More and more places for social media in Amsterdam: “There you can do what influencers do”
The economy surrounding influencers is growing. And that goes beyond just the perfect picture on Instagram. For example, there are more made ssocial media experiences and catering establishments that are completely geared to creating the perfect picture. “People can now experience what they first only saw online,” says associate professor Eva van Reijmersdal. “That’s very attractive.”
Van Reijmersdal sees that the Instagram restaurants have sprung up like mushrooms in recent years. But the social media museums are also filled in in number. “There are now three in Amsterdam, for a few years now. You see it growing and you literally see it from online to offline,” says Van Reijmersdal. “Now people can experience what they previously only saw online.”
One of those places where people go for such an experience is the restaurant Mama Kelly at the Olympic Stadium. The restaurant is all pink. “We really want people to walk in here and think: wow,” says Karlijn Plooijer of MaMa Kelly.
“People in their twenties want to show that they’ve been to a popular place”
“Often the guests are completely ready to take pictures,” says Plooijer. “They wear beautiful dresses and high heels. They also order special products that they know will look good in the photo.”
Bright colors and loud music
In social media museums like this you will find different spaces with bright colors, loud music and flashing lights. The rooms each have a different theme. That’s how you have the upside down in South a Mondrian room and a room with a pink airplane. Bee youseum they have a space to represent a womb. “We made it in collaboration with an artist,” says Joep Heusschen, co-owner of the museum.
“We try to give each room a deeper layer, a meaning,” says Heusschen. All social media museums have at least one room with the same concept: the ball pit. “Who doesn’t like taking a picture in a ball pit?”
I like this
Van Reijmersdal has different points for the points of the above places. “People in their twenties often want to look good in the photos and show that they’ve been to a popular place.” In addition, children also want to become influencers more often, says the senior teacher. “It’s imitating what influencers do.” Also getting likes is an extensive motivator to go to this instagramable places to go. “That’s that influencer idea, of: people like me.”
“It’s not lazy marketing, it’s lean marketing”
The fact that visitors come for that one photo on Instagram has an additional advantage. It immediately makes them ‘mini ambassadors’, says museum owner Heusschen. When asked if it’s not lazy marketing, he replies, “That’s lean marketing.”
According to Heusschen, there is also a challenge there. “You have to make them want to share it.” It is something from which ‘standard’ museums can learn a lot, says Van Reijmersdal. “If they respond to the creation of beautiful pictures, they can appeal to a new target group.”
Are these places also permanent, is the question. “The future will have to show,” says Van Reijmersdal, although she does think it will remain interesting for the time being. Especially if the museums and restaurants make and make it so that people can take new pictures.
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