ESSAYS
MARIA PAVLOU, DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER AT TATE
ou’d be forgiven for assuming that museums and galleries have a head start when it comes to content marketing. Curation and community are key components in any brand’s
digital strategy. But in the case of galleries, they’re the raison d’etre. Yet when it comes to reaching new audiences and generating awareness, arts organisations face the same challenges as everyone else. Content needs to be targeted, personalised, measured and made relevant to a digital audience. These have been some of the factors Tate has overcome, picking up over two million social media subscribers in three years and expanding its digital reach so that the virtual version of the gallery is just as important as the actual galleries in London, Liverpool and St Ives.
Tracey Emin’s My Bed display at Tate with
Francis Bacon’s artwork in the background
AUTHENTICITY & AUTHORITY “Our strategy has many different angles and objectives depending on who we’re talking to,” acknowledges Maria Pavlou, Digital Communications Officer at Tate. “Our overarching ambition is to engage audiences in a way that’s personalised and relevant. We want to be delivering up-to-date, effective digital communication, adapting to trends, technology and meeting the changing expectations of our audience. We don’t just want to be seen as an authority on Tate. We want to be an authority on art, with all that entails. What I want for Tate is that it should be the place you go online when you’re thinking about art and artists.” The gallery has an established
audience who receive personalised and targeted email content. “Often though,” says Pavlou, “we’re looking to reach new
41 issue 25 july 2015
audiences who may never have come to the gallery but are interested in music, fashion or whatever other discipline an exhibition lends itself to. Whenever we look at the content we’re going to present to an audience, the first priority is that it should be authentic. We look to partner with people who are genuinely interested and passionate about an artist. We’re not just looking to recruit a celebrity name.” As an example of that strategy in
action, Pavlou points to Tate’s Matisse exhibition in 2014. “There we worked with the iconic 92-year-old stylist Iris Apfel who was hugely inspired by Matisse’s work. Much of her wardrobe is
just as valuable to us as a physical visit to the gallery
An online visit is
inspired by art. She owns a gorgeous orange couture robe inspired by Matisse’s 1953 painting The Snail. We created a short, five minute film featuring Iris and her Matisse-inspired fashion collection which turned out to be massively popular – one of our best performing films. We seeded that out to fashion magazines, blogs and retailers including Topshop and Harvey Nichols. It worked because Iris is so respected in the fashion world; it was authentic and it brought real kudos to the exhibition. The point with partnerships like that is there has to be a genuine fit.”
ADAPTING TO THE DIGITAL CLIMATE An important part of Tate’s digital strategy involves enticing users to explore content more deeply. ☞
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