Nik Wyness is the Head of Marketing and Engagement at The Tank Museum in Dorset. He’s led a digital transformation, making this rural regimental museum an industry leader in the development and monetisation of online communities. The Tank Museum brings the story of tanks and their crews to life, with the world’s best collection of tanks in modern, awe-inspiring exhibitions. The museum houses some 300 vehicles, representing every major conflict since the First World War.

In 2021, The Tank Museum YouTube achieved over 20 million views and reached 400,000 subscribers. Its other social media platforms achieved a reach of an additional 70 million. Alongside this The Tank Museum earned around 25% of a total £6m turnover from online sources, up from 5% in the year before the pandemic. This is the result of a strategy that began by growing audiences and communities online – before focussing on monetisation in order to make serving those audiences sustainable. When the pandemic hit, the value of this strategy was realised. Now the Museum has ambitions to significantly increase its non-visitor income by increasing its online reach.