Communicating and disseminating rock art research on Facebook: the ERC Artsoundscapes project goes public

Abstract

This article explores the potential of social media in disseminating and communicating archaeological knowledge and the ways in which their impact on the public can be enhanced through marketing plans. It examines the implementation of such a plan in the context of the Facebook page of the ERC Advanced Grant project “The sound of special places: exploring rock art soundscapes and the sacred” (acronym: Artsoundscapes). Using quantitative and qualitative data provided by the Facebook Insights altmetrics tool, the article evaluates the general performance of the Artsoundscapes page and measures the effectiveness of the marketing plan. It discusses the components of marketing plans with emphasis on a carefully designed content strategy that, in the case of the Artsoundscapes Facebook page, in only 19 months of existence has resulted in the organic development of an active online community of 757 fans and 787 followers from 45 countries. The marketing plan has contributed to raising awareness of the Artsoundscapes project and an emerging, highly specialized and little-known branch of archaeology – the archaeoacoustics of rock art sites. It rapidly and engagingly disseminates the project’s activities and outcomes among both specialist and non-specialist audiences, and informs the non-specialist public about relevant advances in the multiple fields – rock art studies, acoustics, music archaeology and ethnomusicology – that intersect in it. The article concludes that social media are effective means for archaeologists and archaeological organizations and projects to reach various audiences, and that marketing plans significantly augment this process.