EVALUATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVITIES AND NEW TRENDS
IN MARKETING COMMUNICATION FOR MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERIES IN TURKEY
NİLAY DURU AKİDİL 9960119
İSTANBUL BİLGİ ÜNİVERSİTESİ SOSYAL BİLİMLER ENSTİTÜSÜ
İŞLETME YÜKSEK LİSANS PROGRAMI
Yrd. Doç. Dr. METEHAN SEKBAN
2014
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EVALUATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVITIES AND NEW TRENDS
IN MARKETING COMMUNICATION FOR MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERIES IN TURKEY
NİLAY DURU AKİDİL 9960119
PROJE DANIŞMANININ ADI SOYADI (İMZASI) : Yrd. Doç. Dr. METEHAN SEKBAN KOMİSYON ÜYESİNİN ADI SOYADI (İMZASI) : PROJENİN ONAYLANDIĞI TARİH : .......................................................... (bu tarih SBE tarafından yazılacaktır)
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ABSTRACT The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and understand recent marketing communication
trends for Museums and Art Galleries. Review social media activities from the perspective of
marketing and see how marketers use social media to market their entity & brand and to what
extend they are aware of the potential of social media. What are the new trends and best practices
in the market?
Some of the questions that will be asked and hopefully answered are:
• What is the best way to communicate an event or an exhibition for Museums and Art
Galleries?
• Do they use Social Media? How commonly they use Social Media Platforms?
• What is different in their way of communication and applications?
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DECLARATION The purpose of this paper is to see the use of new marketing communication channels and how
online social networks changed marketing concept for Museums and Art Galleries.
The data are collected through interviews and on-site visits.
Participation in this study is completely voluntary.
For your questions about this paper please don’t hesitate to e-mail [email protected]
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................1 2. METHODOLOGY..........................................................................................................................................2
2.1 Research Method ......................................................................................................................................2
2.2. Data Collection Methods.........................................................................................................................2
2.3. Secondary Sources...................................................................................................................................2
2.4. Research Limitations...............................................................................................................................3
2.5. Ethical Considerations.............................................................................................................................3
3. LITERATURE REVIEW ...............................................................................................................................3 4. THE CLARIFICATION OF KEY CONCEPTS...........................................................................................4
4.1. Museums ..................................................................................................................................................4
4.2. Art Galleries .............................................................................................................................................5
4.3. Museums & Art Galleries and Integrated Marketing Communication ................................................6
4.3.1. Social Media.....................................................................................................................................8
4.3.2. Mobile Applications ........................................................................................................................9
5. MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERIES ..........................................................................................................9 5.1. ARTER.....................................................................................................................................................9
5.2. BORUSAN CONTEMPORARY.........................................................................................................10
5.3. EKAVART.............................................................................................................................................10
5.4. THE ISTANBUL MUSEUM OF MODERN ART.............................................................................11
5.5. MERKUR ART GALLERY.................................................................................................................11
5.6. MIXER ART GALLERY .....................................................................................................................11
5.7. PERA MUSEUM ..................................................................................................................................11
5.8. M.RAHMI KOÇ MUSEUMS ..............................................................................................................12
5.9. SADBERK HANIM MUSEUM...........................................................................................................12
5.10. SAKIP SABANCI MUSEUM............................................................................................................12
6. BEST PRACTICES ......................................................................................................................................13 6.1. Facebook ................................................................................................................................................16
6.2. Twitter ....................................................................................................................................................23
6.3. Blogging.................................................................................................................................................25
6.4. Instagram................................................................................................................................................26
6.5. Web Pages..............................................................................................................................................26
6.6. Mobile Application................................................................................................................................28
6.7. Online TV...............................................................................................................................................29
6.8. Digitization, Google Art Project, Virtual Museums, Digital Archieves ............................................31
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6.8.1. Google Art Project .........................................................................................................................31
6.8.2. Virtual Museum .............................................................................................................................33
6.8.3. Digital Archive...............................................................................................................................34
6.9. New Trends Marketing in Museums and Art Galleries ......................................................................35
6.9.1. Membership Programs...................................................................................................................36
6.9.2. Workshops and Education Programs............................................................................................37
6.9.3. Visitor Experiences ........................................................................................................................39
6.9.4. Dealing and Managing Visitor Feedbacks ...................................................................................41
7. CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................................42 8. RECOMMENDATIONS..............................................................................................................................43 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................................................44
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Customers of Museum Organizations ...........................................................................................7
Figure 2. Social Media Presence of Museums and Art Galleries in Turkey.............................................14
Figure 3. Figure The most important Social Media Platform for Marketers ............................................15
Figure 4. Number of Monthly Active Facebook Users ..............................................................................16
Figure 5. Facebook Presence .......................................................................................................................17
