The museum digital strategy

The digital transformation, which gradually developed and led to the entry of digital languages into the museum, was described as “a long and complicated journey.” As far as the NMST is concerned, the top management hasled to the creation of an internal digital team with professionals dedicated exclusively to online communication activities. Indeed, social media are a part of a broader framework which covers the whole enhancement of the museum’s activities and which started before the birth and spread of the social media. The interviewed manager declared:

In early years, it was difficult to integrate these languages and digital tools into the life of the museum and even the relationship with the other teams of the museum was not easy: gradually these instruments were integrated in the organization. Digital is now a connective tissue of our society and even the museum has made the digital strongly pervasive in all its daily actions: this is what the digital office generally tries to do. The digital world, in fact, has pulled down that wall of distance between institution and public and then continued has always strengthened the approach between these two worlds.

Social media have been fundamental in achieving the goal of approaching the museum target and making sure that the institution is perceived at the center of society. As the number of available digital tools are increasing, it is necessary to develop an integrated digital strategy. The platforms that the museum uses most frequently are Facebook and Instagram; Twitter is also active but used less than the first two social media. The museum is also present on YouTube, which, however, is used as a repository of unscheduled content. On this platform, audio-visual materials related to the museum’s activities and events are collected: YouTube is mainly a visual showcase of what happens in the museum, but without a defined editorial calendar. Table 12.2 presents the results from the social media audit of NMST.

According to the key informant, for a museum the most important thing is to have a clear social media positioning with a recognizable identity. Therefore, it is necessary to create a flow of stories that can be diversified, but that must be homogeneous toward the public with an

Table 12.2 Social media audit of the National Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo da Vinci (as of 27 November 2019)

Source: Authors based on NMST social media’s data.

Cultural heritage on social media 219 identifiable tone of voice. This is important to gradually succeed in having a fan base that follows the museum with interest:

The audience realizes and captures this authenticity through communication because our audience loves museums and is strongly judgmental towards this. The publics’ love for museums is so strong that they claim to love this museum even more than those who work there, so they judge you based on that.

In the development of the digital strategy, it is necessary to monitor the electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM): platforms such as TripAdvisor where users write reviews and express opinions are to be considered as a primary touch point.

Finally, influencers and brand ambassadors must be considered as important elements for a social strategy: at times the NMST has collaborated with experts or influencers of the sector. For example, when a celebrity, a famous singer, or a Youtuber was involved in activities in the museum, they were asked to share a promotional message (such as a video, a photo, or a post) on their own social media channels. Often, it happens that the location of the museum is booked by celebrities to shoot a video, and on that occasion the museum takes advantage of their presence, spreading the news on social media.

Engagement on social media

The interaction between an institution and its followers on social platforms is complicated, and it is achieved with hard and long work and dedication. From our research, it emerged that in order to establish a profitable relationship there is a need to focus on a series of elements, first of all the tone of voice:

What we always try to keep very strong is a homogeneous tone of voice, which brings to the user a form of recognizability of the institution, of not having the feeling of finding a different communication tone of voice.

Although social media are spaces where haters could be easily present, the company must maintain a tone of voice appropriate to its role. Nevertheless, it was noted that in the museum field, the criticisms on the virtual pages are overall constructive as the public is passionate about culture. However, in terms of replies, social media managers should not contradict users but rather transmit the values that represent the identity of the museum.

In general, the interaction with museum visitors is positive because, as already mentioned, the target is very passionate; therefore, they are curious to know the news of the museum and try new activities. As the manager pointed out:

The synergy that is created with our users is very good because the public is very fond of us: even in the criticism and confrontation of a problem,

it happens that we interact with people fond of the museum and who hardly have a destructive spirit.

This is positive for the museum as it creates a strong relationship also thanks to the memory of past experiences shared together. For example, in August 2005 the Museum organized the shipment of the submarine Enrico Toti throughout the city of Milan until the museum building. This event was attended by thousands of people at night, creating a common memory around the event. Indeed, lots of Milan citizens still refer to the NMST as “the museum of Leonardo Da Vinci and Toti submarine.” Moreover, this event is still exploited by the museum today as it has had a significant impact on people’s memories and on the identity of the museum. Although the Toti delivery event happened in a period when social media did not exist yet, it is exploited by the NMST to create engagement on the museum’s social media, leveraging on the fact that the event is remembered by the community with pleasure.

Therefore, to ensure that all these elements and contents relevant to generate engagement constantly dialogue on the different platforms, the NMST opted for a customer relationship management (CRM) logic by using a CRM software (i.e., Salesforce). The CRM tool communicates with all the catalogue record tickets and distributes the contents on an application. It is a centralized management of digital content, where the starting point is a list of contacts useful, for example, for the newsletter delivery. Among the museum’s future challenges, there is the expansion of CRM tool also for the social management, which is still not automated:

We are working with Salesforce to expand CRM also on social media management. Currently, we are the first reality in Italy with whom Salesforce has decided to work for free in order to use us as a case study and enrichment.

The sponsored posts are also part of the social media engagement strategy because of the limits of Facebook algorithms to reach organic users. NMST does not have a very large budget dedicated to sponsored content, but in some previous campaigns, they have noticed that even medium-sized investments can yield good results. Moreover, especially in the strategy phase definition, sponsorships should be planned on the basis of each individual objective: for example, if the goal is to increase the number of visitors and the recognition of the museum, it is important to focus on the museum’s cultural offer and its values. According to the interviewed museum manager, these elements can help building a strong brand identity, recognizable by the public and stakeholders.