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Public library social media in a post-Twitter world
The document emphasizes the need for public libraries to enhance their marketing efforts to effectively communicate their value and influence perceptions through branding. It highlights the significance of social media as a tool for reaching audiences, breaking barriers, and improving library reputations, while also discussing preferred platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Additionally, there is a call for libraries to define their brand identity and adopt innovative strategies to engage with users effectively on these platforms.
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Public library social media in a post-Twitter world
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- 2. We spend 99%of our time assembling collections and developing services, and only 1% of our time telling people about them The big issues Too much of our marketing focuses on three groups, all of which are low value (in purely marketing terms): the superfans, the actively hostile, and other librarians A lot of library marketing lacks focus, and sufficient ambition
- 3. Our ambition needsto be up here! Remember: above all, we are trying to change behaviour.
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- 5. The science andart of exploring, creating, and delivering value to satisfy the needs of a target market at a profit. Philip Kotler (2012) The process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service Merriam-Webster (2019) Marketing goes beyond trying to get people to use your library; it is a concerted effort to articulate your value. Nancy Dowd (2010) Marketing definitions
- 6. Telling the rightpeople at the right time in the right way about what we have that they need
- 8. Your brand isthe perception of institution, and its products and services, in people’s minds. It’s how people think and feel about who you are as an organisation, and what you do.
- 9. Your brand isthe perception of institution, and its products and services, in people’s minds. It’s how people think and feel about who you are as an organisation, and what you do. Branding is the process of trying to influence people's perceptions of the organisation and way they think about your brand.
- 10. Your brand is whatpeople say about you when you’re not in the room
- 11. As libraries weneed to develop our materials and the way we communicate in order to influence the brand. What do you want your library to be known for?
- 12. Approachable? Fun? Authoritative? Quick?Comprehensive? Transformative? Relaxed? Contemporary? Inclusive? As libraries we need to develop our materials and the way we communicate in order to influence the brand. What do you want your library to be known for?
- 13. It would bealmost impossible to be simultaneously known for all of these, so it’s worth choosing one or two, to build a pattern of associations. As libraries we need to develop our materials and the way we communicate in order to influence the brand. What do you want your library to be known for? Approachable? Fun? Authoritative? Quick? Comprehensive? Transformative? Relaxed? Contemporary? Inclusive?
- 14. I’d like youto turn to the person next to you and, for 3 minutes, talk about your answers to this question: What do you want your library’s brand to be?
- 15. I’d like youto turn to the person next to you and, for 3 minutes, talk about your answers to this question: What do you want your library’s brand to be? Step 1 is working out what you want your library’s brand to be. Step 2 is using your marketing to make it happen. Social media is hugely important for this.
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- 17. Why is socialmedia SO important to libraries? We get to go to our audience, rather than them having to come to us. We can reach people whether they’re in the library, at work, or at home.
- 18. Why is socialmedia SO important to libraries? We get to go to break down barriers. It’s not just that people have an outdated or limited idea of what libraries do, it’s that they’re scared of them! We can reassure and welcome.
- 19. Why is socialmedia SO important to libraries? We can have conversations online. Social media occupies an interesting space for low-key dialogue – the kind of thing people wouldn’t email or phone about but still find useful… Social media feedback is often more representative of the typical user experience.
- 20. Why is socialmedia SO important to libraries? We get to improve our reputations.
- 21. Why is socialmedia SO important to libraries? We get to influence behaviour. When social media goes well, we genuinely build relationships with our users. It has a knock-on effect on the way people FEEL about the library, the way they TALK about the library, and even the way they USE the library – and how often they use it.
- 22. Social Media is problematicin all sorts of ways, but as library marketers it is perhaps the greatest opportunity we’ve ever been given. And the numbers go up and up, all the time.
- 23. So which social mediaplatforms should public libraries prioritise?
- 24. Active Social Mediausers by platform in millions, WORLDWIDE, 2024 3,049 2491 2000 1562 750 619 482 0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 (data from Statista)
- 25. Facebook remains essentialfor public libraries
- 26. Active Social Mediausers by platform in millions, WORLDWIDE, 2024 3,049 2491 2000 1562 750 619 482 0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 2.40 4.01 2.72 2.37 2.04 1.8 1.03 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 Active Social Media users by platform in millions, IN IRELAND, 2024 (data from Statista) (data from datareportal) (I have never seen this before!)
- 27. Facebook remains essentialfor public libraries Instagram is the opportunity
- 28. Its use inthe cultural sector is huge, and Instagram has established itself as a platform where people engage with organisations, not just individuals. 81% of its users have used Instagram to research products and services. 90% follow organisations or brands.
- 29. You don’t need tobe a great photographer or have expensive equipment to make Insta work. But, crucially, it is a platform for captured – not created – images.
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- 31. Stories GRID PICSREELS STYLE: Portrait (vertical) pics or short videos – or just text content! Doesn’t need to be polished. CONTENT: News, updates, things that don’t photograph well, anything time-sensitive or that-day. Or – interactive things, Q&As. STYLE: Portrait (vertical) videos. CONTENT: Spaces within the library, or events like story-time or author readings, or showcasing services – or tips and tricks, crafts, etc. STYLE: Landscape or square images CONTENT: Spaces, or pretty things, or #tbt, or behind- the-scenes REMEMBER: Pictures of words simply do not work
- 32. 280 characters Text, images,video, links, gifs, shares from other social media Huge use among libraries and librarians For actually engaging with library users, twitter was hard to beat.
- 33. Huge numbers ofpeople are leaving (and the people joining are hugely problematic) Mechanics don’t work as well (algorithm is built on one megalomaniac's whims) Almost all freely available bolt-on tools no longer available Analytics now unusable
- 34. X has becomeso toxic, it is arguably reputationally damaging to be there
- 35. This recent tweethas reached 1.5% of Dublin City Libraries’ followers. (The problem is not the tweet.)
- 36. Facebook remains essentialfor public libraries Instagram is the opportunity It’s time to become ex-x
- 37. The potential alternativesto Twitter
- 38. The landscape isblurry here because there’s no single place our Twitter community is going. If there were we would go there, because the audience is more important than the tool. Instead, things are more fragmented, and whatever happens this is unlikely to reverse, so we have to plan accordingly.
- 39. Threads Massive early adoptionhas not turned into a Twitter-sized pool of regular users yet. However, two things have happened recently: Threads has become usable in the EU for the first time, and a massive book-related Threads community has established itself. For Public Libraries who don’t mind focusing exclusively on the book-content, Threads could potentially be really useful in time.
- 41. Here’s the thing.You don’t need to do TIKTOK in a brilliantly viral way for it to be worth being there. You can just be USEFUL. Show people spaces, and tell them how to do things – that’s valuable.
- 42. Facebook remains essentialfor public libraries Instagram is the opportunity It’s time to become ex-x Tiktok + threads may be worth YOUR TIME…
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- 45. Thank you forlistening! ned-potter.com | @nedpotter.bsky.social Find LOTS more detail on much of the social media we’ve discussed on my website, where you can book bespoke workshops for your library if you’d like one CC0 photos via Pexels, Pixabay and Gratisography . . . .