TikTok content ideas for your arts organisation

“Filming is prohibited during tonight’s performance” is a common message displayed around theatres. Similarly, for museums and galleries, flash photography is a no-go to preserve the quality of older pieces of art. 

Not only do these rules apply to visitors, the same goes even if you’re in possession of a ‘Staff’ badge. So, how can your venue’s marketing team increase ticket sales via TikTok, without any content? 

Well, first of all, you don’t want to give too much of a performance or exhibition away online—you want people to attend your venue and see for themselves. So, using TikTok to act as a teaser is the best route to take. You want to peak your audience’s interest without revealing the entire exhibition. 

Drawing a blank as to what you can post on TikTok? Here’s some inspiration from real arts and culture organisations. (Reminder: TikTok is the best platform to market to the Gen Z audience, so make sure your content is entertaining for them).

Exhibition walk throughs 

You want to show off your exhibition to entice visitors to attend, but if you show it off in too much detail they won’t need to come at all! Instead, you should do a quick walk-through of your exhibition using a time lapse tool. The easiest way to do this would be by holding the camera in front of you so visitors get an idea of what they would see if they came along. 

TikTok allows you to do this natively through the app, you can even select how fast you want your time lapse to be. The trick here is to make it quick enough that you don’t show too much detail but slow enough that viewers get a good idea of what your exhibition is about.

Here’s an example of a pretty cool walk-through from the National Museum of Singapore: 

The National Museum of Singapore’s walk through is a little more fancy than just using a time lapse, however the point remains that you’re giving TikTok followers or viewers a minimal insight into your exhibition to encourage them to attend. 

A night at the theatre

For theatres, you can’t do a walk through of a play or musical. But, what you can do is show what a night at your venue would look like. Our client, The Old Vic helped their TikTok followers experience a virtual night at the theatre, by recording clips of their experience; from arriving outside the venue, to just before curtain-up. 

This gives potential audience members a great idea as to what they can expect from the venue other than a great performance. And afterall, a night at the theatre isn’t just about the performance (although that’s 80% of it). 

Give a behind-the-scenes glimpse

Just because you can’t show your show or exhibition in full on social media, doesn’t mean you can’t show the hard work that’s gone into its production. The Brooklyn Museum did a great job on their TikTok of showcasing a before and after of their Thierry Mugler: Couturissime exhibition. They made use of trending audio on TikTok as well, which helps increase your reach—the number of people who are served your video on their for-you-page (FYP). 

If your venue runs workshops or classes, this is another great opportunity to gather content. Grab some short clips of a class in progress and splice them together on the TikTok app. It’s super easy and makes for a great advertisement for the classes themselves. Remember to get any class participants permission to film them before doing so! 

If you’re a theatre preparing for an upcoming production, try to get behind the scenes to show a glimpse of the cast in rehearsals. Our client The Old Vic did just that for their upcoming production of Sylvia, starring Beverley Knight. 

Giving a behind-the-scenes glimpse of your production or exhibition is a fantastic way to get your followers interested in your output and helps them to feel connected to it. When a potential buyer or attendee forms an emotional connection with a brand, they’re much more likely to purchase from them. 

In conversation with…

As much as those visiting your museum, gallery or theatre are there for the visual experience of the art itself—a really great way to engage your audience on TikTok is to film conversations with artists and performers. This gives an insight into the current show and might even encourage some ticket sales. The Brooklyn Museum filmed a conversion with artist Oscar yi Hou before his first solo exhibition at the venue to give their audience an insight into his process and inspirations. 

Similarly, our client the Roundhouse in London put together a short video featuring a conversation they filmed with Amir Amor from drum and bass band Rudimental. In the video, Amor shares his thoughts on knowing your value as a creative. 

This kind of content is really great for maximising reach and having a well-known artist at the centre of your content is a great idea—especially when they’re saying something valuable or something that specifically aligns with your brand. 

There are a huge amount of opportunities to gather content when you’re an arts and culture organisation—you just need to think innovatively about what will encourage people to attend your venue. 

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