Marketing Your Library Services Using Social

Networking Tools

Agenda

• Definitions and examples social networking tools

• Take a look at popular social networking tools

• Define marketing and offer general marketing objectives

By the end of class you will be able to…

• Identify how joining social networks can help you promote your library or yourself

• List the pros and cons of various social networking tools

• Compare and evaluate the different ways that social software is used in a number of libraries

Defining Marketing

• The American Marketing Association has defined marketing as “the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives.”

• 4 P’s: Product, Price, Place & Promotion

Marketing Concepts

• What “product” do you want to promote?

• And Why?– Value add – Training opportunity– Feedback– Lower staff time

• Where does promotion/placement exist?• Where is promotion/ placement needed?

What do you want to promote?

• Your library in general• A collection• Your services• Your staff• YOU?

What is Social Software?

• Social Software is defined as products and services that facilitate social human contact.

• Examples of Social Software include: Blogs, Instant messaging, Internet

forums, eLearning, Media sharing, Social cataloging, Social citations, Social networks, Virtual worlds and Wikis

Top Social Networking Sites

Some Social Software Sites

• Blogger – http://www.blogger.com• Facebook – http://www.facebook.com• Flickr – http://www.flickr.com ; also Instagram• LibraryThing – http://librarything.com also Goodreads• LinkedIN – http://www.linkedin.com• Foursquare- http://www.foursquare.com• Pinterest – http://www.pinterest.com• Twitter – http://www.twitter.com• YouTube – http://www.youtube.com• Ning- http://www.ning.com• Google “stuff”

Before you get started:general recommendations

• Create Guidelines or Policy for Use– Review safety procedures with staff,

students, and patrons– Generate conversation to disclose any issues

• Discuss your brand – how do you want to portray your library?

• Is this account for a specific purpose or group within your library?

• Define your audience– Both acceptance and proactive approaches

Social media policy development

Your social media policy will depend not only on your community and its needs, but on the needs of your staff, administrators, local government agencies, and more. You may already have a consortial or systemwide social policy in place. •Investigate peer institutions – read others’ social media policies •Outline what you want to achieve with social media, who will do, how – think of it as a mission statement (don’t forget evaluation – how you will judge success)

Social media policy development

• Don’t make it overly complicated -- make it easy to follow and understand.

• Get “buy-in” and feedback from those who will be doing social media on your behalf.

• Share it. Follow it. Evaluate it. Update it. Your goals may change over time.

• Do training as needed and model good social media usage.

Marketing with Social Software

1. Connect with patrons and other libraries2. Get program ideas by looking at profiles to

see what other libraries are doing3. Promoting Events

– Take photos of your ads and use as your photo

– Post bulletins and blog entries– Use the event invitation to invite your

friends to your library– Gather feedback on events through

comments, posts, etc.

Marketing with Social Software

4. Educate through videos or blogs5. Encourage social software mail and IM

– For reference, outreach, or marketing promotion

6. Establish professional connections– Add other librarian contacts– For patrons, staff, library board, friends of the

library etc.

7. Use your profile to promote library services and hours

8. Highlight the collectionLet’s take a look!

BlogsPros• Usually free* • Can load pictures• Can load videos• Comments• Archiving• Auto login if also logged

into other accounts (gmail for example works with Blogger)

• Can be set to feed into Twitter

• Flickr can feed into your blog

Cons• Some requires email

accounts, servers, web space

• Some Spam Comments• Videos take too much

time to load• Photos can take too

much time to load• Sometimes need to

know html code to make template design edits

• Some need .php files uploaded (rss feeds, Twitter feeds etc)

Top blogs by libraries and librarians

http://www.getdegrees.com/articles/career-resources/the-top-fifty-librarian-blogs/

• http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_214139591937761 (WordPress)

FacebookPros• Widely Used• Mobile Application• Robust Profile• Calendar • Photos • Groups• Mail• Event Invites• Videos• Applications• Status Updates• Wall• Schools

