Museum Social Media Communication and Program Service Revenues Evidence from Italy

Social media are valuable tools that have deeply changed the way museums get in touch with their visitors and, more in general, with stakeholders. Nowadays, in Italy, most museums use marketing and social media strategies to promote their cultural offer and communicate and engage with their actual and/or potential visitors. Considering social media communication, some Italian museums started to make use of it only after the first lockdown in March 2020, while others had already been grasping the opportunity offered by such media for some years. The phenomenon is spread all over the world, and different papers have analyzed the role of social media in attracting a greater number of museum visitors. Yet, very little research has been conducted to investigate the role of investment of museums in Marketing & promotion, expenses that include social media communication, in generating and increasing service program revenues and or grants and contributions. This paper attempts to fill the gap.