FROM THE U .S . NAT IONAL ARCHIVES

TODAY’S DOCUMENT

10 B ILL ION DOCUMENTS, 1 DAY AT A T IME

TODAY’S DOCUMENT

Primary Goals (per strategic plan):

•Build Awareness and Appreciation of National Archives Mission & Holdings

•Public Engagement

Secondary goals:

•Education

•Improve Access

Platform Advantages:

•Highly visual – less is more; easy to curate

•Viral Nature of Reblogs

•Followers bring more followers, more than any other SM platform

KEY SOCIAL MEDIA OUTCOME:

MORE TUMBLR FOLLOWERS

1. Engaging content

2. Know your audience

3. Let content speak for itself

4. Tumblr Radar (bonus)

Ideal Post:

Sea Otters post w/ 9992 “notes”:

5. Cute (animals always a hit on Tumblr)

6. Resonates with audience (Tumblr demographics)

7. Legitimately Compelling

8. Radar (thanks Tumblr)

HOW TO DRIVE FOLLOWERS ON

TUMBLR:

MEASURING SUCCESS:TODAY’S DOCUMENT FOLLOWER METRICS

5/16

/201

1

6/4/

2011

6/23

/201

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7/12

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7/31

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8/19

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2011

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10/1

5/20

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2/20

11

12/1

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0/20

11

1/18

/201

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2012

2/25

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2012

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2012

7/26

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2012

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2013

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Tumblr Followers Avg increase per day

MEASURING SUCCESS:TODAY’S DOCUMENT MILESTONES

Date Followers Milestones & Tumblr Radar Posts

5/11/2011 0 Launched

5/25/2011 Featured in Tumblr Spotlight

7/15/2011 945 1,000 followers

7/21/2011 1939 Jesse Owens 36 Olympics

7/28/2011 2508 2,500 followers

8/4/2011 4245 Gemini X

8/19/2011 6449 Nixon & Elvis

11/13/2011 10001 10,000 followers!

11/14/2011 10305 Brooklyn Bridge

1/19/2012 13500 Edgar Allen Poe

1/27/2012 14324 NYPL Lions in snow

3/14/2012 16884 Alaska Dog Team

4/15/2012 19798 Sea Otters/Exxon Valdez

4/17/2012 20017 20,000 followers

6/21/2012 25020 25,000 followers

7/23/2012 28049 Sally Ride

8/16/2012 29982 30,000 followers

8/29/2012 31031 Michael Jackson Patent

9/18/2012 34614 F.M.Shaw Flying Machine

10/20/2012 40032 40,000 followers

11/15/2012 44834 Beer Can House - America Recycles Day

12/18/2012 50543 50,000 followers!/Wright Flying Machine Patent

1/22/2013 60082 60,000 followers

1/29/2013 62317 Storyboard feature

2/9/2013 65079 65,000 followers

• 13 “Radar” posts• Featured in Spotlight & Storyboard• 2011: 10,000 followers in 6 months• 2012: 10,000 followers in 3 months• 2013: 10,000 followers in 1 month

MEASURING SUCCESS:TODAY’S DOCUMENT PUBLIC COMMENTS

• Oh snap, the U.S. National Archives have a tumblr? Followed.

• How am I supposed to work knowing that there is a National Archives tumblr?! Intellectual heroin.

• ...Gah! @TodaysDocument is on tumblr!!!!... #score

• THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES ARE ON TUMBLR. …Oh, happy day!

• @TodaysDocument is the best Twitter feed. You should probably follow it.

• Love the National Archive's @TodaysDocument project. Fun way to explore our nation's historical docs - good and bad.

• Inordinately excited that the National Archives has a tumblr & is on Twitter @TodaysDocument.

Limitations:

•Followers ≠ Engagement•Difficult to create a 2-way dialogue•Difficult to indentify comments•“Answer” posts have spotty reception

•Possible to “lose control” of viral content via comments & rumors

•Lack of content metrics makes tracking popular posts difficult

•Real engagement limited by workload & Federal Agency policy

•Content balance: •Historically Relevant vs. •Popular vs.•New/fresh content

Next Steps:

•Need better post metrics & comment tracking

•User Engagement via crowd-sourced submissions?

LIMITATIONS &NEXT LEVEL

Tumblr:Todaysdocument.tumblr.com

Twitter:@todaysdocument

Facebook:facebook.com/todaysdoc

Mobile App - iTunes/Android:go.usa.gov/rnm

Email:Todaysdocument@nara.gov

THANKS !

Darren ColeWeb & Social Media Branch

National Archives and Records Administrationdarren.cole@nara.gov / @dcole7