A dual-platform content strategy that let a fine arts institution be genuinely funny without ever feeling unserious — pairing museum-quality artist and process content on Instagram with a scroll-stopping, meme-literate voice on TikTok.
Like many institutions, TMA needed to reach audiences who'd never consider a museum "for them" — without losing the reverence its collection and programming deserve. That meant finding a voice that could hold both a Rubens painting and a good joke in the same feed and trusting the audience to appreciate both. Reach alone wasn't the goal, either — TMA needed a genuine online community, not just an audience scrolling past.
Instagram content was organized into saved Highlights around Block Party, Campus, Events, #TMAmoment, and Glass — anchoring the account as both an events hub and an ongoing archive of artist and process content, from working artists in the studio to hand-lettered event poster art. TikTok took a different, sharper tone entirely: applying pop-culture formats and internet humor — think "girl dinner," museum cafe brunch jokes — directly to pieces in the permanent collection, turning centuries-old paintings into scroll-stopping, shareable moments without undercutting the art itself. Underpinning both platforms was a heightened community management presence — actively engaging with comments and shares rather than posting and moving on, turning each platform's growing reach into a genuine, cultivated online community.
The dual-platform approach let TMA reach two distinct audiences without compromising either one — building real event awareness through Instagram's events hub, while TikTok turned the permanent collection into genuinely shareable, of-the-moment content. A heightened community management presence across both platforms turned that reach into an actual community — engaging directly with comments and shares to cultivate a following that felt genuinely connected to the museum, not just aware of it.
Content across Instagram and TikTok.
