Final Report

Comm 410
Professor Ceisel

Introduction
The Broad museum is a fairly new contemporary art museum located in Los Angeles that has
garnered attention especially through social media despite being amongst other well established
museums in the region. As a team, we conducted a situation analysis to provide information on
the museum, demographics, and general use of social media demographics. Content analyses
were used to further explore hashtags to determine how users engaged with the location through
social media. An online survey was conducted to gather statistical data about museum attendees.
Lastly, interviews were used to gather qualitative information and provide in depth responses and
allow for different perspectives to surface. The research project provided information on The
Broad and new information on how social media users engage with the museum.

The Broad History

The Broad museum is a new contemporary art museum founded by philanthropist Eli and Edythe
Broad and opened in September 2015. The Broads have been building their artwork collection
for 5 decades that includes postwar and contemporary art pieces. The museum has creative
exhibitions such as the Infinity Mirrored Room, which has drawn attention, especially through
the use of social media. Not only does the collection appeal solely to art enthusiasts but also
captures the eye of many who are advancing their education on contemporary art. The Broad also
has its own social media sites including accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat.
The social media accounts for The Broad have earned strong social media presence by its
attendees since it first opened.

The Broads Culture

The Broad is a modern collection of contemporary artwork striving to provided exhibits to a
broader audience than the norms. By providing educational programs and engagement within the
exhibits, they hope to provoke an appreciation of art of our time. The museum can be found in
downtown Los Angeles, a prime area for art enthusiasts and cultural diversity throughout the
streets surrounding Grand Avenue.

Research Value
This research project reflects how the Broad Museum utilizes social media to increase daily
visits. It gave us insights on what motivates certain individuals to visit the museum based on
what they see on social media. Our research also provides information that can be seen as useful
to neighboring museums in the LA area. For example, our research shows how a strong social
media presence attracts millennials (18-24 year olds) from visiting a museum. Further, our
research provides an analysis on what really drives and motivates millennials from visiting the

Broad Museum. Our research also provides which social media platform is most frequently used
among visitors at the museum. With the data collected, we can provide recommendations that
can further increase Broad Museum visits and how to generate awareness with the Broads social
media content.

Research Problem
The Broad has received a large amount of attention on social media since it first opened its doors
last year in September, specifically on Instagram. With a series of individual interviews on those
who have attended The Broad, we can analyze and understand their decision on wanting to visit
the museum. By gaining this knowledge we hope to find potential suggestions for the Broads
social media account.

What We Asked and How We Asked

We asked our participants questions primarily in the form of an interview. Although the
interviews were conducted in a variety of different ways, the majority of us conducted an
interview guide which allowed us to structure our questions and address our research question in
a flexible manner. Our interviews consisted of standardized open-ended questions regarding the
relationship between social media, the Broad and its visitors. Most questions pertained to how

visitors use social media prior, during, and after their visit at the museum. Other interview styles
that were used were an unstructured interview method and an informal and semi-structured
interview. This interview style allowed the interviewer and interviewee to adapt and use followup questions during the interview and allow a more flexible and informative conversation.
Below is our Question Guide that the majority of us used to help conduct our interviews in an
organized and flexible manner:
How did you hear about The Broad and what made you want to visit the museum? (Please
specify any exhibits, collections, etc.)

This question introduces the topic to the interviewee and provides an insight on information she
had about the museum prior to her visit. It also allows the participant to share what she was
interested in seeing during the visit.
Have you actually seen The Broads social media platforms before today?

This question helps to understand if they have actually viewed any of The Broads social media
platforms before the interview. If the interviewee has then which social media platform did they
use the most to view The Broad.
Did you share your experiences at The Broad on any social media sites? If so, which ones
and why?

Through this question, the participant is able to share their personal experience during their visit.
It also reveals how they used social media to engage with the art and why they chose to share
their experience on social media and what specific platforms were being used.
How do you think people use social media to engage with the museums collections,
exhibits, and pop culture?

