BUILD A BRAND BATA

Shehnaz Jaffar | Emerging Media and Applications | January 4th, 2017 Content Introduction ...... 2

Current Situation ...... 3

Overview of the BSM ...... 3

Social Media Presence ...... 4

Competitor Analysis ...... 5

Problems ...... 6

Opportunities ...... 6

Key Audiences ...... 8

Objectives and Strategy ...... 10

Business Objective 1: Increase attendance of current exhibitions ...... 10

Strategy: Event marketing to promote current exhibitions...... 10

Tactic: Instagram Photo Contests ...... 10

Sample Post ...... 11

Business Objective 2: Increase brand awareness ...... 12

Strategy: Build online communities ...... 12

Tactic: Facebook Groups ...... 12

Sample Post ...... 13

Business Objective 3: Establish thought leadership ...... 13

Strategy: Posit museum employees as subject-matter experts ...... 13

Tactic: Revamping Blog ...... 14

Sample Post ...... 15

Evaluation of Success ...... 16

Conclusion ...... 17

PAGE 1

Introduction

This report attempts to present an ideal and focused social media plan for the Bata

Shoe Museum, an institution which preserves footwear from ancient and modern history, as well as near and far-away lands.

The report starts with an overview of the current situation of the Bata Shoe

Museum. It provides a brief history and outline of the museum’s activities. It summarises the current social media presence of the museum and critiques it. It then looks to the museum’s main competitors for a comparison. It also provides an analysis of the problems and opportunities of the museum.

The report then goes on to identify their key audiences along with some demographic assessment. It also identifies potential audiences, in line with the social media strategy that is proposed in the next section.

The next section lists out three business objectives of the .

Under each objective, a strategy, a tactic, target audience, appropriate platform and a sample content is provided.

After this, metrics for evaluating success are stated for each objective separately.

At the end, a brief recapitulation of ideas discussed in this report is presented.

PAGE 2 Current Situation

Overview of the BSM The Bata Shoe Museum is an interesting institution – it is the only shoe museum in North America and the largest in the world. It opened its doors to the public on May 6th, 1995 at 327 Bloor Street West in downtown . It currently exhibits over 13,000 and related items. A varied selection is displayed in time- limited or semi-permanent exhibitions. As a non- profit organization, it actively contributes to the community through a variety of projects and programs. It also provides learning opportunities to schools and other educational institutions. The Bata Shoe Museum is operated by the Bata Shoe Museum Foundation, founded by Sonja Bata. Prior to opening the museum, Mrs. Bata 1 Sonja Bata and Late Husband Thomas travelled around the globe accumulating a rich Bata repertoire of shoes, and storing them in her private collection. Each shoe has a distinct story or cultural significance behind it.

PAGE 3 Social Media Presence The Bata Shoe Museum has accounts on:

• Facebook The museum’s Facebook page has the highest number of followers compared to other platforms. Each post receives an average of 29 likes and 1 comments – proving that engagement levels are poor. The brand does not engage with audiences either. Their content is homogenous. There is very little thought put into their content strategy. There is increased engagement on Fridays. • Twitter Twitter has the second highest number of followers. The engagement level is worse than Facebook – averaging at 14 likes and 6 retweets. The brand engages occasionally, but nothing significant. This raises the question whether it is worth it to be on this platform. Some competitor analysis reveals that Twitter is not the best place for to engage on.

• Blogger

The museum’s blog page exists on the Blogger platform. Its layout and design are very unattractive and outdated. The writing scores badly on readability. They do not cross-post on any of their other social media platforms. As a result, they enjoy very limited attention with just 76 followers.

• Pinterest Their Pinterest page has 820 followers. It does not make sense for the museum to be on Pinterest. • TripAdvisor Their TripAdvisor page has 1025 reviews, mostly good ones. • Instagram Their Instagram page receives the most engagement – averaging at 147 likes and 2 comments. That means roughly 1 percent of their audiences are always engaged. This heightened engagement might have to do with the fact that Instagram is an image-focused platform. The best part of the BSM’s

PAGE 4

• YouTube Their YouTube page has 376 subscribers, with average video reactions. They have not posted in the last one year. Their videos do not have a storytelling aspect. Eventually the brand must have realized that video-making created very little ROI.

