Royal Museums Greenwich: Space LIVES

Shorty Award for Best Cultural Insitution 2018

 

RMG’s Space Lives: growing digital engagement

 

 

A top-ten UK visitor attraction, Royal Museums Greenwich (RMG) is the place to discover sea and space exploration, pioneering architecture, art, and British history. RMG manages four iconic sites, including the 344-year-old Royal Observatory – Britain's first state-funded scientific research institution.

 

In 2018, RMG launched a pioneering new project - Space Lives – with the aim of growing online communities and engaging new audiences in the topics of space and astronomy. This innovative series streamed major astronomical events to audiences worldwide through one of the most accessible platforms available – Facebook Live. Combining standout live-streams, expert commentary, user generated content, SEO strategy and press channels to drive awareness, the project delivered exceptional results.

 

Working across major events such as the New Crescent Moon sighting and Lunar Eclipses, RMG streamed content live from telescopes at the Royal Observatory to the Royal Museums Greenwich Facebook page. The Space Lives programme has reached hundreds of thousands of people online and resulted in digital engagement rates higher than any other museum worldwide. Ahead of each event, we reached out to the widest possible audience by producing event-related search optimised web pages and promoting the live streams though press. Our astronomers provided expert content, accessible commentary and celebrated our historical site and collections throughout each event. We also incorporated an innovative audience-focused approach with the inclusion of user generated content, interactive QAs and guest presenters.

 

Each Live has gone from strength to strength, building audiences, growing engagement and helping support record attendances for the Royal Observatory on site.

 

The Space Lives series won the Shorty Award for Best Cultural Institution, recognising the best in social media across the globe. It was also shortlisted for Innovation of the Year at the 2019 Museum and Heritage Awards and for Best Use of a Small Budget at the Marketing Masters 2019 Awards.