Presentation delivered at the Royal Pavilion & Museums' 'Digital: From Idea to Audience' workshop on 9 March 2016. Presentation looks at how the Royal Pavilion & Museums have developed a greater understanding of the behaviours and motivations of their online audiences, and how this was applied to the redevelopment of brightonmuseums.org.uk in 2015. Presentation delivered by Kevin Bacon, Digital Development Officer, Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove.

1. Getting to know
your digital
users
Kevin Bacon,
Digital Development Officer
@fauxtoegrafik
Digital: Ideas to Audience,
March 2016

2. Royal Pavilion & Museums
Royal Pavilion
• Over 400,000 visitors per
year across five sites
• Three collections
Designated of national
importance
• One of 21 Major Partner
Museums funded by Arts
Council England

3. Museums
Brighton Museum & Art Gallery
Hove Museum & Art Gallery
Preston Manor
Booth Museum of Natural History

4. Collections
Decorative Art
Local History
Fine Art
Natural History
Film & Media
Costume
Archaeology
World Art

5. Before we begin...
Discuss a digital idea with the
person sitting next to you.
This could be something you
want to do, something you’re
currently working on, or a recent
project that you’re evaluating

6. ‘What sort
of people
download
apps?’

7. Story Drop
[the one that
didn’t work
as well as we
hoped]

8. {Pick a tour}

10. {Unlock}

11. Did it work?

12. Dominic Alves, Flickr CC BY

13. Where’s
my GPS?
I have to
walk there?
Yes, I’ll have
to look at it
one day...
My battery is
running low!
How do I
unlock it?
Sod that,
it’s raining.

14. 1. Think about the context of
use
2. Why would they want to use
it?
Lessons Learned

15. brightonmuseums.org.uk
[the one that worked much better]

16. Old website

17. Problem
1. Sharepoint
2. Combined with
library service
3. Not built for
audiences
Three problems
Solution
1. Wordpress
2. Museum only
3. How do we build it
for our audiences?

18. Audiences are hard
• Shift from demographics (eg. Brighton
residents; young people; teachers; tourists)…
• To.. behaviours: motivations, needs, actions

19. Three research questions
1. What are our users doing?
2. What do our users want to do?
3. Who are our users?

20. 1. What are our users doing?
(Google Analytics data)

21. 1. What are our users doing?
(Google Analytics data)
Key finding:
Over 50% of pageviews took place on just 11
pages of website
But…
What users are doing also reflects constraints
of website

22. 2. What do our users want to do?
(survey data)
Adapted from Culture 24’s
Let’s Get Real 2 project
methodology

23. 2. What do our users want to do?
(survey data)
Key finding:
Visitors wanted building specific info – less
interested in RPM as a service
But…
What about those who don’t want to respond
to the survey? Or those who are not so goal
driven?

24. 3. Who are our users?
(behaviour model)
Behaviours = motivations + actions
But... motivations are not always
straightforward.

25. Question
A man walks into a pub.
Why?

26. 3. Who are our users?
(behaviour model)
• Drew on Prof. John Falk’s work on identity
related motivational profiles
• Rejects traditional demographic profile in
favour of needs based behavioural model
• Explorers, Experience Seekers, Facilitators,
Professionals / Hobbyists, Rechargers

27. EXPLORERS FACILITATORS
EXPERIENCE
SEEKERS RECHARGERS
PROFESSIONALS /
HOBBYISTS
John H. Falk
Identity and the Museum
Visitor Experience (2009)

28. Surface Impression

32. User testing
• Access
advisory
group advised
on design
• All user
testing
conducted
through
group

33. Results
• Greater engagement: 23% increase in page
views
• 10 x increase in admission ticket sales
• 230% increase in Facebook and Twitter
traffic
But....

35. Over to you...

36. Digital Engagement
Assets
• Objects
• Buildings
• Stories
• Knowledge
• Staff /
volunteers
Digital Content
• Blog
• Website
• Data
• Image
• App
• Game
Audiences
• Gallery
visitors
• Online
viewers
• Teachers
• Researchers
• Young
people

37. Golden Rule
Assets
• Objects
• Buildings
• Stories
• Knowledge
• Staff /
volunteers
Digital Content
• Blog
• Website
• Data
• Image
• App
• Game
Audiences
• Gallery
visitors
• Online
viewers
• Teachers
• Researchers
• Young
people
Developing a digital idea should never start with the
technology…

38. Post-digital idea map
Your assets Your
audiences
?

39. kevin.bacon@brighton-hove.gov.uk
@fauxtoegrafik
brightonmuseums.org.uk
Thank you!