Please refer to Appendix 1 for detailed social media statistics and examples of top performing posts.

Competitor Analysis The main competitors of the Bata Shoe Museum include the , the and the Textile Museum in Toronto. All these museums are of a similar size and vie for the same audiences. For this report, two of its closest competitors – the Aga Khan Museum and the Textile Museum – will be compared. Aga Khan Museum: The Aga Khan Museum is a museum of Islamic art, Iranian (Persian) art and Muslim culture in the North York district of Toronto, , Canada. Artefacts include ceramics, metalwork, and paintings covering all periods of Islamic history. It opened on September 18, 2014.1 The Aga Khan Museum’s social media is more successful than the Bata Shoe Museum. In terms of engagement, the former has twice as much as engagement than the latter. Except on Twitter, where the Aga Khan Museum is equally unsuccessful. Their videos are very good, with a great storytelling aspect. Their photographs are of better quality. Their posts on the AKM’s architecture garner a lot of engagement. They are very selective of which platform they are on. : The Textile Museum of Canada, located Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a Canadian museum dedicated to the collection, exhibition, and documentation of textiles. It was founded in 1975 by Max Allen and Simon Waegemaekers.

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aga_Khan_Museum

PAGE 5 Its collection includes fabrics, ceremonial cloths, garments, carpets, quilts and related artifacts.2 The TMC performs better on Facebook than the BSM, very poorly on Twitter and almost the same on Instagram. In terms of content, the TMC tries to diversify their content by having occasional videos and posts on their staff and volunteers. They try to put a human face to their activities. They also post promotions form the museum shop. Even if they might not be considered a mighty competitor, the BSM should still watch out for the diligence that the TMC puts into their strategy.

Please check Appendix 2 for details of the competitor analysis, including statistics.

Problems The most evident problems with the Bata Shoe Museum’s social media activities are: 1. They are present on too many platforms. Such as Pinterest and YouTube, where they have very minimal engagement and activities. 2. Their blog is in poor shape. The last time they posted was on September 2017. They have very little followers, and very little engagement. The blog exists as a separate entity from their main website. It also has an unappealing design and blog posts fare low on readability. 3. They have very monotonous content. They rarely post anything other than their standard exhibit post. This shows how little thought they put into their social media content. 4. They clearly don’t have a social media strategy, and their activities don’t seem to be tied to any of their business goals. Opportunities The Bata Shoe Museum has a lot of room to improve. Some of the opportunities may be: 1. Their brand is unique, though inadequately articulated on social. Some of the areas they can capitalize on with respect to their brand are:

2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_Museum_of_Canada

PAGE 6 a. Being the only footwear museum in North America, and the largest in the world. b. Their conservation practices circle around keeping the condition of the footwear intact. The Bata Shoe Museum does not believe in ‘restoring’ the footwear, but rather in displaying the wear and tear, the dirt in the sole and other signs of usage in the shoe. This is an interesting aspect – viewing footwear that was worn by people 4500 years ago, on the farthest lands of the world. c. The idea of a museum just for footwear still incites glee in people – especially women. 2. They appeal to older women a lot, and this demographic could be a source for a vibrant online community. 3. They are pioneers in their industry – with three women occupying top ranks in the Bata Shoe Museum. Sonja Bata is the founder of the museum. Elizabeth Semmelhack is the senior curator. Ada Hopkins is the resident conservator. This is good enough material to formulate a ‘thought leadership’ plan for the Bata Shoe Museum. Mrs. Bata and Elizabeth Semmelhack are influential people, and appear in the media frequently. Their popularity can easily be leveraged to the benefit of the museum’s social media activity.

