Museums work hard to create engaging, meaningful experiences for visitors once they walk through the door—but what about before they even get there? A visitor’s journey starts long before they step inside your museum. It begins online—with your website, social media, and email communication.

In this episode of the Love my Museum podcast, Amy dives into why your digital presence matters just as much as your in-person experience. She shares practical action steps to make your website more visitor-friendly, improve social media engagement, and make the most of your email list.

Stay tuned until the end to hear about an exciting new Love my Museum offer designed to help museums strengthen their digital presence—and don’t miss out on the special discount below!

Links from the Episode:

• Episode 16: 10 Things for the “Plan Your Visit” Website Page
• https://www.lovemymuseum.com/museum-assessment
• Book your Museum Digital Assessment and use the discount code podcast20 to receive 20% off

More Free Resources for Museums:

• Museum Planning Calendar
• Museum Metrics Template

About the host: 

Amy Kehs is a brand strategist and communications expert for museums. She has owned Kehs Communications since 2000 and has worked for the most renowned and well-loved museums in Washington, D.C. Her goal is to ensure that museums thrive into the next century and she hopes people will come to love museums as much as she does. Her proven process sets up proactive communication habits for museums, cultivating relationships with visitors who will want to return and bring a friend. Want to talk more? Click this link to book a call.

Museums work hard to create engaging experiences for their visitors

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once they walk through the door.

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But what about before they even get there?

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Today we're talking

about digital presence.

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Let's get started..

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Hey there, and welcome back

to the Love My Museum podcast.

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I'm your host, Amy Keys,

and I love museums.

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I'm also a brand strategist and

communications expert for museums,

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and I'm so glad you found me here.

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Today I want to talk about something

that might not always get the

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attention it deserves, but it

can make a huge difference in how

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visitors engage with your museum.

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I'm talking about your digital

presence, your website, social media,

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and how easy it is for people to plan

a visit or stay connected with you.

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Here's the thing, your visitor's

experience with your museum starts

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long before they even walk through

the doors, and for most people,

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their first interaction with your

brand isn't in your galleries, it's

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on your website, your Instagram, or

your email that they thought about

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signing up for, but then they didn't.

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When we talk about the customer

journey, we're looking at every touch

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point visitors have with your museum.

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From the first moment they hear

about you to when they decide to

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visit and even after they leave.

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In today's world, your digital presence

is often that first point of contact.

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This is something that we've

talked about on the podcast before.

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I will link in the show notes, some

other episodes Where we talk about this.

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So the real question becomes, how

does the experience feel for them?

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Are they finding the

information they need easily?

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Is your messaging clear, inviting,

and compelling enough to get

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them excited to engage with you?

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as I said, all of this can

start before they arrive.

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How seamless is that

that customer journey?

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All of that can have a huge

impact on your ability to attract,

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engage, and keep visitors coming

back and bringing a friend.

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So, Today, I want to talk about how you

can make those digital touch points,

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your digital presence work harder

for you by refining your messaging,

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improving the ease of planning a visit

and ensuring that you're connecting with

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your audience at every step of the way.

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So first, let's start with your website.

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If someone lands on your homepage,

how quickly can they find the

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most important information?

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One of the first things that I do when I'm

working with a consulting client or when

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I'm doing a museum digital assessment is,

look at how easy it is to plan a visit.

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Visitors to your website should not

have to click through three different

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pages just to find your hours.

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Visitors want information fast.

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They want to know where to go, when

they can visit, what's happening.

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Do they have to buy tickets?

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How do they buy tickets?

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Do you have a cafe?

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What's parking like?

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All of those questions are things

that they're coming to your website

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hoping to find the answer to.

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So making sure that all of

that is really easy to find.

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It's just going to make their

experience a much easier one.

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And don't forget to check your

website on a mobile device.

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A lot of visitors are looking up

this information on their phones.

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if you offer events or programs

and you have a page for that or you

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have them listed on your website,

make sure that they're up to date.

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There's nothing worse than finding an

event that you're excited about and

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then realize it happened last year.

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I have a client that keeps the

past Programming on their website,

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but it's very, very clear.

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There's a clear line that says that

these events happened in the past.

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and that's great too, because leaving

it on your website, as long as it's

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really clear that it happened in the

past, can give people sort of a sneak

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peek at the things that you do and

the types of events that you have.

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So here's an action item

for you to do this week.

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Schedule some time to go through your

museum's website as if you were a visitor,

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as if you had never seen it before.

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Try it and see if anything

feels unclear or frustrating.

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Pretend you are trying to plan a

visit to your museum, sight unseen.

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and see how it goes.

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scheduled time to do

this a few times a year.

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things change and you want to make

sure the most important information

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is relevant up to date and clear.

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Now let's talk about The second part

of your digital presence, social media.

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It's easy to get caught up in

posting just to post, but are your

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posts actually making it easier

for people to engage with you?

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Social media is really interesting

because it's two way communication.

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You have the opportunity to

really engage with your audience.

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So some things to think about are.

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That same information that we talked

about on your website, do you have it

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clear and easy to find for the people

who are looking at your social media?

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On Instagram you could use a highlight

to save this information so that somebody

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coming to your Instagram account can

see a highlight that maybe says plan

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your visit and they can go through a,

a series of posts that will give them

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all of the information that they need.

