How to Create A Virtual Museum Tour That Generates Real Online Engagement

Museum Planning
5 min readJul 22, 2022
Metaverse Museum, Second Life, founded September 2007 by Rosanna Galvani

‍How to Create A Virtual Museum Tour That Generates Real Online Engagement PDF

In the digital age, virtual museum tours are becoming increasingly commonplace. They combine the convenience of an online experience with the hands-on experience of a physical tour. However, many virtual tour websites are little more than a list of static images and descriptions with minimal interaction. Visitors can click through images or videos and read short blurbs about each artifact, but there isn’t much else to them. To create a virtual tour that truly engages visitors both online and offline, you need to consider several different variables. What are your goals for this type of tour? How does it fit into the scope of your entire site? How do visitors engage with it? These questions should serve as a starting point for creating an engaging virtual tour that works for your users and your museum brand.

1. Define Your Purpose

When creating a virtual museum tour, there are a few different reasons you might do so — starting with how it fits into your overall marketing strategy. Your goal might be to increase visitor engagement, generate leads, or provide more value to your visitors. Understanding why you want to create a virtual tour in the first place will help guide your decisions as you move through the process. Similarly, your organization’s goals should drive how you approach the tour. For example, suppose you’re part of a historical organization and want to highlight particular artifacts. In that case, you’ll likely have a different focus than an entertainment company that wants to showcase props and costumes.

2. Identify Visitor Requirements

Even though you have a clear purpose for creating the tour, you should also consider the needs of your visitors. What problems are you trying to solve? What are visitors looking to learn? Identifying these user needs will help you create a more engaging tour by addressing the real issues your audience is facing. Another way to identify user needs is through research. You can do this by interviewing potential visitors or conducting an online survey. You can also learn more about your visitors by analyzing your site traffic and online…

Museum Planning

Mark Walhimer is the managing partner of Museum Planning, LLC, and the author of Museums 101 (2015) and Designing Museum Experiences (2021).