Increase Visits with a Museum Content Marketing Strategy
- 10 Tips for Content Marketing for Museums
- 1. Curate a vibe with your homepage.
- 2. Create dedicated pages for new exhibits.
- 3. Use social media challenges to earn user-generated content.
- 4. Tell 'behind the scenes' stories.
- 5. Video, video, video!
- 6. Start a podcast.
- 7. Give people things to do on your website.
- 8. Create a blog and email series.
- 9. Collaborate with influencers.
- 10. Host educational webinars and workshops.
- Let's get to work!
Few institutions were hit as hard by COVID-19 as museums. And while there’s been a long, slow recovery since 2021, overall attendance remained down by 38% last year, and 17% of directors were still worried about the risk of closing permanently.
The key to recovery lies in a lesson learned during 2020: the necessity of going digital. But it’s been a struggle. While most museum professionals recognize the need to invest in digital content creation and new marketing management methods, only 21% of museums have full-time staff dedicated to digital marketing efforts.
The difficulty is particularly acute for smaller to mid-sized organizations: only about half of these museums have online exhibitions or learning programs. 10% of small museums aren’t even on social media.
That’s why, in 2024, every museum’s mission should include cultivating its online presence. A great museum website is an extension of the museum itself — a digital antechamber where people can learn about your subject before they even walk in the door.
Here are ten ideas for a digital content strategy that will increase your website traffic and, as a result, your foot traffic.
10 Tips for Content Marketing for Museums
1. Curate a vibe with your homepage.
Chances are, before someone visits your museum, they’ll visit your website. That means your page is their first impression, and you know what they say: you only get one chance.
That’s why your website should help convey what it feels like to be there. Websites don’t just list information; they make us feel something — about a brand, an institution, or ourselves as patrons or visitors. They let us know what the museum feels like inside.
Consider the homepage for the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of Natural History. The first thing you see is a photo of Henry, the 11-ton, 13-foot-tall elephant in the museum’s rotunda, dwarfing a group of visitors admiring it from the balcony.
It’s a great photo on its own, but think about what it gives the website visitor:
- A taste of something remarkable that needs to be seen in person to be genuinely experienced
- A glimpse of the museum’s architecture showing that the location itself is interesting on its own
- A hint of the unforgettable museum experience we’ll have when we visit
All of these elements compel you to plan a trip in person. High-quality videos, photos, and thoughtful design will all help pique people’s interest in your institution before they even enter the door.
2. Create dedicated pages for new exhibits.
A standard tip for optimizing search engine results for museums is to create separate pages for each of your products or services. This makes search engine-friendly results that lead back to your online content.
The same goes for museums and cultural institutions. Don’t just let an “About” page explain everything you have at your museum. Create a unique page for each major current exhibit and initiative so you can provide more information and media content to get your target audience excited.
For instance, The Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium has over a dozen online exhibits showcasing their aquatic fauna, promoting in-person attractions, and educating online visitors. Big Sea partnered with Mote to redesign their website content to boost engagement and better inform visitors about opportunities to donate, volunteer, and get involved. In the process, we designed custom exhibits for the site — such as “Otters and Their Waters” — that people love to link to. (Otter-cam, anyone?)
Individual exhibit pages add value to your website by giving people more to explore. Ultimately, your website becomes as useful and revisit-worthy as your museum itself.
3. Use social media challenges to earn user-generated content.
If your Facebook news feed looked anything like ours in 2020, you might remember a trend from the early days of COVID-19: people were recreating famous paintings at home using themselves and household objects — and sometimes their pets! — as props.
The idea started with a small Instagram account called “Between Art and Quarantine,” but it really took off when the Getty Museum in Los Angeles picked up on it and promoted the trend on social media platforms as the #GettyChallenge. Even better, they wrote a blog about it for the website that showed off the results.
A successful hashtag campaign like this doesn’t just get your name out there. It gets people engaged and having fun online. It harnesses user-generated content to help you draw in new followers. And it encourages people to find out more about your subject. Getty encouraged people to reference works from their online collection, driving more traffic to their website and subtly reminding people where they could see all these works in person once the lockdown was lifted.
4. Tell “behind the scenes” stories.
One way to help people connect to your institution is to give them a peak behind the scenes. If people feel part of your organization, they’ll be more enthusiastic about patronizing and promoting it.
Think about something like fantasy football (weird jump, I know, but stay with me): fantasy football encourages fans to imagine themselves as managers of teams. It gets them thinking about game statistics, players on other teams, and high-level decisions about how organizations get run. There are lots of exciting conversations and unseen processes going on.
Behind-the-scenes information about your museum can serve a similar role. Share updates through social media posts when you acquire new objects for the museum. Show people what it’s like to work there. Answer questions like: What’s a typical day like for a curator or a tour guide? What’s unique about the work that must happen before an exhibition is displayed to the public? Testimonials and video tours can go a long way toward building engagement.
For inspiration, here are nine museums with video web series that invite patrons to learn more about all the work that goes into their exhibitions. If producing these videos seems like a lot, it is! But don’t worry. While video is the gold standard for online engagement, you don’t have to have your own Netflix series to draw people in. Do video if you can, but any regular updates on your website — ideally with many illustrations and photos — will get folks pumped up.
On that note, we should mention…
5. Video, video, video!
The idea of producing video content of any kind can feel daunting. But smartphones open up a world of possibilities for creating short-form video content that will be a massive draw for your organization.