This question elaborates on the previous questions, providing an in depth analysis on how the
participant feels others use social media to engage with the museum. The participant can draw
from their own experience on what they saw people doing with the art during their visit.
Do you think that social media altered your perception of the Broad when you got there?

This question provides more insight as to what motivates people to go to the Broad and if it met
their expectations having researched photos on social media. It also reveals what visitors see as
most valuable and worthy to post on social media.
Do you think the museum has become popular because of social media? If so, how?

This question allows us to understand if the participant associates the museum's popularity and
attendance with social media and overall how social media holds that influence over visitors and
the museum itself.
Aside from conducting interviews through the use of a general Interview Guide, some of us
conducted an unstructured and informal interview, which followed emerging themes among

questions asked in our online survey. Further data was shown through our online survey which
provided us with exact data that is potentially near to the exact attributes of the larger population.
The survey however, does not provide in depth information such as personal experiences during
their visit that contribute to our study in better analyzing the relationship between social media
and the Broad visitors. Overall, both research methods allowed us to gather the data needed.

The Research Methodology

When conducting the research project, we used Quantitative and Qualitative research methods
such as content analysis, survey, ethnography and interview. The combination of methods, also
known as triangulation, accounted for the blind spots in each method while taking advantage of
the strengths. Numerical values were important to our research, but we also felt it was important
to go beyond numbers and understand consumers motivations. The opinions and descriptions
that were reached through interviews and ethnographies also gave us a greater understanding of
social media engagement with The Broad. To supplement our research, we used secondary data
such as The Broads original demographic and psychographic report. Using both methodologies
complemented each other and ultimately allowed us to base our validity on numbers as well as
linking findings to social context.

Data Collection and Field Work

Sample Design
For our research study, we used a nonprobability sampling technique known as snowball
sampling and Simple Random Sampling (SRS). Snowball sampling consists of identifying
respondents who are then used to refer researchers to other respondents. Using this sampling
method provides access to a more vulnerable social group. Our study consisted of obtaining
participants through social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Simple Random Sampling
allowed us to target random participants, by doing so each subject of the subset has an equal

probability of being chosen. This technique was done on-site at The Broad Museum during our
visit. Using this sampling method allowed an unbiased representation of the group.

Brief Analysis
After conducting the interviews, we were able to identify the primary demographic attending The
Broad. Through our interviews we found that Hispanics in their early twenties visited the
museum. A majority of the interviewers were aware of the museums existence through friends
and family members social media posts, specifically on Instagram. Many of the participants
were not aware of The Broads social media accounts and were not interested in following the
accounts after having knowledge of them. With the information found we are able to identify
some positive suggestions that could be made to the The Broads Instagram account.

Research Results
The data below provides an in-depth look at what type of demographics are attracted to the
Broad Museum and if social media impacted their reason to visit. It also shows how visitors
interact with social media throughout their visit to the museum.

Age:
A majority of the 49 survey takers were between the ages of 18 - 24. See Figure 1 below.
Figure 1: Q1 What is your age?

Ethnicity:
We found that most of our survey takers that attended the Broad Museum were Latino/Hispanic.
See Figure 2 below.

Figure 2: Q2 What is your ethnicity?

Awareness of the Broad Museum:

54% of our survey respondents said they found out about the museum through social media. 29%
of respondents said they heard about the museum through friends or family. 13% found out about
the museum through some other platform. 4% discovered the museum through their website. See
Figure 3 below.
Figure 3: Q8 How did you find out about the Broad?

The Broads Social Media Profiles:

We were surprised to see that the Broads own social media platforms are not well known among
visitors. The results below show that attendees are not aware of the Broads social media profiles
and most likely found out about the museum through other social media profiles. 83% of
respondents said that they do not follow the Broad on social media nor would they follow the
Broad after their visit. See Figure 4 and 5 below.
Figure 4: Q18 Do you follow the Broad on social media?