Figure 6. Audience Participation in Facebook............................................................................................17
Figure 7. Effective Language Style in Facebook........................................................................................18
Figure 8. Announcement of new Service Mobile Application ..................................................................19
Figure 9. General Audience Messages ........................................................................................................19
Figure 10. Promoting Group Visits for Audience Development .............................................................19
Figure 11. Announcing A Competition.....................................................................................................20
Figure 12. Informing Upcoming Education Events and Workshops ......................................................20
Figure 13. Inviting for Paid Workshops....................................................................................................20
Figure 14. Announcing Success ................................................................................................................21
Figure 15. Announcing Instagram Presence ............................................................................................21
Figure 16. Announcing an Entertainment and Education Event .............................................................22
Figure 17. Promoting Artists Career Development ..................................................................................23
Figure 18. Commonly Used Social Media Platforms...............................................................................23
Figure 19. Number of Monthly Active Twitter Users..............................................................................24
Figure 20. ArtBlog By Ekavart..................................................................................................................25
Figure 21. Arter on Instagram; Artergram ................................................................................................26
Figure 22. Pera Museums Webpage..........................................................................................................27
Figure 23. MIXER’s Web Page.................................................................................................................27
Figure 24. RMK Museum Mobile Application Pages..............................................................................28
Figure 25. Istanbul Modern Mobile Application Pages ..........................................................................28
Figure 26. Sakıp Sabancı Museum Mobile Application Pages ..............................................................29
Figure 27. Sakıp Sabancı Museum Mobile Application QR Codes.......................................................29
Figure 28. EkavartTV –Turkey’s 1st Online Art TV ................................................................................30
Figure 29. EkavartTV –Online ..................................................................................................................30
Figure 30. Sakıp Sabancı Museum & Google ArtProject 1 .....................................................................31
Figure 31. Sakıp Sabancı Museum & Google ArtProject 2 .....................................................................32
Figure 32. Sakıp Sabancı Museum & Google ArtProject 3 .....................................................................32
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Figure 33. Virtual Museum by Sadberk Hanım Museum 1.....................................................................33
Figure 34. Virtual Museum by Sadberk Hanım Museum 2.....................................................................33
Figure 35. Digital Archieve by Sakıp Sabancı Museum and Sabancı University 1...............................34
Figure 36. Digital Archieve by Sakıp Sabancı Museum and Sabancı University 2...............................34
Figure 37. Digital Archieve by Sakıp Sabancı Museum and Sabancı University 3...............................35
Figure 38. Membership Categories by Pera Museum ..............................................................................36
Figure 39. Membership Categories by Istanbul Modern Contemporary Art Museum ..........................37
Figure 40. Exclusive Membership Activities by Istanbul Modern Contemporary Art Museum ..........37
Figure 41. Workshops and Education Programs by Pera Museum .........................................................38
Figure 42. Prebooked and Pre Paid Workshops and Education Programs by RMK Museums ............38
Figure 43. Workshops and Education Calendar by RMK Museum........................................................38
Figure 44. Rahmi Koç Museum Visitor Experiences...............................................................................39
Figure 45. Sakıp Sabancı Museum Recreational Areas ...........................................................................40
Figure 46. Istanbul Modern Visitor Experience .......................................................................................40
Figure 47. Sakıp Sabancı Museum Vistor’s Feedback Kiosk .................................................................42
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1. INTRODUCTION
22 years ago, in 1990, a computer scientist and MIT professor Tim Berners-Lee invented an
information management system the “World Wide Web” the first successful communication
between Hypertext Transfer Protocol (Http) client and server via Internet.
Internet connects millions of computers worldwide, providing vast amounts of information to
individuals. In the last few years, the Internet has evolved into a “social web,” connecting like-
minded individuals with communities that allow them to express themselves and engage in
lengthy debates at any time of the day.
With the technological advancements (i.e. mobile devices, multi-touch screens, cloud
computing) and online social networks (Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter...) individuals and
organizations can deliver content, product information and services in an easier, faster,
cheaper and more interactive ways. Whereas the power of Online Social Media is also
increasing each day and millions of people engage in Online Social Networks.
Today Social Media and Online Communities represent most significant marketing channels
of 21st century. Digital Platforms are one of the main communication tools in our daily life
where communication is voluntary and based on mutual interest and each day with increasing
participation in digital platform makes Social Media more efficient and feasible.
Social Media with lower costs solves a great challenge in not-for-profit organizations which is
funding costs.
In this study my aim is to demonstrate how social media is and can be used in marketing
communication for the museum and art galleries. This paper will also consider case studies
and suggest how leading organizations communicate within the museum sector and provide a
significant paper to show how integrated marketing communication strategies and new
technologies can be used to increase the awareness for all services provided by the Museums
and Art Galleries. Furthermore, this paper will provide readers three concepts Marketing for
Non-Profit Organizations, Audience Development, Social Media.
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The tangible outcome of this paper is the CONCLUSION and RECOMMENDATIONS part
where I will highlight Opportunities of Using Social Media and How Organisations can
benefit
2. METHODOLOGY
2.1 Research Method In this research the Qualitative Research method is used where review and documentation is
usually words rather than quantities and formulas.
Qualitative research method is generally preferred to search about qualities and experiences. I
used Qualitative Research Method to conduct in depth explorations with interviews and
mystery shopper experiences to collect information and understand the topic.
2.2. Data Collection Methods I used two types of sources. The Primary Sources of this research are conducted interviews
and on-site visits, the secondary sources are digital platforms like Facebook, Instagram and
Webpages.
In this search collecting successful marketing initiatives, learning about professional
experiences was valuable for a better understanding. Interviews was structured to encourage
professionals to share their experiences with open ended questions.
New trends, Change in ti,me, Social Media, Benefits of Integrated Marketing Communication,
Design attributes for Product / Services are the subjects of discussions.
To determine candidates for the interview I look over their experience in social media
marketing and their role in managing Marketing Strategies.
All interviews were conducted in 2014.
2.3. Secondary Sources The changes in Social Media are so tremendous that guidelines for a good practice were
scarce. Hence there are lots of researchs, books, papers, electronic sources in the field of
Social Media.
I used Social Media Marketing Platforms to collect latest ideas and initiatives of the leading
Museums and Art Galleries in Turkey.
