-Audience: Who is your strategy aiming to reach?
I’m trying to reach scholars and the general public interested in 19th century United States history centered around Freedmen in Alexandria, VA from 1865- the end of the United States Civil War to 1870- the end of Virginia Reconstruction.
–Platform(s): What social media tools do you plan to use to reach this audience?
The main social media tool will be this blog in addition to my Twitter account or potential groups on Humanities Commons. When my final project is finished I hope to engage with the Twitter historian community through the hashtag #Twitterstorians. I have considered using my Facebook account and specific groups that will allow me to post on their page or group. Specific Facebook pages only allow specific topics so I would subsequently be limited to Alexandria or Norther Virginia specific pages or groups.
–Messages: What message will appeal to this audience? What do you want to convey? What action do you want them to take?
I am hoping to engage with the broad scholarly community such as 19th-century American historians and the wider scholarly community of Americanists such as but not limited to members of the American Historical Association, and the Organization of American Historians. This project conveys my research to the public more so than simply reading a paper online. My hope is that it will allow others to learn more and develop an interest in local history.
–Measure: How will you measure the success of your strategy? Consider using SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound) to frame your responses.
The best way to measure success on my project’s outreach is to track daily followers such as through my blog or those who accessed my Omeka site through Twitter or Humanities Commons. I would hope that other scholars would find my project intriguing to retweet or send the link to other users and it will hopefully grow from there.