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Maybe also create a video that you can

pin at the top of your Facebook page

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or have a video on a YouTube channel.

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All of those things will help

make it easier and also are a bit

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more interactive for your visitors

trying to plan their visit.

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Your social media is a marketing tool,

but it's also a public relations tool.

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So do your posts encourage interaction

or are they just ads for your next event?

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How can you make your social

media content more engaging?

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How can you share with your audience

things that are important to your

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mission and your vision and your values?

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How can you stay relevant?

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And also, if someone wanted

to support your museum, is it

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obvious how they can do that?

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There are some very small shifts that

you can make in how you talk about

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your exhibits, your collection, your

events, your behind the scenes content

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that can really make a big difference.

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And so instead of just announcing

something, think about how you

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can be creative and how you

can make it feel more inviting.

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and encourage that two way communication.

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an action item for social media is

the same thing that we did with your

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website, go look at your different social

media accounts like you are a potential

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visitor, like you are trying to decide

if you want to go and visit this museum.

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Does it seem fun?

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Does it seem engaging and interesting?

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What is that customer experience like?

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How easy is it for them to plan

their visit and to be able to picture

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themselves inside your museum?

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Your social media content should be fun

and inspiring and really encouraging

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them and fostering that relationship so

that they want to come to your museum.

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One of my favorite social media stories

is one of my clients had shut down for

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some renovations and they were opening

back up and a queue had formed outside

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the museum waiting for it to open back

up and someone had posted on social

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media that they were in line and gave

the number that I can't remember maybe

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they were number two Number nine in line

and the person that took care of social

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media for the museum went outside and

Found number nine and said hey, thanks.

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Thanks for posting like

it's so nice to meet you.

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We're so glad you're here The person

was blown away that the museum had gone

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that extra step to come and find her

and say thank you and And that just goes

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to show you that social media Should

be used as that two-way communication.

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It's such a great chance for you to build

those relationships with your biggest

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fans and the people that love your museum.

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The third part of your digital

presence is email, and it is one

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area I see a lot of museums missing

out on and something that they're A

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little apprehensive about starting.

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A lot of museums either don't have

a newsletter, or they have one, but

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they don't actively grow their list.

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And that is a missed opportunity.

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Your email list is yours.

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It's not controlled by an algorithm.

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It's not controlled by a search engine.

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It is something that you own.

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and it's a direct connection

to the people that are thinking

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about coming to your museum.

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or they've already been and you

would like for them to come back.

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Unlike social media, Unlike your website,

you can really control what people

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are seeing and what people are hearing

about the things that you're doing.

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Another quick exercise is to go

to your website and try signing

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up for your own newsletter.

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Was it easy to find?

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Did it take too many steps did

it feel worth signing up for?

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After people have signed up, do you

have it set up so that they get a

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nurture sequence in their inbox?

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that tells them more about your museum

and shows the value of what it will

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be like to be on your newsletter.

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People don't just join

email lists for fun.

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We live in a really busy, noisy world,

and our inboxes are overflowing.

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They sign up when they believe they'll

get something valuable in return.

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So if you want more signups, make it

clear why your emails are worth it.

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Instead of saying Join our newsletter,

try something like, get behind the

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scenes stories, event updates, special

perks, straight into your inbox.

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Is there some value that you

can give as a thank you for

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signing up on the email list?

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Maybe it's a free admission ticket or

a percentage off an admission ticket.

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Maybe it's a coupon for the museum store.

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the industry standard for someone

signing up to your email list is that

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they should get some value as well.

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That audience becomes your priority.

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They get information earlier

than other audiences.

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really make that email

newsletter content a priority.

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Really think it through and

make it valuable information.

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Now, if you're listening to all

of this and thinking, okay, Amy,

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this is great, but I don't even

know where to start, I've got you.

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I recently launched a museum digital

assessment service to help museums

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like yours refine your online presence,

strengthen your messaging, and make it

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easier for visitors to engage with you.

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So here's how it works.

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Uh, you just go to My website,

I will leave a link in the

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show notes and you sign up.

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Once you've accepted the proposal and

paid, I do a full review of your website,

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your social media, your email process.

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I put together a detailed report with

recommendations And then we have a call

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to go over what I found and we create

an action plan that you can actually

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And you take some time, you take a

couple of weeks to make those updates

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and then we have a second call to

check in and troubleshoot and fine tune

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things and you can ask me questions.

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It's designed to be actionable,

practical, and it's completely

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tailored to your museum.

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So if this sounds like something you need,

you can find the link in the show notes.

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And as a thank you for listening to

this episode, I'm also leaving you a

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discount code in the show notes as well.

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Or if you're not sure if it's the

right fit, just send me a message.

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I'm happy to chat.

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All right.

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That's it for today.

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Whether you tackle this on your own or

you get some help along the way, I hope

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this episode gave you some good ideas on

how to strengthen your museum's digital

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presence because at the end of the day,

it's not just about looking good online.

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It's about making it easier for people to

connect with you, to visit your museum.

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and to support your work.

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If this episode was helpful, I'd

really love to hear from you.

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Send me an email.

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Share it with a fellow

museum professional.

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It all helps more museums get

the resources that they need.

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That's all for today.

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Keep up the great work and

keep loving your museum.