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2.4. Research Limitations The exploratory nature of the research required time and in depth reviews. As time was limited
and some interviewees were not available I searched and reviewed recent marketing activities
and in-site operations of the Museums / Art Galleries and try to perceive the real practices.
2.5. Ethical Considerations This research is based on my analyses to set a Marketing Communications Guideline for
Museums and Art Galleries by using social media and new trends in marketing. For
objectiveness of the study only best practices are communicated and all interviewees have
been informed about the academic purpose of this study.
And this search cannot conduct any ethical issue.
3. LITERATURE REVIEW
This section considers the work of several authors that I found useful to learn more about
museums and art galleries and marketing concepts through previous academic researches.
Although this paper covers museum and art galleries in Turkey, I thought that previous
researches and literature can be useful to develop a model for Turkish context.
Before evaluating new trends and recent marketing communication activities in the museum &
arts sector I carefully reviewed valuable books like “Museum Strategy and Marketing”written
by Philip Kotler & Neil Kotler, “Marketing the Museum”written by Fiona McLean, “The
museum experience” written by John Falk & Lynn Dierking, and “Standing Room
Only”written by Philip Kotler & Joanne Scheff, various digital papers about social media and
marketing practices from all around the world which guided me to understand museum and
arts marketing.
In Museum Strategy and Marketing and “Standing Room Only” by Kotler explains many
subjects from strategic marketing to the audience development in detail. Organizations can use
these books to establish marketing plans & strategies and keep it as guidebook. Philip Kotler
uses a lot of cases and descriptions to exemplify his theories.
In “Marketing the Museum” Fiona McLean introduces a number of marketing tools for
museum's management. She mainly focuses on the marketing issues of museums and
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approaches many issues with academic knowledge
As an important process of the academic study on museum and arts marketing, I collect lots of
reading materials providing practical information and discussing the issues and case studies
from overall the world some of them are listed in references section.
4. THE CLARIFICATION OF KEY CONCEPTS
This section clarifies the terms mentioned by academics, museums and arts organizations on
Museums &Arts Marketing Concept and recent trends in marketing. By identifying features
and functions of Museums and Art Galleries it will be possible to see the differences and
common points. I will explain these three concepts on the terms we have to consider in this
paper.
4.1. Museums According to Bennet the Museums and Museums Operations started with the private and
exclusive collections of Europe's Aristocrats' which are rare and representative objects of and
then shaped by the idea of Enlightenment in the 18th Century. Then at first years of 19th
Century Museums were used to enlighten and educate the public to make societies better and
more civilized. (Bennet,1995, 39-45)
And the role of serving as societies’ cultural institutions was given to Museums. Then in 20th
Century the number of Museums all around the World increased drastically. Eilean Hooper
Greenhill states that values of the west culture has developed exported the concept of
museology and modern museum to the world (Hooper, 1999)
And today we can easily access various types of Museums with different specialties In
different fields with a common concept defined by International Council of Museums which
focused on managerial and functional principles of the organizations stating that a museum is
a non-profit institution servicing society by acquiring, conserving, researching,
communicating, exhibiting and sharing heritage of the humanity with the purpose of education
and enjoyment.
With the ages the definition of Museums has evolved I believe that we have to clarify the
element non-profit in the definition. Museums serve with the fundamental duties stated while
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carrying the financial responsibilities to sustain its operations and maintain service. The
element non-profit can be clarified as “not for profit”. Museums are dependent for public,
private sector or societies financial support, still have to operate and function to create
positive outcome. Museums are important centers of information and knowledge they are also
cultural institutions for education and enjoyment. A museum offers recreational area for
learning with an aesthetic taste and enchanting feelings. (Kotler &Kotler 1998, 35)
According to Kotler and Levy most of the museum directors focus on the prosperity of artistic
heritage thinking that this is the only responsibility which makes museums single option and
boring areas and makes citizens uninterested in museums. Questioning the situation is also
failure to present what museums have to offer. (Kotler& Levy, 1969, 11-13)
Thus one of the major trends in this field is the change from collection oriented operations to
visitor oriented operations. A museum should not be a store house but more like a workshop
and its main function is to provide appealing and memorable museum experiences. (Kotler
&Kotler 1998, 16)
Today museums use the term Audience Development to describe one of the key performance
indicator in their operations that indicates visitor figures and visitors accessibility to their
collections. Audience Development also includes services to provide information for visitors
and even to the world not only about their collections and services also on their attitudes,
expectations. According to Sue Runyard and Ylva French, Audience Development is just
another name for programming and marketing activities to reach wide audiences. (Runyard S.
& French Y: 114). And this is how this terminology is brought in to to the field of Museum
Marketing.
4.2. Art Galleries Art Gallery is a building or a space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art. The most
commonly displayed objects are paintings, drawings and sculptures, whereas installations,
photographs, prints and artist’s books are also displayed and sold.
Although primarily aim of art galleries is providing a space to show works of visual art,
sometimes Art Galleries are used to host other artistic activities like signing days, open talks
on art, and performances like concerts and poetry readings.
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“Art Gallery” is sometimes used to refer publicly owned non-profit galleries and museums
exhibit selected collection of arts. In this paper I used the term Art Gallery with its generally
accepted and distinguishing property which refers Art Galleries as Private Commercial
Enterprises established and operate to sell arts.
