Mobile membership?

Platforms such as We Did This, Pozible, We Fund and Sponsume offer an innovative route to engage donors, coming on the heels of the success of Kickstarter in the USA. The model is a simple one. A group or single artist appeals for lots of small donations for a project – if the project reaches its target the work happens but if not the pledges are returned to the donor.

Whilst the technology may be new, what determines success is not: the ability to engage people in your work. Whilst this activity is a great way to source finances, it is far from guaranteed to generate much in the way of a relationship, still less convert givers into members. To do that we should look at connecting audiences to organisations in a new way, through the mobile web.

Phones are fast becoming key for creating trusted personal relationships between brands and consumers – if we can apply these techniques to the relationship between arts organisations and audiences a huge opportunity emerges. It also poses a challenge: how can membership go mobile?

In museums and galleries, the audio guide is a well-established tool for converting visitors into members. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, visitors are not only given content on the benefits of membership in the tour, but they return their handset to a membership sales desk.

With newer technology, arts organisations have often embraced creative ideas for using mobile platforms, but haven’t connected that activity up to create a lasting connection. The explosion in art gallery and museum apps over the past year shows the appetite for cultural content – the Museum of London’s ‘Streetmuseum’ app alone has reached 150,000 downloads. At the same time, arts organisations have had real success through social media sites establishing some mobile presence – 40% of all tweets are created on a mobile phone.

The impact of this is broad. A Kantar study in 2010 showed a 52% rise in people over 50 using social networks via mobile. There are few membership profiles not already using mobile tools.

Looking outside the sector, we can see how to take this forward. Sports utilise mobile to gain not only new fans but more loyal ones. The Dallas Cowboys has directly used its art collection to build a distinctive identity through its ‘Art at the Dallas Cowboys’ app. With a sharper eye on the short-term bottom line, English Premiership football clubs have used mobile to turn broad support into a more transactional relationship through distinct ‘mobile membership’ schemes with real success.

Arts organisations have remarkable stories to tell – and so should be well placed for this supposed ‘year of mobile.’ If we seize the opportunity and take membership mobile we may yet have some good news, amidst a very difficult year.