Use of Social Media by Holocaust Museums and Memorials

In this report, we present the findings of a survey which was aimed at investigating if and how a large sample of Holocaust museums and memorials use Social Media (SM) in their communication channels. The findings reported in this study reflect the responses of 69 Holocaust museums and memorials from across the world. The most representative countries are Germany (36.2%), the United States of America (13.0%), Italy (10.1%), Austria (5.8%) and Poland (5.8%).The institutions vary widely in age, ranging from the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Památník Terezín, established in 1947, to the most recent KL Plaszow Museum and Memorial in Krakow, opened in 2021. In terms of type, they are mostly Memorial Sites (54%), Holocaust Museums (38%) and Former Concentration Camps (41%), but War and Military and Virtual museums are also included in the sample.Almost all the institutions have a website (99%) and 61 out of 69 (88%) reported using SM as a communication channel.Key FindingsoAttitudes towards social media are globally positive, with 96% of respondents that consider SM beneficial for the museum/memorial and an important means for outreach (91%). While respondents consider SM a worthwhile investment (83%), they also expressed a need for dedicated resources to be set aside for SM (72%), with 54% reporting that SM require more resources than the museum can currently afford.o59% of the institutions using SM have been doing so for over three years.oThe Museums/memorials that use SM tend to concentrate on a few platforms. Facebook is the most frequently used (87% use it daily or weekly), followed by Instagram (62%, daily and weekly use) and Twitter (45%, daily and weekly use).o48% of the institutions have an internal SM manager, while only 10% use an external SM Manager. In 31% of cases, the Director is in charge of social media profiles. Persons in charge of SM profiles have specific expertise in SM management or marketing only in 38% of cases. .oIn terms of SM content, the institutions tend to publish mainly educational material (80%), to use SM for sharing information about activities and initiatives (74%) and to organise educational events (70%) often or very often.o90% of the respondents reported that their institution follows the SM profile of other museums/memorials and 67% declared that they draw inspiration from those profiles.oOnly 30% reported the intention to change their SM policies and strategies, mostly to diversify content according to the nature of the different platforms, to develop specific content for SM, to increase the number of platforms used, and to improve strategies and interaction with followers/fans.oAs for changes induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, 89% reported pandemic-induced changes in various activities. Most institutions have increased the number of online events (79%), the frequency of posting (75%), and the variety of contents (74%). Other activities such as fundraising campaigns (80%) and contests/competitions (79%) have remained constant, while training on SM marketing has only increased in 25% of cases.