Beyond the Walls: Social Media and the Science and Technology Museum

The Canada Science and Technology Museum opened in 1967 as part of Canada’s Centennial celebrations.

The idea for the Canada Science and Technology Museum was born out of the Massey Commission. In 1951, the report recommended that the Canadian Government do more to support the arts and sciences in Canada; further emphasizing the need for a Canadian Museum of Science.

Between the time the Massey Report was issued and Canada’s Centennial year, many proposals were submitted for this new national institution of science; many of which were costly in a very uncertain funding environment. Finally, at the beginning of 1967, Dr. David Baird was appointed as Director for this proposed national museum; set to open at the end of the Centennial year.

Due to time constraints and funding uncertainty, Baird decided to house the Canada Science and Technology Museum in a former bakery and distribution centre in Ottawa. The bakery was meant to temporarily house the Museum; however it remained in the same location until 2014 when it was forced to close due to the discovery of mould. As unfortunate as this reality was for the museum, it finally received the funding it initially deserved. The Canada Science and Technology Museum’s facility will be renewed to ensure the continued education of ‘Canadian innovation and to inspire the next generation of great innovators’, as stated in their mission.

The renewed Canada Science and Technology museum is slated to open in November of 2017; and appropriately so, as it is Canada’s Sesquicentennial year!

But what did the Museum do when it was forced to close between 2014 and 2017? The Canada Science and Technology Museum turned to technology, of course! More specifically, the Museum turned to the use of social media to keep the public engaged with their institution. The Museum is active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest and Flickr. Given that it has been closed since 2014, the future of the institution relies heavily on these platforms. In an interview, Lorraine Gouin, the Officer of Social Media for the Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation (Canada Science and Technology Museum, Canada Aviation and Space Museum & Canada Agriculture and Food Museum) elaborates on their approach.

To stay true to their mission, the Museum has continued to share its knowledge via social media. Not only have they continued to share their knowledge, but they have also included the public in their entire renewal process through their social media platforms and their #MyMuseum2017 campaign. During her interview, Gouin noted that throughout this process, artifacts needed to be moved out of the facility and an interpretation renewal process began. During this process, the Museum’s Curators and Project Managers, etc. were encouraged to share artifacts and information that they believed the Museum’s followers would find interesting on social media. They’ve also contributed to a weekly series of videos to give the public a glimpse into their renewal process. This approach contributed to employee involvement and customer engagement. Gouin also found that:

“There was more of a focus on the local audience when we were open; being closed gives us more of a chance to reach out to a larger audience.”

Gouin found through analytics that 30% of the followers for all three museums in the Corporation were from the Capital region and social media has given the Museum the opportunity to share more content for people who don’t live in the Capital region, but who will now plan a trip to visit the Museum. The goal for the Canada Science and Technology Museum in regard to their social media is to keep their audience engaged with the institution throughout their renewal process. This is to ensure that when they reopen, the public will view them as a leading learning institution, which will in turn drive visitation and increase the use of its resources.

The key success factor in meeting this goal is their use of social media metrics. Gouin noted that the Museum measures reach, engagement, impressions and number of followers. She stated:

“We’ve seen an increase in followers for all of our social media channels. The engagement is increasing on our content as we move closer to opening.”

Another example of how the Museum is using social media metrics to reach their goal is through their #MyMuseum2017  #FridgeScape and #HomeScape crowdsourcing campaign.

The crowdsourcing component encourages the public to share images of their refrigerator via social media using #FridgeScape, or of their home using #HomeScape. The idea behind this campaign is to demonstrate the important role that technology plays within our lives, sometimes without us even realizing it. As part of the interpretation renewal, Gouin noted that

“We have six main galleries in the Museum and all of them (Curators, Project Managers, etc.) were encouraged to include the public as they prepare their exhibitions, so various teams came up with the idea of crowdsourcing. The Crazy Kitchen is a popular exhibit and the team decided they wanted content and some of the images will be displayed on the fridge in the Crazy Kitchen.”

A selection of the images from the #FridgeScape and #HomeScape campaigns will be incorporated into the Technology in our Lives gallery in the renewed Museum. Some of the images may also be archived within the Museum’s Domestic Technology collection. This aspect of the campaign makes use of enterprise social media metrics and contributes to employee involvement, customer engagement and product development through participation, ideas, content generation and feedback.

Once participants entered their submissions, they also qualified for a chance to win a two year membership to the Canada Science and Technology Museum and its sister museums, the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum and the Canada Aviation and Space Museum. The entries of this campaign helped to contribute to measuring user actions.

Lessons for Others

Not only through their crowdsourcing campaigns, but throughout their entire social media approach, the Museum makes use of social media metrics, which are helping to contribute to the future of the Museum in multiple ways. The analytics produced will provide insight into what the public responds to and finds interesting in the science and technology sectors. The analytics will show what the public wants to see more of in their Museum and what they do not, through visits, comments, shares and reach. These findings will aid in employee involvement, customer engagement and product development. It will also encourage participants who were active in the Museum’s social media campaigns to visit the Museum when it reopens. Paying close attention to their social media metrics will therefore contribute to the end goal of visitation and continued use of the institution. Gouin says that due to their social media

“We’re getting more questions about when we’re opening and we’re looking forward to the instantaneous feedback when we open and encouraging people to share on social media.”

So what can we learn from the Canada Science and Technology Museum?

If social media metrics are monitored, they can help to improve your social media acitvity. In turn, your social media will contribute to organizational performance. In the case of the Canada Science and Technology Museum, they have used social media metrics to help build a museum for the people, by the people. They have included the public throughout their entire renewal process and they have listened to their ideas, wants and needs. The goals of the Museum’s social media campaign between 2014 and 2017 are to consistently engage with the public, which builds a customer/brand relationship and will contribute to renewing their institution so that when it reopens, the public will continue to engage with the Museum and utilize Museum resources.

Arguably, if not for the use of social media, the public would lose interest in the renewal project for the Canada Science and Technology Museum. Due to their active participation on social media, however, and through paying close attention to their analytics, the renewed Canada Science and Technology Museum will quite possibly be more influential than ever before when it reopens.

If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site, please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Program Director, Social Media for Business Performance.

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