Short-form videos (like those you see on TikTok or Instagram Reels) have become some of the most effective content formats on social media. 70% of viewers report that an intriguing YouTube video inspired them to check out a brand in depth. Over 70% of users report that video is their preferred way to learn about an organization.
So, break out your smartphone and start recording! Post some short interviews (we’re talking 60 seconds here) with people who work at the museum. Do a quick walk-through to show what the place is like. It doesn’t have to be great right away. Practice will make perfect. Look up any YouTube influencer, scroll back a few years, and you’ll find early videos that were nowhere near as sophisticated as what they’re making now. The sooner you dip your toes in the water, the sooner you’ll swim like a champ.
6. Start a podcast.
If the video feels like too much work, you can always start a podcast! Who would have thought 20 years ago that radio shows would become an exciting new 21st-century medium? But they have. And the hurdles toward getting started are minimal and easy to jump.
The International Spy Museum (you’re already interested, aren’t you?) has a weekly podcast that interviews authors, historians, and public officials. Subjects can range from broad overviews of cyber security or Cold War history to specific topics such as “Baseball and Espionage” or “Honey Trapped: Sex, Betrayal, and Love.”
The podcast is hosted by the museum’s historian and curator, but not every episode relates to something on exhibit. Instead, the podcast generates interest in the museum just by its existence. Someone interested in espionage might never have known there was a museum dedicated to it in Washington, DC, until they stumbled upon this podcast one day while Googling.
And that’s the goal. Producing a podcast can cultivate a whole new audience for your museum and generate newfound interest from your current patrons.
7. Give people things to do on your website.
Your website can be more than a “come to our museum” pitch. It can be an interactive learning and exploration destination — a natural extension of your museum’s mission. The words, images, and activities on your website can supplement the material you have at your museum and allow patrons to extend their visit virtually to increase their engagement.
For instance, The Mütter Museum in Philadelphia has displayed rare and unusual medical specimens since it opened in the 19th century as a physicians’ training ground. Today, it houses a collection of 20,000 items. It cultivates an eccentric fan following due to the quirky and morbid nature of the objects on display (the tallest human skeleton in North America, a collection of 139 human skulls, slivers of Albert Einstein’s brain, and a piece of thoracic tissue taken from the body of John Wilkes Booth, to name a few).
But wait — there’s more. The museum’s website features a section called Mütter@Home that hosts a wide array of interactive material, such as quizzes, mini exhibits, and virtual tours. Not only does this content pique potential visitors’ interest, but it furthers the museum’s mission as an educational institution and establishes its expertise and authority.
8. Create a blog and email series.
Get back in touch with your inner LiveJournal-ist and start a blog! People like ‘em (heck, you’re reading one right now), and they get results. 77% of internet users read blogs, and businesses that blog produce about 67% more monthly leads than businesses that don’t. If you’re interested, we offer a deep dive into lead generation with content marketing.
Your institution already offers a wealth of topics to write about, so it’s easy to get started. Interview your curators about what they do and why it’s crucial. Give readers updates on new projects and more detailed background about your major exhibits. Great museum blogs allow people to dive deep into an area of interest and learn more about what’s going on behind the scenes.
As you write, try to hone in on search engine optimization (SEO) keywords that amateur researchers might be hunting for in their journey. Long-form articles with lots of photos (and maybe even an occasional video) will provide another path for a wider audience to find your website.
Once you start regularly producing new posts, you can promote them with a dedicated biweekly email to excite visitor engagement. But remember, this isn’t “promotional” email marketing; it’s just a dedicated list interested in the research stories happening inside your institution.
9. Collaborate with influencers.
If you’re looking to elevate museum engagement in the digital age, it’s time to explore strategic partnerships with influencers. Whether large or small, museums have an untapped resource in influencers who can bridge the gap between cultural institutions and diverse audiences.
Take, for example, the Louvre’s collaboration with Instagram influencers. This strategy didn’t just attract social media followers; it stirred genuine interest in often-overlooked art pieces, broadening the public’s appreciation of its collections. This approach leveraged the influencer’s unique voice to tell a story that complemented the museum’s narrative, enhancing the visitor experience and drawing in demographic segments that may not have considered museum visits before.
Another example is the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s success in hosting fashion influencers for exclusive events, such as the Met Gala. The power of these partnerships amplifies museum activities with a creative, social buzz that resonates well beyond the institution’s walls, garnering local and international attention.
10. Host educational webinars and workshops.
As a museum, you’re a thought leader on some of the most unknown parts of history — why not share that knowledge with your audience? Take the British Museum’s lectures and webinars, for example. These stand as a testament to how enriching virtual sessions can be, drawing participants into explorations of artifact histories and cultural narratives that resonate across continents.
On the other hand, the Smithsonian Institution’s virtual workshops not only teach artistic techniques but also invite global audiences into its intellectual fold, democratizing access to world-class education.
These initiatives serve dual purposes: they reinforce the museum’s image as a knowledge preserver and instill a yearning for in-person experiences once attendees connect deeply online. Museums must see these digital sessions as extensions of their programming and essential components of a broader content engagement strategy that nurtures sustainable relationships with familiar and new audiences.
Let’s get to work!
Excellent content marketing shouldn’t feel like advertising at all. When you create things people genuinely like to read, watch, and click, they’ll find out how much they love what you do. They’ll become patrons and advocates for your organization.
At Big Sea, we create content that people love to engage with. Our museum marketing experts specialize in cultivating online engagement that brings people to your website and through your doors. Whatever your goals or budget, we can’t wait to help expand your audience. Contact us today!