2: The Storyboot School, run by the Bata Shoe Museum

PAGE 7 Key Audiences

Current Audience A quick demographic breakdown reveals that their audience: - Averages at 28 years of age - Are female - Earn around 45,000 dollars a year - 44% from the GTA, 10% from Ontario, 7% from Canada, 19% from Canada and 20% from the rest of the world - Prefer to use are Facebook and Instagram The above demographic descriptors could apply to their regular visitors. Some extended descriptors include: 1. Teachers at schools and adult ESL training sites - Ranging from 26 to 55 years - Interested in the educational programs by the museum 2. Students from JK to middle school - Ages from 4 to 11 years - Interested in tactile learning - Might consider the museum as a good place for entertainment - Whose social media activities are monitored by parents - Not very active on social media – most are YouTube consumers 3. Students from middle school to 12th grade - Prefer to use Instagram and Twitter - Ages 12 and above - Would be less likely to consider the museum as a good place to visit - Mostly taken along on school trips or family trips 4. Adult ESL students - Ages 24 years and above - Beginners in spoken English - Social media, such as Facebook, may be used to reach to them 5. Other non-profit organisations looking for partners in programming

PAGE 8 6. Small families 7. Tourists in Toronto 8. Art, history and fashion enthusiasts - Ages 18 and above - Prefer Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest for inspiration

Prospective Audience One thing this report would like to achieve is to broaden the audience base of the museum to include: 1. Younger women 18-29 years of age. They prefer Instagram as their primary social media platform. They are students or young professionals. They have very little money to spare (not an issue because the BSM’s tickets are cheap). They love shoes, and are forever looking for inspiration to try new styles. 2. History, museum and conservation professionals. No specific age – but above 18 years and maybe up to 65 years. Could be male or female. Looking to connect and network with other industry leaders. Looking for visionaries who understand the future of the museum industry. They would prefer blogs to look for authentic information for their professional-development activities. 3. Older audiences – 45 and above. These are empty nesters, baby-boomers and seniors who have a lot of time to spare. They are increasingly taking to social media to engage with like-minded people. Seniors are the fastest growing demographic on Facebook3. They are not just fast-growing, but they are also lucrative because they have more disposable income4.

3 http://www.adweek.com/digital/facebook-seniors/ 4 http://news.psu.edu/story/403464/2016/04/12/research/sorry-kids-seniors-want-connect-and-communicate- facebook-too

PAGE 9 Objectives and Strategy

The Bata Shoe Museum’s social media strategy for 2018 will cover the following business objectives: 1. Increase attendance of current exhibitions 2. Increasing brand awareness 3. Establishing thought leadership Business Objective 1: Increase attendance of current exhibitions The Bata Shoe Museum has five ongoing exhibitions: The Gold Standard, All About Shoes, Fashion Victims, Art and Innovation. All About Shoes is a semi-permanent exhibition while all others are temporary. One of the BSM’s business strategies may include increasing the number attendees to these exhibitions. Strategy: Event marketing to promote current exhibitions Audience Younger women – 18-29 years old Platform Instagram Tactic: Instagram Photo Contests This tactic combines the museum’s highest performing platform to churn out more visitors from its potential target audience – 18-29-year-old women. Instagram has great features to use for event promotions – but it mainly centers on the effectiveness of pictures. The quality of the pictures, the story-telling aspect as well as the frequency of posting. Event ads may be placed with specific calls for action, but these might be a bit too expensive for this non-profit organization. One effective and cheap tactic to use is by holding photo contests. It is not only a great way to cultivate user-generated content, but it also increases a sense of ownership among the visitors. It gives the museum valuable content to share on its social media handles. It also extends awareness about exhibitions to the networks of the participants.