The term Art Gallery usually refers to a privately owned for-profit commercial gallery, open
to the general public without charge. They usually profit by taking a portion of art sales;
typically from 25% to 50% sometimes barter or rent venue to an artist for a specific time
period to exhibit a collection of art. Art Galleries sometimes choose to represent artists
exclusively, giving them the opportunity to show regularly and promote their work of art in
different platform.
4.3. Museums & Art Galleries and Integrated Marketing Communication I assume that Marketing and Marketing Communication is crucial for today’s Museums interm
of creating awareness and positive outcome in audience building and financial management
issues.
According to Hausmann, marketing accomplishesone of the main duties of Museum Directors
by identifiying target groups, their expectations, products and services to offer. (Hausmann A.
2007:176)
Smith and Taylor define marketing communications as interaction to reach target audiences by
using media channel to deliver instituations messages and brand identity where main tools are
advertising, public relations, direct marketing, merchandising and corporate identity. (Smith &
Taylor, 2004).
According to Kotler and Keller Marketing is the art of growing and keeping customers by
creating and delivering customers’ expectations and communicating institutions values to go
further. (Kotler, P. & Keller, K.L.2009, 45–47)
For an efficient marketing Kotler and Keller mentioned getting and growing customers when
we talk about museums we also have to clarify the Museums’ Customers where audience and
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other stakeholders have to be classified. Kotler and Scheff (1997, 63) figured out the
Customers of Museum Organizations.
Figure 1. Customers of Museum Organizations
(Source: Kotler & Scheff, 1997: Standing Room Only P:63)
When the customers of museum organizations are revised its clear that general audience and
all stakeholders are fundamental for a museum’s future. A museum or an Art Gallery have to
anticipate the needs of these classified customers by developing and renovating new programs
to maintain those needs which leads Museums to build a sustainable and integrated marketing
activities to build a life-long relations. For that purpose Duncan defines Integrated Marketing
Communication. He states that all cross functional processes to create positive relations with
customers, encouraging and influencing purposefull dialogues with potential
customers..Where communicating similar messaged to target audience is vital to ensure a
better impact and overall consistency. (Duncan, 2002:7)
According to Kotler Integrated Marketing is from reliance on one communication tool such as
Advertising to blending several tools to deliver a consistent brand image to customers at every
brand contact. (Kotler & Kotler, 1998:16)
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Don Schultz (2008) define Integrated Marketing Communication as enforcing marketers to
use marketing communication mix in planning, developing, executing a strategic and
measurable communication programs with targeted audiences, evaluated in determined
periods to achieve certain objectives over time. The distinguishing characteristics of Integrated
Marketing Communication from simple marketing communication can be highlighted with
three words: strategic, measurable and evaluated.
Kitchen and Schultz (1997) supports integrated marketing communication where measuring
and evaluating overtime brings greater control over the communication programs which also
leads to lower budgets in terms of efficiency and coverage arte. Duncan and Everett (1993)
extends the benefits of Integrated Marketing Communication by including competitive
advantage through Integrated Marketing Communications.
The idea of Integrated Marketing can be generalized as a 360 degree Marketing
Communication Program that includes all types of communication tools - both traditional
ones like TV, Radio, Newpaper and new trending ones like social media platforms and digital
devices. (Pall & McGrath, 2009).
Integrated Marketing Communication Concept suggests building a communication mix to
have multiple ways of accessing target audience where individuals are actively looking and
searching for new information and building continuous relationships through various
channels.
4.3.1. Social Media Social media is defined as an informative content by web users through highly accessible
digital technologies to facilitate communications, influence interaction between individuals
where communication usually occurs via the Internet and mobile networks. (Weber, 2009)
Social media is one of the many mediums that can be used as part of Integrated Marketing
Communication tool in designing any marketing communications strategy.
Social media is generally used by marketers to create and attractive content that motivates
people to share it with their networks. As social media is about the users actively sharing
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content and their contributions for effective marketing communication, the success of the
medium is dependent on user participation and motivations to share. (Mannonen & Runonen,
2008). Besides the low cost of using social media the growing amount of users and available
information makes social media an important tool.
Social Media provide great opportunites to promote activities by increasing awareness,
convincing users to acquire services or product and then reminding potential audiences that
the product and services. (Kotler and Keller, 2007: 45)
Another Social Media definition-based on viral marketing - defines concept as an unpaid peer-
to-peer communications using the internet to influence and persuade an audience to share the
content to others. (Thackeray,2008, 314).
Social Media Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter allows companies share their
Facebook representa an audience of 1350 million users,as the leading social media platform,
Instagram over 300 million users and Twitter had 284 million active users as of December
2014.
In an environment where social media marketing channels dominate online activities,
Organizations are aware of the opportunities to maximize their exposure and raise their
followers.
4.3.2. Mobile Applications Mobile Applications are web based applications that run on smart and mobile devices
usually help users to access information and platforms by connecting to Internet services
easily
A mobile Application can be a website, a messaging platform, a search engine or a booking
utility. (Webopedia)
5. MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERIES
5.1. ARTER An initiative of the Vehbi Koç Foundation (VKF), ARTER opened in 2010 to offer a
sustainable infrastructure for producing and exhibiting contemporary art.
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Arter Art Gallery has been presenting solo and group exhibitions with the aim to provide
visibility to distinguishing artistic practices and encouraging production of contemporary
artworks through the support it provides in the context of these exhibitions. ARTER's
programs also features publications that accompany each exhibition
5.2. BORUSAN CONTEMPORARY Borusan Contemporary Art Museumy is an art space for exhibitions, educations programs and
events.
