21th July 2017
Chester Beatty Library
By Cianán Clancy
The Chester Beatty Library stands out as among the most intriguing and interesting places to visit in Dublin. Located in the heart of the city at the Dublin Castle, the Chester Beatty Library is a vast collection of medieval and ancient artefacts from Greece and North Africa to early Islamic, Chinese and Japanese cultures.
Currently, it is ranked as the 9th best place to visit in Dublin out of 509 on Tripadvisor.com which means people really enjoy the Chester Beatty experience. However, there are still a lot of people who have never heard of the museum. Can this be down to an out-dated digital strategy?
With a website that hasn’t changed in ten years and a social media following which is far behind other Irish attractions, I believe that the Museum needs to seriously revamp its digital presence in order to connect with the right audience and have the right impact.
Background:
The Chester Beatty Library website design was last updated in 2007. In the last ten years, the basic design of the website has not changed at all. During this time, the world has gone through a smart-phone revolution and people now surf more from their phones than their PCs. This has led to the development of responsive websites, which automatically provide the best viewing experience for any screen size,
Current website design
Chester Beatty Social Media presence is also quite weak which is hampering its visibility on the internet. With approx. 11,000 followers on Twitter, 8,000 likes on Facebook and 92 subscribers on their Youtube Channel, the museum has failed to capitalize on the growth of this medium. The museum has no presence on the latest social media tools, Snapchat and Instagram.
| Website | Facebook Likes | Twitter Followers | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dublin Zoo | www.dublinzoo.ie | 286,147 | 27,700 |
| Science Gallery | dublin.sciencegallery.com | 34, 639 | 30,400 |
| National Gallery of Ireland | www.nationalgallery.ie | 33,162 | 30,100 |
| Irish Museum of Modern Art | www.imma.ie | 29,886 | 22,900 |
| National Museum of Ireland | www.museum.ie | 26,016 | 31,000 |
| Chester Beatty | www.cbl.ie | 8,345 | 11,200 |
Opportunities:
There are numerous grants available for museums such as SBIR or the the Grants Scheme for Large Tourism Projects 2016-2020. These can be availed in order to not only upgrade Chester Beatty’s website and social media platforms but also develop the latest VR/AR immersive tours to provide the ultimate digital experience for visitors or people who want to know more about the museum.
Imagine the possibilities of attracting national and international visitors to Chester Beatty if we could partner with Aer Lingus, Delta Airlines and United Airlines to develop a literary channel showcasing Chester Beatty Library as a must-visit destination in Ireland on their in flight media systems.
Within the museum itself, why not use the latest digital booths at the end of the tour, where people can record their experiences. These can be turned into fun videos for the museum’s YouTube channel which can be regularly updated!
Example of a redesigned Website Option 1
Example of a redesigned Website Option 1
Conclusion:
An updated mobile responsive website and an active social media presence is the best way to not only build a great first impression but also improve the visibility of Chester Beatty Library. Using the latest VR/AR tools is another great opportunity to provide great experiences, all of which can result in more enquiries, increased footfall and substantial increase in donations to maintain and develop the museum.