Since its foundation in 1753 the British Museum has always been a Museum of the world, for the world – a public collection freely available to all. In the 18th century that meant to a public primarily based in London, but in the past decade of the Museum’s history this revolutionary founding principle has been made a reality in the most meaningful way. Now digital technologies enable us to share our collection and tell our stories to a truly global online audience. Museums have a unique opportunity to use social media to deliver a visitor experience for those who may never physically visit, to engage and converse with audiences and to build their global brand. Hannah Boulton and Kate Carter will talk about the development of the British Museum’s social media strategy, the opportunities available and how we manage risk. The talk will highlight both successes and failures, the battle between reach vs engagement, the development of digital customer service and a look to what the future may hold.

1. ‘For all studious and curious persons…’
Social Media and the Museum

2. 0
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
1,200,000
1,400,000
2009 2011 2013 2015 2017
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
How did it start?

3. Who is the audience?

4. What is the strategy?
We are working to a 2-year
strategy with 3 main goals:
• Growth of reach and
engagement
• Benchmarking financial
value
• Digital customer service

5. Opportunities
• Sharing visitor
generated content
• Rich collections &
curatorial experts
• Architecture
• New formats:
Video, 360, Live,
stories
• Adding something
unique to trending
conversations

8. Risks
• Trust and tone of voice
• Representation of diverse
voices and cultures
• Challenging our audience’s
expectations e.g.
contemporary art
• Staff use of social media
• We don’t always get it right!

10. Digital customer service
• Listening with empathy,
globally and locally
• Urgent vs important:
protecting reputation and
revenue
• Automation
• Reporting leading to
actionable insights
• Rewards – how to surprise
and delight?

11. The future?
• A museum of the world,
for the world.
• The quest for
Return on Investment
• Experimentation and
innovation, with purpose

12. Conclusion
• Trust in our key messages,
and in our team
• Investment in building a
robust system – with
effective processes, KPIs
and reporting
• Listening to our audience

13. Thank you… questions?
Hannah Boulton @boodlemum
Kate Carter @flatteringpanda