Borusan Contemporary Art Museum is unique with the essence that the area is an BMW
Headquarter where gallery and offices co-exist. The Place is open to Public only on the
weekends.
5.3. EKAVART EKAV Education, Culture and Research Foundation is a non-profit establishment under
EKAV. Ekavart Gallery. has started its operations on November 23rd, 1991, with the aim of
carrying the concept of art to a wider area, and giving support to young artists of the future.
The system works with donations. All the income earned through various activities is granted
students as scholarships who are receiving art education, to support the artists of the future.
The Gallery is situated in Süzer Plaza, under the Ritz Carlton Hotel, in İstanbul.
The Ekavart Gallery aims at improving the quality of life in general and at the level of social
consciousness within the general population through combining the language of art and
esthetic values. Ever since the opening of the Gallery, solo and mixed exhibitions that
included the works of the masters of Turkish art as well as the works of the younger
generations, personal development seminars, signing days, workshops, concerts have been
conducted there. The Gallery hosted the works of many well-known artists such as Fahrel Nisa
Zeid, Ergin İnan, Süleyman Saim Tekcan, Muzaffer Akyol, Balkan Naci İslimyeli, Seyyit
Bozdoğan, Okan Bayülgen, Mercan Dede, Nezih Çavuşoğlu, Ali Alışır, Sezin Aksoy, Uğur
Çakı, Yalçın Bilgin, Ardan Özmenoğlu.
Ekavart enriched its operations with Turkey’s first online art television EkavartTV and
distinguishes its blog Ekavart ArtBlog with blog writers who are art collectioners, artlovers
and and artists providing peer infuence.
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5.4. THE ISTANBUL MUSEUM OF MODERN ART The Istanbul Museum of Modern Art is a private museum opened with the aim to share artistic
creativity and contemporary artworks with wide audiences.
With Exhibition Galleries, spaces for educational programs, Cinema, Restarants, Design Store
and a library Istanbul Modern is a more than a musuem or o a gallery it’s a recreational area
attracting local and international visitors.
5.5. MERKUR ART GALLERY Merkur Art Gallery is a contemporary art gallery working with significant artists of Turkey.
Merkur Art Gallery also provides work spaces for young artist with different aesthetic
perceptions.
Merkur Art Gallery is dynamic organization –open to new trends and technologies- to promote
art expertise and aura to wider audiences
5.6. MIXER ART GALLERY Mixer Art Gallery is an art platform that aims to discover new and independent artist with a
different idea of art space where artwork are accessible to all.
Mixer Art Gallery offers a multi-functional space for artists to produce, exhibit, communicate
and sell their artworks.
Besides its multi-functional use of space Mixer provides a system exhibit and sell more than
500 pieces of artworks of over 100 artists online through its web page for people who cannot
physically visit the gallery or have visit but decide to buy later on. Emerging artists may also
upload their personal artworks to Mixer’s website and reach out to a wider audience.
5.7. PERA MUSEUM Pera Museum is a private museum offering outstanding exhibitions and cultural services with
three different permanent collections presenting Turkey’s Artistic and Cultural Heritages.
“Kütahya Tiles and Ceramics”, Anatolian Weights and Measures and Orientalist Paintings”.
Pera Museum offers exhibitions, educational programs, publications and events concerning
public values with social responsibility.
One of the distinguishing features of the Pera Museum is the joint projects organized with
international museums and foundations that introduce internationally acclaimed collections to
Turkish Audiences.
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Some of the most illustrious amongst these include Rembrandt, Joan Miró, Akira Kurosawa,
Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, and Goya.
Pera Museum successfully applies membership programs and launches events and education
programs to create financial outcome and support museums operations.
5.8. M.RAHMI KOÇ MUSEUMS The Rahmi M. Koç museum is a private to for profit instituion dedicated to collect and
preserve industrial and engineering objects of all period for future generations.
The Rahmi M. Koç Museums offer exhibitions, educational events, joint projects with leading
companies and international foundations.
With Planetarium, PlayGrounds, Tearoom, Café, Pub and Restaurants, RMK Museums offers
special recreational areas,distinctive experiences with an aesthetic taste and enchanting feeling
for visitors which makes area a cultural institutions for education and enjoyment.
In 1996 RMK Museum is honored to receive a special award from the Council of Europe's
"European Museum of the Year Award."
Today M. Rahmi Koç Museums is the largest private museum organization with 27000
square kilometers area only in İstanbul.
5.9. SADBERK HANIM MUSEUM Sadberk Hanım Museum is Turkey’s first private museum founded to exhibit a private
collection-The Collection of Sadberk Koç.
Sadberk Hanım Museum also had an unexpected and rapid growth with donations and
purchases. Museums was holding an inventory of 3.000 pieces when founded in 1984. Today
Museums Inventory has more than 18.000 pieces.
Sadberk Hanım Museum distinguishes its operation with valuable artefacts, knowledge based
documentaries and collection books, active online digital archive and virtual museum.
5.10. SAKIP SABANCI MUSEUM With the annex of a modern gallery, the exhibition areas of the museum opened to visitors in
2002; with a further extension of the layout in 2005, the technical level of the museum reached
international standards.
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Sakıp Sabancı Museum exhibits three main collections “Calligraphy”, “Paintings” and
“Furniture and Decorative Arts” Collections and Sculptures.
Today Sakıp Sabancı Museum present a versatile museum atmosphere for exhibitions,
education program and cultural events like concert and conferences.
