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Museum Insights (Karen Blixen Museum)
The best practices that can be used by museum operators to attract the younger generation and keep them engaged with museum activities include providing interesting museum activities, aesthetic platforms, digital engagement, raising the awareness of female artists and historical figures, as well as the usage of social media platforms.
Interactive and Captivating Museum Activities
- According to a survey conducted in 2018, Millennials were less likely to visit the museums. However, another study reported that Millennials were interested in learning about local history, architecture, and design, but the presentation methods offered by the museums tended to not suit Millennials' interests or needs. This may signify the failure of museum operators to adapt to the lifestyle and interest of Millennials to ensure the longevity and legacy of the museums.
- Interesting concepts may also attract Millennials. For instance, The Camron-Stanford House Museum in California holds its annual Halloween event titled 'Morbid Desire' where they present traditional Victorian items and clothing on the subject of funerals and death.
- The Florence Griswold Museum in Connecticut holds a Christmas-themed exhibition between November 20, 2019, to January 5, 2020, to attract more customers in the holiday season.
- Emily Dickinson Museum in Massachusetts offers Dickenson in Love tour, in which they show its collection that consists of private letters, journals, and photographs, on the subject of love, sexuality, and LGBT representations and relationships during the period of Dickinson.
Aesthetic Platforms
- The younger generation tends to utilize various social media platforms to document their lives. For example, about 29% of Millennials stated that they couldn't live without Facebook and approximately 59% of individuals under 30 in the US are Instagram users. Additionally, a survey conducted by Business Insider reported that 45% of Snapchat users are between 18 to 24 years old.
- Allowing visitors to share their positive experiences through social media platforms can be a useful marketing strategy due to the customer behavior in which Millennials incline to share without the expectation to receive anything to return, "create buzz", and make decisions based on the influence of their friends and/or personal networks.
- The "Instagrammable" platform of a museum or an art exhibition will attract the younger generation to come.
- Yayoi Kusama, a Japanese artist whose arts famously known to possess whimsical and playful characteristics, sold-out her art exhibition shows at the High Museum in Atlanta and Victoria Miro in London. Customers were only allowed in the room for a limited period to take pictures and share them through various social media platforms.
- The Field Museum in Chicago encourages visitors to take pictures with their iconic Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton.
Digital Engagement
- According to the report by The Museum Scholar, Millennials spend 17.8 hours a day on average using different media tools.
- Millennials expect museum visits can suit the needs of their digital-centric lifestyle. Therefore, museum institutions are encouraged to utilize technology to increase their relevance to the Millennial group.
- To fulfill the needs of the younger generation's lifestyle, museum operators are also advised to install wireless internet and provide charging stations. For instance, the British Museum is one of the museums that has applied this practice to create an inviting and open environment for every generation who comes to visit.
- San Fransisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) offers a surrealist experience to the customers in which they can interact with the digital arts of the artist René Magritte. This may contribute to the high number of young visitors who come to this museum.
- Experts encourage museum operators to know their visitors and collect their data to understand their needs better. Therefore, museum operators can create better strategies to enhance customer experience.
Raising Awareness About Women Artist and Historical Figure
- In the #MeToo era, the role of women has been acknowledged and deemed important, especially to young girls. This leads to the need for museums that emphasize the accomplishment of women.
- According to a survey conducted by Cone Communications, over 80% of Gen Z reported that they used social media to speak about the issues they're passionate about, including social and gender issues.
- Gen Z women believe that their "purchasing power is a tool for activism". This signifies that one of the factors for the young female generation to make decisions is the social value of a particular brand.
- During the Women's History Month, the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) announced a social media challenge where they asked their followers to mention five female artists and use the hashtag of #5womenartists to raise awareness and attract young generation.
Social Media Usage
- A report conducted in 2018 reported that about 45% of Millennials considered visiting a museum after viewing contents shared in the museum's social media platform. Meanwhile, around 75% of Millennials stated that their decisions to make a museum visit were influenced by their friends or personal networks.
- Utilizing social media platforms may increase the opportunity of attracting the young generation to come to the museums.
- The Broad Museum operators often utilize their Instagram platform to share pictures of their collection which may increase the interest of their followers to make a museum visit.
- The New York Transit Museum has a Facebook page that provides insights related to the street parking available, public transit options, and customer reviews.
Research Strategy
To determine the five current trends and best practices employed by museum operators to attract the younger generation and keep them engaged with museum activities, we first began our research by browsing through various reports, expert blogs, studies, papers, and the latest surveys from trusted sources, such as The Museum Scholar and Pacific Standard Magazine. Utilizing the insights we gathered from attempting the strategy, our research team looked for additional relevant information through news, articles, and publications from respected sources, including ArtNet and High. We also used advanced search engines to collect the requested information for more precise results. We made sure that the trends or best practices selected in this study are effective methods to attract the younger generation by providing evidence-based findings and the examples of other museums that practiced the selected trends. Our research team also carefully selected the trends that are suitable for marketing strategies for the Karen Blixen Museum regarding the inquiry given.