Museums — Digital Abyss?. Art is the thing that defines the…
By: Joseph Sticca
Tags: Customer Relationships, Museums, Omnichannel, Blockchain, Customer Experience

Art is the thing that defines the heritage of humanity. It has always been regarded as one of the main drivers of culture, representation of our inner being and thousands of years of accumulated relics. Museums serve many purposes — it’s the primary place and showroom of delivering inspiring historical experiences to a great number of people. The modern world proves that the tech advancement rate is accelerating every few years or months. With the latest inventions and implementations of innovative digital solutions, it becomes possible to tackle any issues on an entirely new “immersive” level — through many varying technologies. These include, but are not limited to, mobile, video, social, OTT channels, blockchain loyalty platforms, etc.

Forging new connections via immersive digital experiences:

Museums are not only sacred grounds of historical attributes but also a major subject for digital strategy recalibrating. Sadly enough, one of the world’s most famous locations and travel destinations, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, follows an outdated route of digital experiences. The MET presents roughly 5,000 years of art from every corner of the world. The famous museum updates all their media channels such as Youtube, Twitter, Instagram in a way that does not necessarily tie together in an effective Omnichannel manner. This is strange as the MET and museums in general, have a tremendous amount of “immersive and integrated” content and context to offer the public. However, the famous world-class museum, which welcomes more than 7 million visitors from all over the globe every year, is not digitally represented properly as this cultural institution truly deserves. For example, the Youtube channel has only 150k+ followers. This is quite low when considering others that treat their communications in an integrated media Omnichannel way such as the Smithsonian.

What are the main stumbling blocks in the way for a truly immersive digital experience(s)? Actually, many museums worldwide have one common issue — a lack of Omnichannel media knowledge or practices for establishing a truly immersive engaging presence. Such museums often use their media channels to present in a flat “informational newspaper” manner (i.e. calendars, images, tickets, exhibits, etc.). Truth is, a strategy needs to move away from an information-oriented experience to an immersive integrated presence.

Can museums ensure they are ready to leverage their content and context in a digital immersive manner? Some challenges they may be facing, not unlike many industries face:

Lack of media immersive approach and acumen

Ineffective use of social networks (no cross channel synergies)

Non-existent funnel strategies for acquisition and user engagement

Unattractive loyalty or retention/membership programs.

Leveraging an untapped opportunity:

In the era of the global online world, a well-thought digital strategy is key to ensure the long-term success of the museums’ digital presence within available budget(s). As mentioned, Museums are not only a treasure trove of content but are the backbone of human culture. What better position can you be in? Start-ups and media companies alike spend a great deal of time and money to become cultural/communication backbones. Some thoughts to consider:

Efficient digital technology use in exhibitions (augmented and virtual reality on mobile devices)

Modern smartphone apps that engage visitors not just provide information

Scale the museums’ workforce use of digital aids and be examples of digital immersion

Reshaping existing loyalty programs for increasing customer engagement and retention rate

Utilizing blockchain technology to shift into the new era of loyalty programs as well as tokenizing museum assets to allow people to become a true vested member. This can lead to a great deal of donation opportunities as well.

In addition, the adoption of Distributed Technologies/blockchain in the art and museum sector has the potential to play a more significant role when it comes to worldwide cultural institutions that are heavily dependent on workflows and outdated media strategies.

Fractional “Giving/Ownership”: with DL one can create fractional ownership for certain pieces to foster greater donation or community engagement. The possibility of creating a specific cryptocurrency or token(s) for museums could have a societal impact, changing the way we collect historical items and artworks or the way we buy a museum ticket. Museum philanthropy and business models becoming more individualized and loyal: In case a visitor buys a ticket using a specific wallet of the museum and then decides to support the renovation of work or a heritage site, that ticket can become a definition of a smart-contract. Such an agreement could enable the traceability of the impact of his/her ticket acquisition making him/her more connected to the piece/place and its evolution in time. Crafting such a special connection will allow the visitors to become loyal fan or even more, a patron giving the possibility to receive personalized news and maybe support more financially artworks/exhibitions. Scalability and Engagement: the art market can become scalable due to ownership based on fractional shares. The shared-ownership and micro-philanthropy systems can be built, making the democratization of the art/museum market finally inclusive. This also creates an opportunity for attendees to become a fixture of the museum and provide a strong sense of engagement. Accept more forms of payments to boarded and show your innovation: The Museum of the Coastal Bend (Texas) and the St. Petersburg Museum of History (Florida) where payments through Bitcoins are accepted for donations, purchases at gift shops, and memberships.

KPMG states that 78% of American citizens are more willing to use tokens with companies they already buy from, demonstrating tokenization as a tool for maintaining consumer loyalty. Tokenization can boost consumers’ engagement:

82% of consumers are willing to use tokens as part of the membership of an existing loyalty program

81% would trust the use of tokens more readily if they are already a loyalty program participant.

Will museums embrace an Immersive Digital Experience?

Immersive Digital Media experiences along with innovative DL/Blockchain applications stand to not only prosper but leapfrog the innovation cycle in this sector. There is no denying the fact that DL/Blockchain technology is here to stay and will make a huge impact in the coming years.

Museums have a tremendous amount of content and context to scale themselves as media platforms while innovating new loyalty and engagement applications through DL/Blockchain technologies. Museums that are willing to improve their digital presence drastically, as well as implement innovative DL/Blockchain loyalty application will vastly improve user experience(s) but also scale their brand’s standing with their audience.

Joe@True.Design