Addressing Climate Change Through Social Media

Can people in the heritage sector use social media to inspire action on climate change? Ahead of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (also known as COP26), the group heard from Hannah Genders Boyd, a climate heritage researcher, archaeologist, and former Historic Environment Scotland Climate Change Intern. Climate change is seriously affecting Scotland and […]

Social Media Tips for When Your News Story Goes Global

In March 2021, the University of Aberdeen announced that it was to return a Benin Bronze – a sculpture looted by British soldiers in Nigeria in one of the most notorious examples of the pillaging of cultural treasures associated with 19th century European colonial expansion. Thousands of metal and ivory sculptures and carvings were looted […]

Developing Anti-Racist Messages and Approaches for Museums

The Empire, Slavery & Scotland’s Museums (ESSM) project, sponsored by the Scottish Government, launched in 2020 to explore how the story of Scotland’s involvement in the British Empire, colonialism, and transatlantic slavery should be told using museum collections and spaces. In May 2021, Rosie King and Sheila Asante from Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) talked to […]

Getting Started With TikTok

Want to know how to build a profile on a new platform or engage visitors (even when your building is closed)? Our March 2021 meet-up was hosted by Siobhan Beatson, Museum Manager at Ullapool Museum, who chatted to our network about the museum’s TikTok account (one of the few heritage sites in Scotland with an […]

Celebrating Scottish Archives Day – Round 2

In 2020, inspired by the success of #ScottishMuseumsDay, ARA Scotland decided it was time to start #ScottishArchivesDay. The idea was simple – celebrate all things Scottish in archives regardless of where you’re based. SAVE THE DATE ARA Scotland looked at various possible dates, at first considering whether they should be linked to a particular historical […]

Creating Convincing Social Media Content

For our first event of 2021, Georgina Brooke, Content Strategist at One Further, talked to the Scottish Heritage Social Media Group about her experiences of creating and managing web and social media at National Museums Scotland, the Ashmolean and the University of Oxford. She was joined by Alyson Webb, Director at Frankly, Green + Webb, […]

Empathetic Social Media During a Pandemic

As was the theme in 2020, many organisations pivoted to creating online content for social media that could be consumed from home. In November, Erin Burke, Communications and Events Officer, and Laura Paton, Digital Content Officer, talked to the SHSMG about how the Scottish Civic Trust (SCT) adapted to these new challenges. With most people […]

Creating Content in Lockdown

In March 2020, communications teams in museums across Scotland had to quickly adapt their scheduled digital content in response to a nationwide lockdown. Unable to continue promoting their exhibitions and events, the marketing and communications team at Culture Perth and Kinross were in need of alternative content to keep Perth Museum and Art Gallery’s social […]

Social Media and Decolonising Scottish Heritage

Following the Black Lives Matter protests, and with more and more people using social media and other internet technologies during lockdown, a discussion on the relationship between social media and the decolonisation of our museum collections has never been more timely. But in the movement to decolonise our heritage, where does social media fit in? […]

Social Media Career Planning During COVID-19

While thinking about the future of your career might be the last thing on your mind right now, Tamsin Russell, Workforce Development Officer at the Museums Association, tells us that it’s perfectly acceptable time to give it a check-up.