During the past several months of coronavirus closures, many museums and cultural organizations have pioneered new digital content to keep their members and visitors engaged during these unprecedented closures. Many members have responded so positively to this new digital access that membership professionals may be considering making digital benefits and virtual access a more permanent fixture of membership, or even adding a “virtual membership” level.

Last Thursday, over 1,500 membership and museum professionals joined Dan Sullivan (Head of Growth and Partnerships @ Cuseum), Sarah Owens (Membership Manager @ Exploratorium), Kara Fikse (Advancement Events Manager @ Carnegie Museums), & Cat Harper (Guest Services & Events Manager @ National Steinbeck Center) for a webinar discussing digital and virtual memberships and how to offer digital access to your members.

Watch the full recording here.

Here are a few of the biggest takeaways from the conversation.

Create Special Digital Offerings

Virtual content, whether through websites or newsletters, is a great way to connect with members that may not be able to access the physical space, even after reopening. This is a top concern for many organizations, since restrictions of travel and general anxiety around social outings may persist for the foreseeable future.

Kara Fikse from the Carnegie Museums mentioned that all her events have been held through Zoom live streams, which allow the events team to monitor the Q&A and create a lively, interactive conversation.

“We’ve gotten several comments that people like the feeling of a curator speaking directly to them, adding the value of a one-on-one conversation is very powerful”
– Kara Fikse

Cat Harper at the National Steinbeck Center also uses special video content to keep members engaged - their weekly newsletters include links to their private Youtube channel, reading guides, and fun exercises! Sarah Owens at the Exploratorium similarly keeps audiences engaged through their content portal that has pre-recorded videos and other social media livestreams.

This is a great time to start thinking of digital offerings that can not only add value to the organization, but also gain a greater reach to new audiences.

Streamline Content Creation and Collect Audience Feedback

Due to limited resources during this time, many may wonder how to develop content that members and the audience will want to see. In order to start, surveys or other feedback may be useful in understanding the direction you want to take content.

“In this new landscape, we are going to launch a monthly survey that will be focused on online programs and what they want to see. And I hope that that will help with programming in the future”
– Sarah Owens

This is also a great time to reach out to folks your team has worked with in the past. For example, Kara Fikse was able to tap into her network to build programming for her events. Curators often contact her to share their work with the public and this has been a commonly shared method for creating content. She also highlighted the importance of brainstorming with your team, especially in marketing and education.

Sarah also agreed on the importance of using your network and assessing past successes. She also started by looking at past popular events to see how they could adapt them to similar virtual offerings.

As a smaller organization, Cat Harper had to start with coming together as a team and thinking of what the public would want to see.

“Everybody on the team has created content of some sort, but we also have a very supportive public that have read videos for us, read part of a Steinbeck novel for us, some celebrities have also shown their support.”
– Cat Harper

She also mentioned that for their members, her team has created an exclusive “backstage pass” where members can see part of the museum and archives that cannot be seen anywhere else. This provides another incentive for visitors to access exclusive content and gain more interest.

Kara Fikse highlighted some of the content that received particular interest. For members, her team was able to create a virtual tour of the museum that members can access for free. Due to the positive feedback, she is looking toward also opening this tour to non-members for a ticket price to gain a larger audience.

Consider a Virtual Membership Level or Add-On

A “virtual membership” level or add-on may offer several benefits for your organization. The National Steinbeck Museum currently offers a virtual membership and states that they started off as a way for people in a different geographical location to enjoy their content. Virtual offerings can be a great way for these people to support the organization even if they cannot physically visit while also receiving various content offerings.

“As everything started developing with COVID-19, it became more of a way for compromised audiences, people who are not able to go out as freely for the next two years and attend events, this was an extra way to keep in touch with us and still get that quality.”
– Cat Harper

One of the most important benefits of a virtual membership is the ability to maintain a connection with the members. Sarah Owens mentioned that for the Exploratorium, a more interactive museum, it was important to provide this interactive aspect even in a virtual setting. Kara Fikse added that one of her goals was to keep the value of their memberships at the top of members’ minds, while adding an extra benefit.

Explore New Pricing Models

When offering a virtual membership, selecting the right price can often be a challenge for organizations of all sizes. Cat Harper started by doing her research by seeing how other organizations are pricing their offerings. With hopes of setting an affordable price, the National Steinbeck Museum offers their virtual membership for $30 per year. Like Cat, organizations can look to other similar organizations to learn more about their ideas and break-down what they would like to include within these offerings.

Another option is creating an add-on price for virtual access, or even trying out a month-to-month subscription plan. Organizations like San Antonio Zoo and MCA Denver already offer month-to-month memberships, and this type of model might be well-suited for a virtual program.

A virtual membership offering can present a variety of benefits to add to the existing membership programs. Through first creating special digital offerings and brainstorming content creation with the team, organizations can utilize past connections and the public to create new and interesting content. Overall, a virtual membership would be a great opportunity to expand reach and new audiences from all over the world.

Looking for more information? Check out our Coronavirus Resources page.

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