Museums Brand Equity and Social Media: Looking into Current Research Insights and Future Research Propositions

Abstract. Extensive research has repeatedly acknowledged the link between traditional and digital marketing communication tools and branding performance. Particularly, both within For Profit Organizations (henceforth, FPOs) and Non-Profit Organizations (henceforth NPOs), social media as the milestone of the digital era has rebutted the foundations of corporate and personal communication through the emergence of new participatory communication terms, such as ''prod-user'' and “co-creation”. Consequently, a growing research trend has emerged towards e-e marketing tools and social media impact on destination branding, as well. Simultaneously, thanks to its multidimensional benefits both at the communicational, educational, and promotional levels, social media are emerging as an essential feature in the branding of the new museum era. To date, within the NPOs sector, few studies have investigated the effect of social media on brand equity. Moreover, far too little attention has been paid to the link between social media and museums' brand equity. Based on the systematic qualitative critical review methodology, this paper attempts to identify the basic trends and research status by 2018. Drawing on a review of 78 papers that are the result of systematic desk research, this study categorizes and presents, for the first time, the effects of social media use on museums’ brand components. The study offers new and valuable insights into the multidisciplinary research interests of the research and industry community relating to communication and marketing, NPOs, tourism, and museums context. Keywords: Social Media, Museums, Brand Equity, NPOs, Cultural Tourism

Do Social Media Affect Museums’ Brand Equity? An Exploratory Qualitative Study

The beneficial role of traditional marketing communication tools on branding performance is a dominant feature of marketing bibliography Moreover, the advent of social media has definitely resurged this research interest following the revolution both within For Profit and Non Profit Organizations communications (NPOs and FPOs) context. Thus, there is a growing trend towards the impact of both e-marketing and social media tools on destination branding procedures. However, due to its infant nature, very little is known on the association between social media and brand equity. No single study so far has empirically explored the role of social media on museums’ branding. Addressing previous calls within FPOs and NPOs’ sector and having recently reviewed and established theoretically the positive link, (1) first, between the social media and museums (2) second, between social media and NPOs’ brand equity, and (3) third, between social media on museum branding equity. The present study examines through a qualitative method the social media impact on museums brand equity. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews, that have been held for a month with communication officers of 30 museums. This work contributes to existing knowledge of multidisciplinary research interests such as museum branding, social media marketing and tourism marketing, both by confirming the beneficial contribution of social media on museums’ brand equity, visitors’ satisfaction and visitors’ engagement, and by providing valuable managerial insights