PAGE 10 The concept of the photo contest could be that visitors are encouraged to visit the Bata Shoe Museum. The photos or videos they take while at the museum can be entered into a contest. The winner of the contest wins exciting prizes such as gift cards, discount coupons at footwear retailers or annual memberships for free. This would require permission to take photographs of the exhibits. Indoor lighting and ambience must be modified to help create perfect Instagram photographs. It is also important to hash-tag the contest, maybe with something like #MyBSMVisit. The museum can track entries with this hashtag. Also, audiences can check the progress on hash-tag streams. Winners will be selected based on the most number of likes and comments received on their individual posts. This will indirectly trigger the participants to promote their own posts in their circles, which adds good to the brand’s benefit and reach. The contests must be long-running – over a period of six months, or one year. This will mean that the momentum must not die down. To help keep up the momentum, periodical winners can be selected. Every two months, a winner is selected and is given a prize. Sample Post Image: Selfie of a visitor with a ‘Gold Standard’ exhibit Text: At the Bata Shoe Museum to attend the Gold Standard Exhibit. Would love to have one of these in my closet! Hashtags: #MyBSMVisit, #batashoemuseum, #thegoldstandard

PAGE 11 Business Objective 2: Increase brand awareness Strategy: Build online communities Audience Audience – 45 and above, residing in Toronto Platform Facebook Tactic: Facebook Groups One of the most effective ways to increase brand awareness is to create online communities. Online communities are made up of like-minded people coming together to discuss ideas, share experiences and exchange information of value. The role of the brand in this includes regularly maintaining and moderating the group, posting topics for discussion, bringing in experts to answer prominent questions from the community, and facilitating face-to-face interactions between community members. For this tactic, a Facebook group may be created to cater to the Bata Shoe Museum’s older audiences who are aged 45 and above. The group can be a place to discuss shoes, history, culture and good places to explore in Toronto. The Bata Shoe Museum must be able to brand this group as a stereotype-breaking, fun-loving and adventurous, with strong inter- personal relationships. The museum must be able to identify potential pain points from the discussions that happen in the group, and be able to capitalize this information. If maintained correctly, this group can yield potential annuals memberships (or Friends of the Bata Shoe Museum) and increased visits. This tactic also helps the Bata Shoe Museum to engage a significant segment of the community, as well as serve as the barometer for their sentiments. The group should have at least 2 posts a week which could be a topic for discussion, a question, or something for general awareness. The key is to get as much engagement on individual posts, and the keep the ‘average engagement to number of members’ ratio as high as possible. The group should also have a dedicated community manager to moderate and encourage discussions. Faithful members should be rewarded in some way – by offering a promotion, or giving an award of some sort. It could be a virtual badge, or even a gift from the museum shop.

PAGE 12 Sample Post A member post could look something like: Post: So, the other day I went to the Velvet Underground in my regular tweed and khakis. I looked like a misplaced old man, alone and confused. It felt like I had been living in a different century altogether. I approached the bartender, and ordered a for a drink. I felt someone tap me on the shoulder, and as I turned I was surprised. It was a beautiful lady, about the same age as me. We were complete strangers, but we made great conversation. She told me how she had been going to all these exotic and non-traditional places since her husband died. I felt inspired by her story, and now I want to visit all these exciting places she has been to. Anyone else have a similar goal?

Business Objective 3: Establish thought leadership Strategy: Posit museum employees as subject-matter experts Audience Professionals interested in history, museums, collections and conservation Platform Blog

PAGE 13 Tactic: Revamping Blog Currently, the museum’s blog is very unsuccessful. Some of the problems of the blog, as mentioned before in this report include: 1. Unattractive and outdated layout and design. The pictures are of very poor quality. Even if the blog contained good information, the first impression would lead people away from the blog. Also its design look odd and off-brand. 2. Poor quality in writing. Whoever has written the copy clearly does not know how to write for the web. There has been no SEO research done. The readability is low due to lack of headings, and other factors. 3. They never cross-post across other platforms. This makes their blog very isolated and has a detrimental impact on their follower counts. 4. The blog is on a Blogger domain. This means that, again, the blog is isolated from the Bata Shoe Museum’s online ecosystem. It does not benefit from the website visitors and vice versa. There is a link to the blog at the bottom of one of the pages on their website – very bad positioning. The blog will have much more impact if the above problems were fixed. Initial fixes would include: 1. Revamping the layout and design. Use blogging platforms which offer more flexibility in terms of themes and design choices. Use better quality photographs. Conform to the BSM website theme, colours and fonts. 2. The writing needs to be improved. There should be headings and structure to make the posts easily readable. Better SEO research will positively impact the blog’s ranking. 3. Cross-posting across platforms helps rake in visitors, and potential followers. 4. Either migrate the blog onto the museum’s main website, or provider a more accessible link on the website. It should reflect good UX planning. The next step is to strengthen the content strategy. It would help to identify 3 subject- matter experts from Bata Shoe Museum, and ask them to publish once a week on a rotative basis. Some suggested subject matter experts include: 1. Sonja Bata, Founder and CEO of Bata Shoe Museum, 2. Elizabeth Semmelhack, Senior Curator, and