Figure 5: Q19 After visiting the Broad, will you follow up with the museum in any way?

Social Media Use Among Visitors:

Based on the data results below, 60% respondents shared their experience on Instagram and 53%
shared on Snapchat. See Figure 6 below.
Figure 6: Q17 Did you share your experience at the Broad on social media?

Visitor Motivation:
The two biggest factors that drive people to see the Broad is Yayoi Kusamas Infinity Room
exhibit and to see what the buzz is all about. See Figure 7 below.
Figure 7: Q9 What interests you in visiting the Broad?

Research Limitations
Limitations included the use of a snowball sample to gain survey participants. Only 14% of the
surveys were completed on-site, with the remaining survey respondents gathered via personal
social media accounts such as Facebook. This led to 92% of respondents indicating they were
between the ages of 18-24, a range much younger than The Broads average age of 32 years old.
Along with this, surveys administered on-site asked for respondents gender, while the online
surveys did not. Furthermore, all interviews were conducted with females aged 19-22. Only
using this small demographic of primarily female visitors aged 18-24 may not reflect all the
opinions of The Broads diverse range of visitors.
Additionally, interview methodologies were not consistent amongst each researcher. All
researchers used standardized open-ended interviews, however, unstructured and semi structured
interviews were conducted dependent on researcher preference. These methods all asked
questions encompassing social media usage and experience in the museum, yet inconsistencies
arose as probing questions based on each researcher's interest differed. The differences in
questions asked led to a large amount of data to synthesize as there were many individual
opinions.

Interpretation of the Data

Overall, the data that we collected from conducted surveys, interviews and field observations
show that visitors were aware of the Broad Museum due to its strong presence on social media,
particularly Instagram. The survey data shows that visitors were not aware of the museums
social media handles, which suggests they probably found out about the museum through other
users profiles.
Based on the interviews, visitors knowledge of the Broad Museum through social media prior to
attending ultimately left visitors unfulfilled. This is due to the fact that visitors already saw the
highlights of the museum on social media. Many survey respondents also said that they wanted
to visit the museum to see what the buzz was all about and to visit the trending exhibits. Based
on site observations, people were more inclined to spend time achieving the perfect picture as
opposed to analyzing the art.
According to research found through hashtags analytics, people were more inclined to post
photos of the artwork itself rather than posting photos of themselves with the art. For example,
with #thebroad we found that people engage with a hashtag as a way to create more exposure for
their photo as well as a way to create an online persona of themselves. In this case, #thebroad
could perhaps mean that the person wants to be viewed as interested in art, interested in the
museum culture, and perhaps just doesnt want to be left out of the hype around a new museum.
In looking at the hashtags within #thebroad hashtags, it will also let us know that people want to
be associated with this Los Angeles culture. These findings show that users engage with
hashtags a large majority of the time, giving hashtags great importance in the spread of word of
mouth on social media. Instagram users most often use hashtags to bring more views and
attention to their posts. This leads us to believe The Broad should look into having one set
hashtag for their visitors to use so all the museums visitors have one collective hashtag to use
and check.

Conclusion and Recommendations

After reviewing our results and carefully analyzing as a team, we concluded that The Broads
social media presence is mainly driven by their consumers. As a direct result of this, many of the
museum attendees tend to fall into a younger demographic. The results also showed that The
Broads own social media accounts arent made aware of and that there was a lack of interest in
analyzing and interpreting the art. Based on these conclusions we have created three
recommendations for The Broad to foster a genuine interest in the art and continue to build their
social media profiles:
1. Signs around the museum to follow their social media and download their app.
2. Interactive exhibits to promote specific hashtags
3. Engage with the art by creating hashtags associated with the artwork and place them on labels
around the museum.
In creating these recommendations, we hope that visitors will follow and become more aware of
the Broad Museum, overall increasing their social media following and presence.