The Royal Armouries museum at Leeds Dock in Hunslet is the only UK museum to be included in the TikTok content round-up of the year.
Every year the social media giant TikTok, famed for its short form mobile video content, scour channels from all over the world for the best content. This year they highlighted the Royal Armouries’ TikTok channel, which uses a light-hearted approach to explore the national collection of arms and armour.
After only launching their TikTok channel earlier this year, the Royal Armouries quickly grew their audiences, and went viral in September 2024 with their take on the trend of marketing videos featuring Gen Z marketing scripts and language. Since gaining almost 9 million views, the video has helped increase the number of people visiting the museum, showing that online can lead to onsite visitors. The national museum, based in Leeds, is free to visit and people can explore thousands of objects of arms and armour, from ancient times to the present day.
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Recent data from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport shows that between July and September, the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds has increased visitors by 62% since pre-pandemic levels in 2019. This bucked the national trend for museum visits which saw a 14% decrease according to government figures.
A spokesperson for TikTok said:
“Established cultural institutions embraced TikTok to reach new audiences, from empowering Gen Z to write their marketing scripts, as popularized by the UK’s Royal Armouries Museum, to collaborating with creators to hone content and even bringing us onto The Met Museum’s Met Gala red carpet through Vogue’s TikTok LIVE, sparking conversations about historical artifacts, and showcasing the power of creative and innovative marketing.”
Florence Symington, Director of Brand & Audiences at the Royal Armouries:
“This is a fantastic achievement for the team, and shows that social media can help to underpin success and drive visitors. We’re delighted that TikTok have chosen to showcase us. It’s wonderful that a fun video that brought different generations together to explore our collection with some humour and positivity thrown in has been enjoyed by millions across the world.”
This post is based on a press release issued by The Royal Armouries
Photo: Curator Mark Murray-Flutter stars in viral TikTok video for the Royal Armouries Museum
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