PAGE 14 3. Ada Hopkins, Conservator. Sonja Bata and Elizabeth Semmelhack are influential and outspoken people in their own rights. Their popularity can be leveraged by the museum to establish thought leadership via their blog. Topics of expertise may include: 9. Advice on strategic planning for museums, galleries or even private collections, 10. Latest trends or techniques in artefact conservation, 11. Advice on improving museum experiences and 12. Insights into what the industry will look like in the future. Sample Post Title: How to manage and monetize your private collection Brief Description: This article will be written by Sonja Bata (or at least be written for her). It will offer advice on how to use one’s private collection of artefacts, or anything for that matter, to make money. This article will include advice on: 13. how to organize the collection, 14. how to find a venue to exhibit the collection, 15. how to price the viewing of the collection, 16. how to price the sale of pieces in the collection, and 17. how to market your private collection appropriately.

PAGE 15 Evaluation of Success The success the Bata Shoe Museum’s social media strategies will be evaluated using achievable, measurable targets. Each evaluation will be traced back to a business objective. Business Objective 1: Increase attendance at current exhibitions in 2018 The strategy was to promote the exhibitions on social media by conducting Instagram photo contests. The tactic is said to be successful if: 1. A minimum of 200 entries into the contest is made every two months, which is a minimum of 1200 entries every year. Each entry signifies a visit, and thousands more in social media reach. Business Objective 2: Increase brand awareness The strategy was to build an online community by creating a Facebook group. The evaluation will be done based on customer acquisition in terms of growth in annual members, audience growth and engagement measurements. 1. In Q1, the online community should yield a 2.5% increase in annual members, acquire at least 1,000 group members and an average engagement of 100 reactions and 25 comments per post. 2. In Q2, 3% increase in annual members, at least 2000 group members, and an average engagement of 150 reactions and 35 comments per post. 3. In Q3, 4% increase in annual members, at least 3000 group members, and an average engagement of 200 reactions per post and 40 comments. 4. In Q4, 5% increase in annual members, at least 4000 group members, and an average engagement of 250 reactions per post and 55 comments. Business Objective 3: Establish thought leadership The strategy was to revamp their blog and posit Bata Shoe Museum employees as subject matter experts by asking them to publish on the blog. The success of this tactic will be measured by the traffic to this blog, the follower count and the average engagement on these posts. Targets for each quarter: 1. Q1: at least one in ten visitors should become a follower – accumulating 400 followers. An average of 10 shares, 20 likes, and 20 comments on each post. 2. Q2: 600 followers, average engagement – 20 shares, 35 likes and 25 comments on each post.

PAGE 16 3. Q3: 900 followers, average engagement – 30 shares, 45 likes and 30 comments on each post. 4. Q4: 1500 followers, average engagement – 40 shares, 60 likes and 35 comments on each post.

Conclusion The Bata Shoe Museum is a well-known institution, but lacks charisma online. The content strategy does not look thoughtful, and some platforms, such as the blog, are severely underperforming. As a result, engagement levels are poor, when compared to its competitors such as the Aga Khan Museum. Their key audiences at this point include a large chunk from North America, mostly being female and choosing Facebook and Instagram over other channels. The social media plan is summarized as follows: 1. The museum will increase the attendance at their exhibitions by event marketing online through Instagram photo contests. 2. The museum will increase brand awareness by fostering an exclusive online community through a Facebook group. 3. The museum will establish thought leadership by positing their employees as subject matter experts through their blog, which will undergo major revamping.

