Museum Social Media Ideas: 11 Tactics to Attract Your Ideal Audience
Let’s face it…
A global crisis, like the COVID-19 pandemic, has dramatically impacted museums with an unprecedented drop in attendance, engagement, and conversion rates.
In 2020, large and small institutions reported an income loss of 75-80%, causing some to shut down. Hence, over 70% of them have increased their social media activities to gain more reach and brand awareness.
Though profitable social platforms may be, juggling multiple accounts and keeping them up-to-date with fresh new content is challenging and nerve-wracking.
This worsens when you ignore the proper way to go digital.
To avoid content burnout (61% of creators experience it regularly) and plan a social media strategy for museums that works, you need to invest in valuable, customer-centric content production.
How do you do this?
In today’s post, you’ll navigate through eleven museum social media ideas to promote yourself, grow your art museum presence on social media, and attract wider audiences with creative, high-performing content.
Let’s begin!
Museum Social Media Ideas - Table of Contents
How Will Social Media Affect Museum Communication?
11 Museum Social Media Ideas to Boost Engagement and Drive More Leads
How Will Social Media Affect Museum Communication?
You may wonder: How do I attract people to come to my museum? What should I do to get their eyes on my content?
Social media is certainly a powerful method to accomplish these and other essential goals, like:
Communicating with existing and potential visitors.
Highlighting collections and exhibitions.
Adding value to museum events and programs.
Sharing knowledge with the community.
Being seen as a trusted cultural online source.
With direct access to your audience, you’re able to show every aspect of your identity, build lasting relationships, and be more accessible than ever.
Plus, museums are hotbeds of content - meaning the unique stuff preserved within your walls is all you need to create compelling social media stories, posts, and videos that pique people’s interests.
This way, you’ll encourage them to interact with you, come back for more, and ultimately convert into visitors.
To make this possible and bring in a positive ROI (Return On Investment), setting strategic goals around your social media activity is essential.
Think about:
WHO you’re targeting and impacting.
HOW you meet your audience’s expectations.
HOW you create content that speaks to them.
WHY you use social media.
These four keys will represent the foundation for persuasive communication through social media content and a springboard to your marketing success!
11 Museum Social Media Ideas to Boost Engagement and Drive More Leads
It’s time to go through eleven museum social media ideas to help you:
Expand your reach.
Have consistent conversations with your following.
Address their queries and meet their needs.
Pull in prospective visitors/customers with top-notch content.
With these tactics, the dreaded content burnout will be a distant memory and you’ll keep your social media strategy ahead of the curve!
1. Run a Giveaway or Contest
How can museums use social media effectively?
One way is to run occasional contests that spur followers to participate in exchange for something valuable and free (an item, special discount, membership, etc.).
It’s a fun and entertaining museum social media idea that:
Boosts engagement.
Nurtures interactions.
Increases brand awareness.
Grows the followership.
People LOVE getting free things.
In fact:
Over 34% of new customers are acquired through contests. (Hubspot)
95% of users share the promotion immediately after they register. (Easypromos)
Instagram giveaways help grow your followers 70% faster. (Tailwind)
A great example is the VangoYourself project, launched by Europeana and Culture24 in 2014 to invite the public to share selfies of themselves reproducing a famous Van Gogh painting. The initiative went viral, inspiring people to approach art with creativity, emotion, playfulness, and curiosity.
Here’s what to include for a successful contest:
A prize to give away (it must be related to your brand).
Terms and conditions to join the promotion (opt for a creative way to enter, like through user-generated content, reposts, or a trending hashtag).
A deadline (it gives a sense of urgency and scarcity).
A well-structured contest will draw BIG attention, letting you connect with your audience on a deep level!
2. Host AMA Sessions
Another impactful museum social media idea to implement in your marketing for museums is AMA (Ask Me Anything) series.
These Q&A sessions are an excellent opportunity to:
Educate and engage with your followers.
Share your knowledge, experiences, and insights.
Highlight your collections/programs/team.
Trigger curiosity in your brand.
Show off your personality.
Learn about your audience’s interests and demands.
Create your AMAs around a specific topic, with a call for questions you’ll be answering straight from the comments. You could do an Instagram, YouTube, or Facebook live stream, create a Tweet with the trending hashtag #AskAMuseum, or post a series of Instagram Stories using the Question stickers.
