Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1246698
14.05.2020 6 INTERVIEW THE latest indications, based on emerging trends, suggest that closed and confined spaces might be the last to attract audiences with parks and open spaces being much more in sync with the health-conscious mindset that we have grown into over the past weeks and months. With this situation, digital and social media has become an impor- tant tool … practically overnight. Moving on is akin to stating that the show must go on. As we seek to engage with our new normal, these are some thoughts and ideas to help you adjust your sails. In this contribution, we focus on digital tools within reach that can be used to mitigate some of the challenges we're currently facing. 1. None of us was prepared for this! During the past decades, the media exposed us to global disasters, but most of which happened on the other end of our television screen. e current pan- demic is different. It hit us like a bolt from the blue, and is happening right in our backyards. No culture institution or creative was prepared for this - you are not the only one to feel lost at this point in time. Staying relevant and using the channels available to do so is crucial. It is important to take stock of digital and non-digital content in hand. e one that you feel reflects your work, who you are and what you are up to as an organisation or as a creative. Social media will probably become your new best friend since it is one of the most effective distribution channels. But ir- respective of which channel you opt for, the most important is to be yourself. One of the highly commended mar- keting and outreach initiatives happen- ing online is coming from a small muse- um - the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oakland, USA. e Museum asked its head of security (with little knowledge of social media) to communicate and share experiences. He kept asking his audience to help him out and engaged in conversations and presentations that audiences could re- late to. So don't be afraid to ask for help. Reach out to your supporters and get them to engage with your content. 2. Engaging and communicating via social media is is where creativity comes into the picture. Creativity knows no limits and boundaries, although much depends on the audience and medium. As a start, consider your expertise and knowl- edge as the point of departure. ere is knowledge that only you hold and which can make your content stand out - your unique selling points. Let's start with modern phones. ese allow users to take panoramic photos which are wider than usual. You can actually fit the four walls of an entire room in one picture. ese photos can feature a lot of details dispersed around the room and are perfect to showcase surroundings and invite people to look for details akin to one of those "spot the hidden item" games. Videos too can be shared online and their reach is much wider than a photo. Choosing the right platform for your digital content needs some thought and much depends on the audiences you are after. Social platforms cater for different audiences. ese audiences have their own expectations which in turn affect the success (or lack of it) of your cam- paign. So let us guide you through the different platforms, starting with the one you might be most conversant with. Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world with more than 1 billion user accounts. It allows you to create your own page from where you can promote your offerings. e most successful posts seem to be videos and live performance which can include how-to guides, summaries and talks. e second most successful are curat- ed posts. is might include content which you create or which you re-share from other websites whose audience share a similar taste. A successful Face- book post must stand out visually with simple clear text. It must also include a call-to-action such as asking people to click on a link (maybe to visit your website) or to subscribe to a mailing list. Finally, people like freebies so think of giving them something back. It could be a download link to a free document, maybe a discount to purchase one of your products or just a teaser of your next big project. Posts should be shorter than 160 characters and would also in- clude some hashtags. A hashtag is just a word preceded with the symbol # which makes it easier to find posts online. If in doubt, sites like best-hashtags.com help you identify the most popular hashtags for your post. Youtube is the largest video repository on the Internet and also the second-larg- est search engine. is means that when people need to look for something, they tend to refer to YouTube. Apart from storing videos, platforms like YouTube allow for some exciting twists. A video can also link to other videos so a walk- through in a location might give you the The digital transformation ere is a new sense of time for cultural activity paradoxically originating from restrictions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. e lynchpin of this new understanding of time is digital content. As restrictions are slowly but carefully eased, a new normal starts to take shape albeit a short term one, knowing too well that the impact of COVID-19 on the collective mindset is there. BusinessToday spoke to Dr Sandro Debono, former curator of MUZA, and Prof Alexiei Dingli, professor of AI at the University of Malta, on the rise of digital and social media