6. BEST PRACTICES
This paper aims to deliver a guideline for a successful up- to-date marketing communication in
a non-profit business area where budgets and sources limited. With a qualitative method of
research I visit Museums and Galleries and reviewed their marketing efforts either by
arranging a meeting or by visiting anonymously.
This study fulfilled my eager to learn more about non-profit marketing field and area of art
and museums enlightened my interest in preserving cultural heritages and providing
entertaining education methods to next generations.
In every visit and search I saw a potential in every organization for a better performance and
decided to work on best practices to find win/win ways to change and improve operations of
the organizations, and decided that when knowledge isn’t shared and recorded, people can’t
know how to deliver the best outcomes.
With this paper I believe that all interested organizations will save time and resources and all
stakeholders who took part in implementation of these projects will again be honored for their
efforts and goodwill. To figure out the marketing activities and social media presence I first set
a table. (Please see Figure 2)
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Figure 2. Social Media Presence of Museums and Art Galleries in Turkey
Source: Authors own compilation
This table also helped me to see what organizations are doing better than expected. Each
practice listed in this paper has a different value and impact. Rather than ranking I prefer to list
them according to 2014 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Michael A. Stelzner
published by Social Media Examiner.
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Figure 3. Figure The most important Social Media Platform for Marketers
Source: Social Media Marketing Report by Michael A. Stelzner published by Social Media Examiner http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/
Where Facebook is the leading platform followed by Twitter, Blogging, Instagram and then I
listed Web Pages, Mobile Applications, Online TV, Art Project, Virtual Museum, Digital
Archive as new trends and Membership, Education and Leisure Programs as successful
marketing actions to create positive outcome.
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6.1. Facebook Facebook with more than 1.35 million monthly users (Please see Figure 4) has undoubtedly
transformed the social media. Today Museums and Art Galleries are using Facebook for their
online presence.
Figure 4. Number of Monthly Active Facebook Users
Source: by Statista 2015
http://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/
Facebook has become a major tool for sharing information about arts and culture, collecting
feedback and communicating with target audiences. Today almost every organisation in
Museums & Art Gallery sector has presence in this leading social media platform.
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Figure 5. Facebook Presence
Source: Facebook
What distinguishes efforts is audience participation and the way organisations use
Figure 6. Audience Participation in Facebook
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Istanbul Modern has received 8.7k reviews.and 6136 like for a post informing an exhibition
with a language style of a call rather than an information.
Figure 7. Effective Language Style in Facebook
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RMK Museum İstanbul is another best practice in Facebook Platform by using channel to
inform about new mobile app.
Figure 8. Announcement of new Service Mobile Application
Figure 9. General Audience Messages
Figure 10. Promoting Group Visits for Audience Development
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Figure 11. Announcing A Competition
Figure 12.Informing Upcoming Education Events and Workshops
Figure 13. Inviting for Paid Workshops
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Figure 14. Announcing Success
Figure 15. Announcing Instagram Presence
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Figure 16. Announcing an Entertainment and Education Event
And so on. More than showing a presence the organization uses Facebook platform as a
channel to reach audience in every occasion. Keeps audience informed and aware of
everything carried out in operation.
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Another best Practice is Merkur Galeri using Facebook to inform audience about Milestones
in Artists’ Art Carier and promotes the Artists.
Figure 17. Promoting Artists Career Development
6.2. Twitter
According to 2014 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Michael A. Stelzner the
Social Media Examiners Twitter is the second platform (Figure Commonly Used
Social Media Platforms) that marketers prefer to use with more than 221 million users
(see fig .Twitter enables organizations to send short messages which automatically
received by followers and available to all interested users.
Figure 18. Commonly Used Social Media Platforms
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Figure 19.Number of Monthly Active Twitter Users
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6.3. Blogging
Blogs are web pages where thoughts, status and ideas are Blogs allow chronologically listed.
Blogs are commentary posts on a subject generally written by the owner of the blog to share
and communicate their thought. Blogs are personal, interactive, multimedia, and usually free and
easy to use, which make them a great and accessible asset for any businesses.While reviewing
blogs in the sector I find Ekavarts Blog ArtBlog remarkable where blog writers are Art
Collectors and Artist informing followers about their experiences not only about Ekavart
Exhibits but also about Art World, .International Art Fairs and Festival or about a famous
exhibition. This initiative makes ArtBlog more than a blog of an Art Gallery a community of
Art Fans.
Figure 20.ArtBlog By Ekavart
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6.4. Instagram
Instagram is an online social networking platform where users and organizations like
Museums and Art Galleries can share photos and 15 seconds short videos and post them with
short texts and hashtags. With Instagram users can share their posts on a variety of social
networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr. Easy to join and follow interest
areas and informative with automatically flowing content.
Reviewing the use of Instagram I am impressed by ARTER Art Gallery’s practice
ARTERGRAM. Instagram is a platform where any user can post with your hashtags or brand.
ARTER started ARTERGRAM where Instagram users post their photos with hashtag #arter
and ARTER transmits them to ARTERGRAM page.
Figure 21.Arter on Instagram; Artergram
6.5. Web Pages Web Pages are not social media platforms or a new tool representing a technological change
but the change in audience perception must be underlined. www or the URL addresses are
more than online addresses they are signs of existence. Web Pages are now more than a page
they are books of what you are, what you do and how you do. Web pages are channels you can
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deliver all your assets to your audience. Among Museums and Art Galleries of Turkey Pera
Museum is so successful in delivering all messages and Program through its webpage.
