As I have said earlier, Pacific Science Center's website is simple yet informative. By simple, I mean that the website's layout is quite plain and basic. However, the fact that the home page of the website is filled with clear general information about the museum makes me come up with a conclusion that the home page is informative. The very first thing that a visitor will see when he/she visits the website, there is a slideshow of some of the events, shows, and festivals that are happening in Pacific Science Center. Each picture in the slideshow is linked to a landing page that will provide further information about those events, shows, and festivals. For instance, the King Tut exhibition will be held in the museum beginning May 24, 2012 and the first slideshow on the home page is a simple banner that is linked to another web page that provides further information about the exhibition, how to purchase tickets, etc. Furthermore, there are also information on the museum's hours of operation, scheduled time for planetarium shows, live science shows, as well as laser dome. There is also a small banner for the 2012 Seattle Science Festival that is linked to a landing page with of course more details about the upcoming event. I personally like that fact that although the website may seem very simple and not very attractive, all the relevant contents presented on the website are very informative. The museum's website provides links that will direct visitors to learn more about making a donation, becoming a member, creating a private event, educational programs, career opportunities, visitors' information, current and future shows, exhibits, and many more. There is also a section that allows visitors to connect with Pacific Science Center on different social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Flickr, and YouTube, providing visitors with an interactive experience. In addition, there is an opt-in platform that offers visitors with the chance to stay informed with the museum's latest updates and that all they need to do is just to jot down their e-mail address, giving permission to Pacific Science Center to provide the e-newsletters. There is only one recommendation that I would think can enhance the museum's website in overall; that is, to provide a much organized layout and create an appealing design that is unique. I personally feel that all the contents presented on the website are relevant to what the museum has to offer.
With respect to the contents present on Pacific Science Center's Facebook page, I personally think that they are all relevant, meaning that every post they make has something to do with the museum's activities. First of all, they maintain their Facebook page regularly, posting at least two to three posts a day. Some of the posts aim to promote their current or upcoming events, shows, festivals, and many other activities. For example, there is this one post about the upcoming Seattle Science Festival on June 2012, encouraging visitors to learn more about the event and 'like' the event page that has been made especially for this event. Some other posts are educational information that gives visitors a great deal of new knowledge related to history, science, or even technology. They also provide external resources for visitors to look for in order to learn more about the new knowledge that has just been gained. For example, when they post something educational, they always back it up with further information from a legitimate source like blogs and articles, providing a link that will direct visitors to the landing page that talks in detail about that specific topic. Moreover, they post a lot of pictures on past events and activities, allowing visitors to witness how interesting the activities were. For instance, there is one photo album that is dedicated to the Polar Science Weekend 2012 and inside, there are pictures on what was happening during the event like kids learning experience, some tutorials, etc. I see that Pacific Science Center has made an attempt to be interactive with its Facebook followers but has not been generating that much response from the visitors. One recommendation that I think will benefit the museum in terms of visitors' interaction is to post two to three trivial questions related to science, history, and technology and give a reward to those who are successful in answering those questions correctly. This will encourage visitors' participation on the museum's Facebook page. I also think that it is important for Pacific Science Center to encourage visitors to post any feedback on their Facebook page, informing them on what needs to be improved, what visitors would like to see more on their Facebook page, etc.
Now, I would like to discuss the contents on Pacific Science Center's Twitter page. I like that fact that the museum utilizes this marketing tool in promoting their current and future events. Many of the posts are to inform their followers about the current shows and activities that they are holding at the moment. In addition, they also inform their followers about upcoming events. There are intended to increase the awareness of their followers for the current and upcoming events. For instance, there is this one post that is aimed to inform their followers about a successful 3D show called Hubble 3D that has been played in the past and now is replayed again for some period of time. Furthermore, I also like the fact that they are very responsive to their followers' inquiries and comments. They even re-tweet almost all their followers' posts, quickly sharing those tweets with their all followers. For example, there is this one tweet by a woman who is working on a little science experiment with radiometers and light and is re-tweeted by Pacific Science Center to be shared to all their followers. In overall, I think that the contents on the museum's Twitter page are all relevant to what they are offering to customers. There are a couple of things that I think can help Pacific Science Center to increase their exposure to Twitter users, especially in Washington State area. First of all, they can start using promoted accounts product in order to be able to quickly scale a follower-base of advocates and influencers for the museum. They can also start using promoted tweets so that they will be able to amplify their marketing messages with targeting options that allow them to reach the targeted individuals, at the right time. Lastly, they can start using promoted trends to drive conversations and interests for their events, activities, shows, etc among Twitter users which is done by capturing users' attention on the social media site.
As I have mentioned in my previous blog post, Pacific Science Center's activities on YouTube are not as effective as on both Facebook and Twitter. It seems that they are able to utilize their marketing effort through the two social media sites, but not this one. Most of the contents on the museum's YouTube page are relevant to what they are offering to their customers, but most of them are movie and documentary trailers that I believe people can easily find elsewhere although there are a several advertisement clips that promote their current and future events. I have watched some of the documentary trailers and I think they are really interesting. This is a good step that the museum needs to develop even more. For instance, they can create a more interactive documentary trailer in the future, featuring people's, those who have watched it, opinion on the movie. However, looking at its YouTube page, I personally feel that Pacific Science Center has not really utilized the power that this social media site can generate. With the very large number of YouTube users around the world, the museum should be able to capture a lot of people's attention, especially people in Washington State area, through attractive and interactive videos. They can start by creating and posting more videos about their highly anticipated events, shows, and exhibits. For example, the highly anticipated King Tut exhibition has been held in a lot of places prior to coming to Seattle. There must be some video coverage of the exhibition circulating on the internet and Pacific Science Center can utilize this opportunity by creating a promotional video for the King Tut exhibition in Seattle by combining the contents from the prior exhibition coverage video with interesting new contents. This will surprise audiences to a certain extent, making them to be even more curious about the exhibition. The museum can also start re-posting some very interesting videos that have been posted in the past related to the world of science and technology. Through these videos, they then can encourage the audiences to participate by making comments, sharing knowledge, opinions, etc.
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