Use your inventiveness to connect to your audience more intimately and directly - they’ll turn into faithful supporters if you show them you care!
3. Create a Live Series
Using live streaming is a compelling museum social media idea to provide the audience with interesting insights into your collections, exhibitions, exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes of your work, and more.
Showing all this in real-time lets you establish a personal bond with your followers.
What’s more, by sharing inspirational and helpful content daily, weekly, or monthly, you build the habit of returning and partaking in your series!
Look at two of the best museum social media campaigns based on live series:
1. Prado Museum
In their Instagram live clips, museum experts and team members present collection highlights and in-depth analyses regularly attracting thousands of followers.
Every month until June 2022, the museum hosted special interviews, live Q&As, and exhibition talks inside the #ArtAperitivo series.
4. Reply to Your Followers
Let’s be honest: you can’t expect to develop a tight-knit audience if you don’t talk back to them.
Their time is precious, and taking a moment to respond shows that you value their opinions and feedback - it’s not a case that 59% of global consumers have a more favorable view of brands that respond to customer questions or complaints on social media.
You can’t afford to go silent on your followers. Instead, you should actively listen to them and meet their needs!
That’s what social customer care is for, being one of the most useful museum social media ideas to get:
Stronger brand loyalty.
More positive interactions.
Customer retention and advocacy.
Increased sales.
Pay extra attention to how you approach your online community. Over time, this will affect your whole brand image!
5. Conduct a Social Media Takeover
If you’re wondering “How do I attract more teenagers to the museum?” or “How can I promote my museum?”, consider running takeovers.
They’re a winning museum social media idea to inject new life into your feed by handing off your social presence - usually for 24 hours - to someone else, like an influencer, artist, team member, or business partner.
The main purpose is to get your brand in front of new faces by presenting yourself from a different perspective - this works particularly well with “difficult” audiences like millennials.
With a takeover, you’ll:
Give your social media accounts a unique flavor.
Get exposure.
Increase engagement.
Provide authentic, fresh content.
Humanize your brand.
Build a diverse public.
Choose someone with a dedicated following that matches your goals; develop an action plan (content types, number of posts to publish, takeover duration, etc.), and pick the social media platform that works best for your audience. By following these key steps, you’ll be all set for success!
6. Celebrate “Quirky” Holidays
Do you celebrate National Hat Day, Hugging Day, or Love Your Pet Day?
No matter how unusual that is, holidays represent a golden museum social media idea to market your brand and services in a fun, engaging way!
When they’re relevant to your industry and target audience, social media holidays help you:
Increase your organic reach.
Connect with a like-minded crowd.
Show the playful side of your brand (and your holiday spirit).
Share content that highlights what you offer.
Generate more awareness.
Create a stronger brand voice.
Grow your following and engagement rate.
Not every occasion is worth celebrating. But if you find the ones that fit your niche, and couple them with appropriate hashtags, you’re bound to leave a mark on your community.
You’ll develop an affinity with your existing followers, get known for your museum culture and mission, and attract new leads with unique, trending posts.
Protip: include these festivities in your social media calendar to publish high-converting, interactive content (a challenge, user-generated content, giveaway, etc.), and let your target audience guide you in the creation process to pick the ones that most resonate with them.
7. Get a Mascot
People enjoy following other people on social media.
They crave personal connections both in real life and online - when customers have a strong bond with brands, 57% increase their spending with that brand, and 76% buy from them over a competitor. (Sproutsocial)
Imagine if you could grow your audience and gain their ongoing trust with a humanized character that represents and reinforces your identity.
According to a study by the Moving Picture Company, brand mascots raise profit and emotional relations with customers by up to 41%!
Whether they’re used in logos, websites, promo campaigns, merchandise, or social media, mascots are ideal for:
Amplifying your brand promotion.
Offering new engagement and visibility opportunities.
Improving your interactions with the audience.
Showcasing what you represent and do.
Attracting people of all age groups.
Making your museum memorable.
It'll take time and some testing to assess which collection object, historical character, or animal fits best as your brand ambassador. So, be mindful of the iconic character to choose and the message you aim to convey with it.
Make sure to:
Tailor your choice to the target audience.
Personalize the mascot (What’s its name and story? How does it tie into your brand?)
Align the character with your museum’s vision and goals.
Including this museum social media idea in your strategy will take branding to a whole new level - guaranteed!
