Marketing the Library
Course
Social Media [3:43]
Learn how to take advantage of social media to draw in library users.
Start by taking some time to map social media activity to the mission, goals, and objectives you have developed as a part of your marketing plan. Define what success looks like. What are the core values that you will communicate? How will social media help you fulfill this? Document these ideas in a short "social media purpose" that can help you share this vision with others and keep your actions aligned with the goals.
As you review your marketing goals, set specific ones for social media. Consider the programs, collection, and all who are served by the library when creating them. How will social media be used to promote these goals? Remember, goals should be measurable and meaningful.
Perhaps the goal is to increase use of the library's makerspace. Social media could be used to call attention to particular makerspace projects, maybe you can offer a challenge for users to post images of their makerspace creations.
After you have your social media purpose and goals, you will need to document a policy. Your policy should define how social media will be compatible with the culture of the school or district and document the procedures for use. Think about the school's policy on posting student pictures online and the tone that is used. This all must be determined and documented before moving forward. Be sure to run it by your administration for feedback & buy in.
Now that you have defined the purpose, goals, and policy of your social media program, you are ready to plan your implementation strategy. Social media takes commitment and a plan. This can be manageable by using a well-defined schedule.
Determine who will post and when. It is important to have a regular schedule. You will also want to determine which platforms you will post on. Ask yourself where your stakeholders hang out. Your integration plan must incorporate all the previous work you have done in regards to purpose, goals, and policy. It is helpful to create a school year calendar and plot out your posting schedule.
In addition to implementation planning, you will want to schedule regular quarterly assessments to measure progress and evaluate your social media strategy. There are many tools that can help you with analytics and response. You can find a list of them in our resource section, as well as excellent library social media examples so you can see best practices in action. It will take some time to grow your social media following so be sure to have reasonable expectations.
With attention to purpose, goals, and policy and plans for implementation and evaluation, you can successfully use social media to market to your learning community!
Social media trends come and go, but as the lesson video showed, there are ample ways to engage with your library stakeholders through different platforms. Learn more tips from "Creating a Social Media Presence for Your School or Library" by Steven M. Baule and "Take Action! The Connected School Library" by Stony Evans (found in the Resources below), then complete the Reflect & Practice activity.
After reading Baule's and Evans's tips on connecting to stakeholders through social media, develop your own social media marketing strategy by completing pages 14–16 in the Marketing Plan Template.
MLA Citation
Editorial Team, SLC. "Marketing the Library: Fully Connected." School Library Connection, October 2018, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2174914?learningModuleId=2174884&topicCenterId=2247902.
Entry ID: 2174993
Additional Resources
About the Authors
Email: rmorris@schoollibraryconnection.com
Twitter: @rebeccajm87.
MLA Citation
Editorial Team, SLC. "Marketing the Library. Social Media [3:43]." School Library Connection, ABC-CLIO, October 2018, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2174914?learningModuleId=2174884&topicCenterId=2247902.
https://schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2174914?learningModuleId=2174884&topicCenterId=2247902
Entry ID: 2174914