Challenge
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) is the world’s first and only museum dedicated to preserving and celebrating the rich history of African-American baseball and the impact it had on the social advancement of America. The not-for-profit organization was established in Kansas City, MO in 1990. Since then, the museum has welcomed more than two million visitors.
In 2020, NLBM was looking for a way to bring in more visitors and donations to the museum. Voltage determined that social media would be an excellent avenue for reaching the museum’s target audience. With some research-based retargeting, NLBM had the potential to raise significant funding through donations and more paid visits.
Solution
Voltage focused on narrowing the museum’s social media efforts to reach those interested in the history of baseball and negro leagues, as well as those who would be most likely to visit or donate to the museum. The defined target audience was specific but far-reaching to attract baseball and history fanatics nationwide.
Ad messaging aimed to tell the story of the Negro Leagues and explain how donations can help preserve treasured artifacts inside the museum. Campaign themes, “Keep the Legacy Alive” and “A Game-changing Campaign,” played into the history of the league and the importance of donations.
As an added challenge, these campaigns were set to run mid-pandemic in 2020. During this time, the museum closed briefly due to Covid-19. Therefore, ads revolved around how visitors can safely enjoy the museum upon their return. This included a general reopening strategy on social media, which was themed, “Play It Safe.”
Results
The Negro League Baseball Museum saw a 31.8% increase in social media ad clicks in 2020, which contributed to a 64% increase in museum donations.
In the 6-month period prior to the ad campaigns, reach and impressions were high, but engagement (including both clicks to the website and donations) was low. By shifting the target audience from the general public to those more likely to consider visiting or donating, total link clicks increased by 9.5% which contributed to the 64% overall museum donation increase – despite lower total impressions. Brand engagement through video views and standard post engagement also increased by 18%.
eTicketing became available during the second half of the year, and website clicks from social media ads contributed to a substantial increase in purchased tickets during this timeframe.
increase in clicks to the website
increase in overall post engagement
additional donations
