was with Annelisa Stephan of The Getty in L.A. California. Stephan has been at the Getty since 2004, where she has held numerous jobs writing and crafting stories for the Gettys social media. In 2014 she became the Getty’s Manager for Digital Engagement. In her new position she has taken her writing and story telling skills to a whole new level of creative engagement. According to Stephan’s linked in page she leads and manages: 1.Content strategy for audience-engagement projects involving social media, blogging, video, and apps. 2.Manages digital media team including the Getty’s only dedicated full-time videographer. 3.Serves as social media editor-in-chief and guide on policy, strategy, and editorial questions. 4.Leads editorial for institutional digital brand guidelines.
The Interview
My interview with Annelisa Stephan was just great! She is a very knowledgeable and kind person who has taken the breadth of her interests, talents and professional experiences to help create an image for the Getty’s online community through social media engagement. The interview highlighted a few key points that helps exemplify our class assignments; thereby, guiding my understanding of a “real world” view of what it takes to create a successful and meaningful social media experience. I would like to share with you today a few valuable takeaways that will surely enrich our understanding of the impact of social media in museum.
Working in Social Media?!
The questions we have been all thinking and are too afraid to ask…
Is it a place for me? What if I don’t have a background in it?
With these thoughts and questions in mind I thought it would be very useful to understand Annelisa’s background and how she has applied it to her work as a Manager for Digital Engagement.
Annelisa, shared with me that her education was in Art History and in Linguistics. Her background of words, language, and images seems to have created the perfect marriage for her said skills to meet her passion of: creating stories. Story telling as a form of communication with in museum learning is a wonderful way to create a meaningful museum experience. With in the world of social media Annelisa can apply her story telling passions by creating a ‘character’ with in the Getty’s content of posts, responses and clever wit of conveying said messages.
In conclusion as new museum professionals our passions, education and skills are all things that can be integrated with in social media for a museum.
Engaging Audiences With Social Media
How do they do that!!?
The Getty is a huge museum and has many different facets encompassing the institution. The museum uses multiple platforms for engaging their audiences such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest and the Getty’s blog the Iris.
After speaking with Annelisa it has become clear that audience engagement, for the Getty, is about putting the audiences needs, likes, and wants first even before that of the museum’s. With this in mind Annelisa makes it very clear that social media is a tool for the audience and the Getty is to help their online community flourish with in their learning endeavors. The Getty uses various interpretative strategies with in there approach such as Connecting People to People through their blog and participating in events like #AskACurator day.
In conclusion, the museum is able to communicate with such a vast online audience through a thoughtful unique approach that serves their online community through having a unified voice and staffing people round the clock to meet said needs.
To find out more please listen to Annelisa Stephan’s interview here!
Questions List
1. I would like to learn a little bit more about you and your background. What type of work did you do before you worked at the Getty? Do you feel your experiences have led to your success in the Social Media arena?
2. Let’s talk platforms: The Getty uses
Which platforms do you think are the most successful?
Do you think each platform serves a different purpose?
What type of content do you use on social media and is it the same for each individual platform?
3. Let’s talk little bit about audience engagement!
How do you engage your audience at the Getty? What Interpretive strategies do you employ? Ie: “Connecting people to People”
4. How do you handle the challenge of the Getty’s various other branches? ( “The Getty” and then there’s the Museum, the Foundation, the Research Institute, Conservation, etc.). How do your efforts for the Museum dovetail, complement, or compete with those other voices? What are the pros and cons for an institution that takes the approach the Getty has chosen to take?
5. What was your most successful social media project / campaign? And why?
6. I feel that you have a very important job of acting as the voice for the Getty. Through social media you have the chance to reach, inspire and communicate art to people around the world…
Do you have advice for others: who seek to create a creative and inspiring image for a museum?