PAGE 17

APPENDIX 1

Their presence over these platforms are summarized in the following tables:

Facebook:

Page likes 16,180

Page followers 15,748

Average post reactions 29

Average post shares < 1

Average post comments 1

Twitter:

Page likes 3,959

Page followers 10,126

Average tweet reactions 14 likes

Average retweets 6

Instagram:

Page followers 9,153

Average post likes 147

Average post comment 2

Blogger

PAGE 18 Followers 76

Average post comments ~ 1

Pinterest

Page followers 820

Repins -

Trip Advisor Yelp

Number of reviews: 1,025 Number of reviews: 76

Review breakdown: Review breakdown:

42% rate Excellent 5 stars – 14

41% rate Very Good 4 stars – 39

14% rate Average 3 stars – 14

2% rate poor 2 stars – 9

1% rate terrible 1 star – 0

YouTube

Subscribers 376

Average video views 7,681 (the average here is spiked by a certain video on sneakers which got about 241k views)

Average video reactions 6

PAGE 19 TOP PERFORMING POSTS

PAGE 20

PAGE 21 APPENDIX 2 In the following table, the social media presence of the Bata Shoe Museum is analysed side-by-side with its two competitors. The table focuses on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for this analysis.

Bata Shoe Museum Aga Khan Museum Textile Museum of Canada

Facebook Page likes: 16,182 Page likes: 36,606 Page likes: 11,307 Avg likes: 29 Avg likes: 50 Avg likes: 39 Avg comments: 1 Avg comments: 1 Avg comments: 2 Comments: Both its competitors fare better in terms of audience engagement than the BSM. The AKM offers more variety in content – they have a video for a cover picture. They post pictures of the dishes that they serve at the adjacent Diwan restaurant. They post promotions from their museum shop. The Aga Khan brand is portrayed not just in the museum pieces, but also in its architecture and its live performances. Incidentally, the AKM’s architecture related posts get a higher engagement. The TMC also offers a wide variety in terms of content. They have occasional videos. They talk about their staff and volunteers, they try hard to put people’s faces to their social media activities. They also post promotions form the museum shop. For the BSM, the engagement is highest on Fridays.

Twitter Total posts: 5,380 Total posts: 2,538 Total posts: 4,944 Followers: 10,127 Followers: 10,960 Followers: 5,806 Following: 2,172 Following: 173 Following: 684 Avg likes: 14 Avg likes: 14 Avg likes: 2 Avg retweets: 6 Avg retweets: 4 Avg retweets: 1 Comments Compared to the BSM, the AKM stands as an equal on Twitter, if not slightly below. The AKM reposts the same content from their Facebook page. The TMC posts snippets

PAGE 22 of content from their Facebook and Instagram pages and posts links to the respective posts. Overall, engagement is low. It gets its best engagement on weekends. For the BSM, engagement is highest on Fridays.

Instagram Total posts: 960 Total posts: 134 Total posts: 406 Followers: 9,153 Followers: 9,400 Followers: 7,672 Following: 381 Following: 77 Following: 423 Avg likes: 142 Avg likes: 368 Avg likes: 137 Avg comments: 1 Avg comments: 4 Avg comments: 2 Comments In terms of engagement, the AKM is way ahead of the BSM, closely followed by the TMC. The BSM enjoys better engagement on Fridays for its standard exhibit posts. The BSM offers very little variety in terms of content subjects. The AKM has garners good engagement form its audiences on Instagram. Their pictures look very professional, hence the heightened engagement. Their architecture related posts garner good engagement. The TMC enjoys its best engagement on Instagram on Thursdays. Its engagement to follower ratio is better than the BSM’s. The same kinds of content receive highest engagement across all platforms.

PAGE 23