Communicating art today means enhancing cultural heritage from offline to online, deploying content, strategies and tools capable of conveying clear, coherent and recognisable messages across different channels.
Editorial
Communicating art from the museum to social media: skills required today
Date
19 December 2025
Knowledge of the art world remains a fundamental component of the skills required to work in the cultural sector, but it is not the only one: it must be integrated with marketing expertise, social media management and data analysis, all essential for planning, distributing and measuring content and campaigns. In this context, the most sought-after profiles are professionals able to work transdisciplinarily, with a critical–practical approach.
The evolution of museum communication in the digital age
Museum communication now operates in a multichannel environment characterised by high informational competition. What makes the difference is the ability to define, develop and apply a coherent communication strategy capable of maintaining quality and continuity between discovery (social media and video), in-depth exploration (website, editorial content, digital resources) and relationship-building (newsletters and community).
Among the key areas to address, accessibility plays a central role. This means designing clear and usable content for diverse audiences: subtitles and transcripts for videos, readable visual hierarchies, alternative text for images, adequate contrast; but also less specialised language when needed and content designed for specific needs (sensory and cognitive disabilities, language barriers, mobile use).
Alongside this, artificial intelligence can support museum communication in content production and adaptation, performance and insight analysis, and forms of personalised experience. At the same time, it requires clear standards regarding accuracy and sources, editorial review, copyright protection and data management.
New professional roles between art and cultural mediation
The Museum Curator remains the key figure for managing and enhancing artistic heritage. To make content and collections accessible across different channels and formats, curators increasingly integrate communication skills into their work or collaborate with specialised professionals such as:
• Digital Marketing Specialist: develops online marketing strategies by selecting the most effective channels based on target audiences and objectives.
• Social Media Manager: plans and implements the strategy across social channels, managing the community and publication.
• Graphic Designer: oversees visual identity and all visual elements to define style and branding.
• Video Designer: handles the creation, production and editing of video content.
• Museum Educator: designs content and proposals for different target groups, including digital formats. Overseeing the organisational dimension is the Arts Manager, who plays a coordinating role: managing and promoting events and creative projects, translating cultural objectives into operational activities.
Visual communication strategies and storytelling for art
Visual communication in the museum sector requires stylistic coherence, a recognisable visual identity and content optimised for different environments: carousels and short videos for discovery, stories for timely updates and interaction, in-depth content on the website to reinforce authority and context.
To guide content creation and develop an engaging and effective narrative, it may be useful to keep a few questions in mind:
• What makes this artwork (or exhibition) relevant today? This may be a universal theme, a conflict, an open question or a connection with the present.
• What detail changes the interpretation? An iconographic element, a technique, a material, a compositional choice, a restoration, a collection history.
• What is the essential message to remember (in line with the museum)? A key phrase consistent with identity and mission, translated into the appropriate format for the channel: this ensures clarity and recognisability. Among the formats used and easily replicated are, for example: • “A Work in 60 Seconds”: short guided-reading videos highlighting a detail, meaning or historical context in a concise way.
• “Behind the Scenes”: content on installations, restorations, loans and internal work, useful for showcasing skills and processes.
• Mini thematic series: episodic features that create recognisable and engaging appointments.
Audience development and cultural marketing
Communicating art today requires a transversal approach that considers content, audiences and contexts. In this framework, audience development becomes a central tool: it encompasses the activities that enable museums to understand their audiences, analyse their behaviours and needs, and design communication accordingly. The goal is not only to attract new visitors, but also to reach diverse audiences, engage them in targeted ways and build long-term relationships. Operationally, these strategies translate into concrete activities: analysis of usage data, definition of target groups, content planning and selection of the most suitable channels. Cultural marketing supports this process through tools such as newsletters, targeted campaigns and editorial content.
Required skills and training for museum communication professionals
Museum communication professionals now operate in complex contexts that require analytical, design and relational skills. Central to their work are the ability to build coherent communication strategies, manage content and languages for different audiences, and collaborate with other professionals, institutions and stakeholders.
These skills are complemented by critical thinking, cultural awareness and the ability to work in interdisciplinary teams - essential elements for enhancing cultural heritage in today’s landscape. Training therefore plays a decisive role. Structured programmes that integrate theory, practice and experimentation enable the development of a conscious design vision.
IED offers comprehensive training pathways for future cultural communication professionals. Discover all available programmes.
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