8. Do Polls
Polls are a fun, quick way to gauge people’s opinions through a specific question and set of replies to choose from.
Whether you opt for Twitter polls, Facebook surveys, or Instagram Question stickers, this marketing tool has numerous benefits.
Not only do they encourage an immediate response with minimal effort, making engagement more likely, but they also:
Stand out visually.
Let you tap into your audience’s mind (interests, preferences, wants, etc.).
Set the basics for a better, customer-focused content strategy.
Spark curiosity and new conversations.
Expand online exposure.
Grow the customer base.
Museum social media ideas like this are a one-click way to hook followers and generate new leads!
Plus, you gain valuable feedback and get insights into your market research.
To learn more about your audience, be personable and approachable in your polls, and listen to their thoughts to deliver helpful content that resonates.
9. Share Creative Video Clips
When using social media for museums, consider bite-sized videos your go-to tactic to grab your audience’s attention and get them to bond with you.
Whether for learning or pure entertainment, people enjoy watching videos - they’re easy to digest, shareable, and a captivating way to tell your brand story, values, and mission.
Stats show that:
67% of marketers say sharing marketing videos on social media (YouTube, Instagram, TikTok) has the biggest ROI. (Hubspot)
82% of consumer web traffic comes from videos. (Cisco)
Impressive, right?
This new, established means of communication has the potential to:
Increase organic reach.
Nurture trust.
Grow the digital presence.
Drive conversions.
Create familiarity with the audience.
Foster brand transparency.
By sharing user-generated clips, giving a tour of your museum, showing the behind-the-scenes of an exhibition, or posting an interview with a special guest, you’ll make your video content remarkable and appealing to your followers!
Protip: setting an effective strategy with clear goals, a specific content framework, a promotion plan, and an editorial calendar will help you make the most of this interactive museum social media idea.
10. Make a Meme
While memes aren’t for everyone, this museum social media idea leverages your organic growth and helps reach diverse audiences - especially the youngest - with attractive, lighthearted content.
By integrating humorous memes into your posts, you get to speak to the public on an emotional level - your sense of humor shows them you're authentic and human, spurring them to engage with you consistently.
This content format is also a powerful social listening tool to analyze the market and learn more about your audience’s behavior, demographics, preferences, and pain points.
The best part?
Memes go viral because they’re fun, timely, shareable, and highly relatable!
According to stats:
This confirms memes' effectiveness and high engagement rates. They add a playful spin to your content and irresistibly present your brand message.
If it makes sense to your audience, include this tool in your strategy, and use it to deepen your relations with existing and future visitors.
11. Team Up With Other Organizations
Ever thought about co-marketing?
Based on a collaboration with other art institutions or organizations, working within the same community and sharing similar audiences, it’s one of the best museum social media ideas for raising awareness, growing engagement, and boosting sales.
77% of companies see partnership development as central to growth - that’s why investing in it is a proven way to scale.
Whether you team up for a joint promotion (special exhibit, giveaway, discounts, etc.), to share a piece of content (ebook, guide, etc.), or educate the public through digital events, this collaboration helps both parties to:
Introduce themselves to new audiences.
Level up their reputation and exposure.
Pull in more visitors.
Drive additional revenue.
And that’s where social channels come in!
Being the go-to option to maximize your reach, social media is golden to:
Promote co-marketing campaigns organically.
Easily sync up your efforts.
Assess the value of a potential partner through their content, engagement rate, and other key factors.
Build instant relationships with link-minded brands.
Measure your campaign performance through the level of participation of the audience.
This mutual support will tremendously benefit your museum, helping you fulfill your business goals faster!
By Implementing These Museum Social Media Ideas You’ll Finally Reach Your Dream Visitors
If you aim to spruce up your feeds with catchy, resonating content, why not give these eleven museum social media ideas a shot?
Incorporating them in a solid action plan, tailored to your target audience and aligned with your museum’s purposes, will help you:
Overcome content burnout.
Find inventive ways to educate and entertain your followers.
Develop more intimate relationships.
Strengthen customer loyalty.
Revamp your brand image.
Museums and social media are the perfect combo to boost digital success and visitor numbers.
So, take time to experiment with different content types, communicate with your audience consistently, track their responses, and measure the results you get to refine your marketing activity.
You’ll never find yourself staring at a blank screen again this way! 😉
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