Cons• Too many

applications• Ads• Too many

notifications• Must detail privacy

rules and update often

• Sometimes unavailable

• Time consuming• No advanced

searching

TwitterPros• Short and Sweet• Can inform patrons

quickly• Does not require

much staff time to update

• Can help locate colleagues at library conferences

• Can limit who follows you, by asking for requests

• Hashtag (#), RT• Feeds

Cons• Hard to keep under

140 characters • Tends to be

overused by some and not used enough for others

• Can’t escape the mix of personal and professional content

• Searching for friends is not robust

FlickrPros• Photo webpage• Archive• Set privacy levels on

each photo • Search/retrieval through

notes and tags• Organizer (Batch)• Batch upload photos• Groups• Easily posted in blogs• Widget available to

display photos on webpages

• Messaging capabilities

Cons• Can receive

solicitations for photos

• Need to remember tags consistently or use Delicious

• Need to pay for an account over 200 photos and 100 MB monthly upload limit

• Need a Yahoo ID

Flickr Recommendations

• Before you add photos– Decide on a storage location for the images– Create Guidelines for Title Structure

• Including image/file name can help with retrieval

– Create Guidelines for Tags • Location, Date, Names, etc.

– Define: What constitutes adding a Set?– Decide on rights usage for your photos– Define your audience

• You can mark people as contacts, family, or friends

Flickr – Library Example

Flickr – Library Example

YouTubePros• Can load videos• Comments• Free• Widely used• Easy to use • Can embed into

blogs• Videos• Photo slideshows

Cons• Buffering video• Anyone can post

and comment• Can be copyright

infringement issues

• Comments can be negative

Don’t be afraid to be silly

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_uzUh1VT98

InstagramPros• Photo webpage –

recently • Set privacy levels on

each photo • Search/retrieval through

notes and tags• Easily posted in blogs

and Facebook• Widget available to

display photos on webpages

• Comment capabilities• Younger demographics

Cons• MOBILE – must be tied to a

mobile with camera• Need to remember tags

consistently some of which are unique to instagram “latergram”

• Comments are hard to respond to

• Very social and personal• Still young in development

– concerns of over TOS and ownership of images

• Statigram can be use to find libraries http://statigr.am/search/library

Instagram

LinkedInPros • Networking• Easy to use• Set up and it runs

itself• For individuals—

not libraries

Cons• Individual• Not that

interactive

LibraryThingPros• Can highlight new

collection• Book reviews• Cover art included for

most• Featured Authors• Popular Titles• Recent Additions• Insurance Inventory• Tagging• Statistics• Widget for your

blog/webpage• Barcode scanner

available (for purchase)

Cons• Not as widely used*• Fee based (after 200

Titles)• Doesn’t facilitate

interlibrary loan

A similar option which is more reader focused is Goodreads, http://www.goodreads.com/

foursquarePros• Location check-in• Fun for patrons• Easy to use, set up• Can be as low or

high key as you want it

• Newish• For mobile users

Cons• People know where

you are (be a location or a brand)

• Another place to maintain

• Newish• For mobile users

Pinterest (visual bookmarking)

Pros• Similar to a virtual

scrapbook • hoto oriented

webpage of bookmarks

• Can add description/contextual info about “pins”

• Can group in boards• Set privacy levels on

each photo • Search/retrieval

through notes and tags

• Easily posted in blogs and Facebook

• Comment capabilities

Cons• Each bookmark must

be tied to an image > harder to bookmark documents or other text heavy materials

• Requires a login• Comments are hard

to respond to • Very social and

personal• Still young in

development

Keys for Internet Safety

• Encourage conversations about social software use with staff, faculty, students, and patrons.

• Do not publicly post your full name, address, phone number, im, hangouts- etc. Remember the internet is a public space.

• Remember people should not lie about their age, but the fact is- they do, most sites require that users be at least 14 years old.

• Change passwords often.• Do not post anything that you don’t want

others to see or know.

Keys for Internet Safety

• Harassment, hate speech and inappropriate content should be reported.

• Beware of Phishing – (Phishing is a method used by fraudsters to

try to get your personal information, such as your username and password, by pretending to be a site you trust. )

– For more information: http://www.onguardonline.gov/phishing.html

Keys for Internet Safety

• Always look at the URL of the page you are directed to login to make sure that it stays in the software, prior to login.

• Make sure Windows and Flash are updated.

• People are not always who they say they are. Be careful about adding strangers to your friends list; remember, it is ok to deny a friend request.

How do I choose?

• Survey the patrons to see what they use.– Start with the most popular for your users.– Work with marketing tools and methods (4

p’s!) • Analyze staff time requirements• Look for integration with your current

resources• Review the features that best suit your

library’s needs• Be fluid. Trends change, go with them.

Resources• List of Social Software Types:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_software

• List of Social Networking Sites with Stats: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

• Facebook Privacy Suggestions: http://www.allfacebook.com/***