Figure 22.Pera Museums Webpage
Another successful webpage is Mixer Art Gallery’s web page which is more than an address
it’s an online catalogue, a virtual gallery,an online store with more than 500 piece of art of
more than 100 artists.
Figure 23.MIXER’s Web Page
.
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6.6. Mobile Application
Mobile Applications are software programs design for mobile devices where content is easy to
access just by a clicking on the software icon shown on the mobile device screen.
Figure 24.RMK Museum Mobile Application Pages
RMK Museum provides information about exhibitions, collections, announcement, education
programs and details for a visit with one click on mobile devices. Mobile Application make
access to information easier and quicker.
Figure 25.Istanbul Modern Mobile Application Pages
İstanbul Modern Contemporary Museum offers an application with further specs where users
can also access Museum’s Collection and Photography Collection 160 pieces of art digitally
archived and presented to any interested follower for just one click.
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Figure 26.Sakıp Sabancı Museum Mobile Application Pages
Sakıp Sabancı Museum offers a mobile application accessible
only in the museum that they use as an online visitor guide that work with QR Codes.
Application enables visitor to learn more about the artefacts in their collections.
Figure 27.Sakıp Sabancı Museum Mobile Application QR Codes
6.7. Online TV
Online TV is an original television content and production broadcasted via world wide web.
Web TV is an online video content streaming technology where distributing is relatively cheap
with respect to traditional standard television broadcasting and with worldwide web global
audience can access and watch content anytime whenever they want.
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Ekavart streams Turkey’s first Online Art Television via EkavartTV, art peers can access
content just by clicking the address. http://www.ekavart.tv/ which is an interesting initiative
where production costs are high and ratings makes broadcasting competition severe for Art
and Cultural Heritage Content. EkavartTV uses its platform with principle of neutral ground
for communicating knowledge and art and streamline about museums, galleries and artist who
are other players in the competitive business area.
Figure 28.EkavartTV –Turkey’s 1st Online Art TV
Figure 29.EkavartTV –Online
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6.8. Digitization, Google Art Project, Virtual Museums, Digital Archieves With new technologies and new life styles where accessibility is important and time is limited
a new initiative that represent a great service to research, preservation, communication and
education is appear to be a new trend in the field as digitization.
Eventhough function was provided by collectioner, curators and collection department with
archieves, documentations, books, articles and collection books. Digitization is a new trend
that makes more resources available digitally, increases access for diverse audience even
worldwide,
Digitizing entire collections allow Museums and Art Galleries to integrate resources, share
them borderless – without cost of shipment and time- to all interested individuals, institutions
and organizations.
6.8.1. Google Art Project
Google Art Project is an initiative of Google Search Engine to collaborate art institutions and
collectioners to enable people to see and discover artworks online and in detail. Google Art Project
works with more than 250 institutions and displays works of more than 6,000 artists online. This
initiative is also a digital library of art and cultural heritages providing high resolution images and
explanation of famous artworks in one place.
Google Art Project also offers 360 degree tours of galleries using Street View ‘indoor’ technology. As
of December 2014 Google Art Project displays45,000 objects in high resolution and Street View
images for more than 60 museums, with more on the way.
Figure 30.Sakıp Sabancı Museum & Google ArtProject 1
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Figure 31.Sakıp Sabancı Museum & Google ArtProject 2
Figure 32.Sakıp Sabancı Museum & Google ArtProject 3
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6.8.2. Virtual Museum
Virtual Museums are a digitizing initiative where one or more collections of images, sound
files, text documents, and other data of collections displayed online. A virtual museum does
not house physical objects they are generally an initiative of a museum holding the collections.
In Turkey Sadberk Hanım Museum have and independent virtual museum for their unique
and valuable collection, visitor access and review content from a hyperlink placed on their
webpage.
Figure 33.Virtual Museum by Sadberk Hanım Museum 1
Figure 34.Virtual Museum by Sadberk Hanım Museum 2
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6.8.3. Digital Archive Digital Archieves are digital libraries offering high resolution images for researchers. Sakıp
Sabancı Museum and Sabancı University developed Digital SSM a great search platform with
more than 77.000 high resolution images of their collections.
Figure 35.Digital Archieve by Sakıp Sabancı Museum and Sabancı University 1
Figure 36.Digital Archieve by Sakıp Sabancı Museum and Sabancı University 2
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Figure 37.Digital Archieve by Sakıp Sabancı Museum and Sabancı University 3
6.9. New Trends Marketing in Museums and Art Galleries Visiting various Museums and Art galleries helped me see the efforts of the organizations to
create positive financial outcome and a visitor experience Even for non-profit organizations
rules of managements are the same.
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In a competitive world companies and organization keep looking for new ways and to create
income and adapt changes to survive.
The most remarkable ones are also good examples of new trends in Museum and Art Gallery
Marketing even though they are not related to technological changes they are results of a
change in perceptions. These programs are membership programs, workshops and education
programs and programs supporting visitor experiences.
6.9.1. Membership Programs The Membership Programs are visitor paid packages offering advantages and free services
tailored to meet visitors expectations. Pera Museum and Istanbul Modern Contemporary
Museum are the leading organizations in this program. Sakıp Sabancı Museum announced a
memberhip program for 2015.
Pera Museum and Istanbul Modern Contemporary Art applies two different successful
programs.
