Museum Social Media
Industry
Social Media Marketing
Date
May 2025
Livingston County Historical Society, a nonprofit museum in Geneseo, NY, reached out for help developing a stronger digital presence. Run primarily by volunteers with limited marketing experience, the museum wanted to better connect with both its loyal community and a newer demographic, especially students at the nearby SUNY Geneseo. Our team was tasked with evaluating their current social media efforts and crafting a strategy that would help them grow and engage their audience online.
To guide our work, we created three user personas based on the museum’s audience goals. These included a current supporter who engages with the museum through Facebook, a college student who prefers Instagram and visual storytelling, and a third persona representing the volunteers or staff who would be implementing our strategy. These personas allowed us to create content recommendations that balanced the needs of the museum’s existing followers with the preferences of the new audience they hoped to attract.
We identified several pain points in the museum’s current digital communication, including inconsistent branding, a lack of clear audience targeting, and limited tools and time for content creation. Our team addressed these challenges over the course of two agile sprints, working iteratively to refine our deliverables based on feedback and evolving goals. I played a key role in developing the post pillars (content categories) and specific post types the museum could use regularly to drive engagement and stay consistent. I also led the creation of a clear brand voice, along with defining colors and typography to guide the look and feel of all social media posts. These design and strategy foundations made it easier for the museum’s volunteer-run team to produce cohesive, on-brand content without needing professional marketing expertise.
To ensure our recommendations were effective, we conducted A/B testing with users who resembled the museum’s target audiences. These testers reviewed various post styles and messaging formats, and their feedback helped us select the most effective combinations to include in the final strategy. We delivered a detailed social media strategy PDF, ready-to-use Instagram and Facebook templates, and an email opt-in message that the museum could send to donors who might be featured on their platforms. These tools made our strategy not only thoughtful but immediately actionable.
This project strengthened my skills in branding, user experience, and strategic communication. It also gave me valuable experience working cross-functionally and delivering creative solutions to a resource-limited client—something I found both challenging and deeply rewarding.