Pera Museum’s Membership Program consists of six different packages offering advantages
vary from free admissions for the year, invitations to exhibition openings, audio and guided
tours, discounts at the Artshop and discounts on Pera Film and Pera Education activities with
annual prices from 100-5000 TL
Figure 38. Membership Categories by Pera Museum
Source: http://en.peramuzesi.org.tr/Membership-Categories-Accordion/14
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Istanbul Modern offers an extensive membership program with 5 different categories that provides opportunities for privileged participation in all Museum activities and offers member exclusive events which makes their membership program exclusive.
Istanbul Modern Membership Program provides a wide range of benefits ranging from discounts to special invitations and private tours for annual prices range from 65 - 6 000 TL.
Figure 39.Membership Categories by Istanbul Modern Contemporary Art Museum
Figure 40.Exclusive Membership Activities by Istanbul Modern Contemporary Art Museum
Membership Programs are good sources of financial income and a privilege given to visitors.
Membership Programs are also successful tool for developing continuous relations and
memorable visitor experience.
6.9.2. Workshops and Education Programs Workshops and Education Programs are pre-paid programs aim to introduce participant to
learning and developing skills and create awareness for Museum with programs based on
interpretation and creativity in various field for different groups.
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Figure 41.Workshops and Education Programs by Pera Museum
Figure 42.Prebooked and Pre Paid Workshops and Education Programs by RMK Museums
Figure 43.Workshops and Education Calendar by RMK Museum
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6.9.3. Visitor Experiences As Kotler said a museum produces and offers recreation, learning experience, aesthetic taste, ,
enchanting feeling (Kotler & Kotler, 1998:35) Successful Museums are aware of one point;
Visitor experiences are important for their organization not only to satisfy the customers but
also to make visitors spend more money and more time during their visits. All programs
mentioned above aim to provide positive and memorable experiences what I want to mention
here is the initiatives performed just to provide memorable visitor experiences.
Museums of today use recreational facilities, venues and even artefact from their collections to
give their visitors a thrill to create a financial income. Best Practices are;
•Offering Recreational Facilities; Cafes, Pubs, Restaurants, Carousels and Playgrounds.
•Exclusive Tours like Nostalgic Railway Journey, Submarine Experience, Tours guided
by Artists, Signing Days,..etc.
•Renting Venues for Events Sakıp Sabancı Museum and RMK Museums rent their
venues for concerts, corporate event and even for individual events like wedding and
birthdays.
which increases variety of services offered by Museums, increase their traffic and income.
Figure 44.Rahmi Koç Museum Visitor Experiences
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Figure 45.Sakıp Sabancı Museum Recreational Areas
Figure 46.Istanbul Modern Visitor Experience
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6.9.4. Dealing and Managing Visitor Feedbacks Guestbooks have always been a popular method of collecting feedback from the prospects.
Visitors to express their thoughts and feelings about the site, products, services and their
experiences through Guestbook which is a quick and low-cost method off collecting feedback
which can help organisations see their strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to
improve their operations. Even today traditional printed guestbooks are effective tools though
in application organisation still may face some drawbacks and difficulties in keeping,
protecting and sharing feedback with management and related departments.
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Sakıp Sabancı Museum began to use an electronic kiosk that works online and collects
customer information with feedback, uses opportunity to engage visitors to join in other tools
like mailing group and social platforms.
Figure 47.Sakıp Sabancı Museum Vistor’s Feedback Kiosk
7. CONCLUSION
This paper sought to search and understand Social Media and New Trends in Marketing
Communication Activities for Museums and Art Galleries in Turkey where different
marketing tool and practices are applied by different organizations.
The aim of this research was to explore positive experiences and determine best practices.
Introducing bright marketing examples used to meet visitor expectations are excellent
marketing initiatives that support organizations’ image and managerial strategies. Reviewing
all marketing efforts of Museums and Art Galleries helped to define different types of Social
Media Channels and the way they are used in today’s marketing world.
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Interviews and searches are conducted among the largest private museums and art galleries in
Turkey and only best practices are communicated to exemplify success stories and help
institutions set their own up-to-date Integrated Marketing Communication Strategies.
This research has shown that Museums and Art Galleries in Turkey have motivation and
ability to advance their performance and become audience oriented organizations.
8. RECOMMENDATIONS
Social media should become a part of integrated marketing strategy for Museums and Art
Galleries. Today almost everyone is using modern technologies and Web 2.0 sites to access
information and maintain various types of needs. Neglecting or a delay in using modern
technologies and understanding the shift in perceptions and preferences of the market will
potentially threaten organizations the existence whereas the pioneers in social media
marketing and new trends will be able to take the advantage of being leaders. To take the
advantage social media activities should not be limited to the most popular sites, Museums
and Art Galleries can benefit more by increasing the number of social media platforms and the
tools they use for marketing.
Developing Integrated Marketing Communication should be strategic and well planned.
Leveraging social media tools and new trend spontaneously without any concrete plan may
not bring effective results in promoting business.
The main goal of the Marketing and social media marketing activities is involving the
audiences in operation. Audiences with a high level of involvement and interaction marketing
activities and the organizations may stimulate further participation.
Affiliate Marketing Opportunities in the market should carefully be reviewed. Mutual
Programs with tourism agencies, package sales and prepaid coupon books can actively be
used.
Always there will be new technologies available to facilitate experiences and advancement in
technologies will make operations more efficient. Organization shoul always operate with the
principle of keeping the track of new trends an utilizing at maximum levels.
The recommendations provided in this paper can help to achieve better results in Marketing
Museums and Art Galleries though I want to remark that identifying the solution for a better
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Marketing Communication is just a small part of the job, while using each tool effectively and
sustaining the process and level of communication determines the success.
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