Marketing with social media

How do I feel about the marketing opportunities that social media now offers? Well, as I have been discovering throughout this programme, there are a vast range of Things that provide an opportunity for making connections and communicating, for sharing information and interacting. And the thing I find most incredible about the various tools I have explored is that they are free! So without a doubt, libraries should make use of social media to ensure a presence within online communities, because if they don't they are missing out on an important way of reaching out to users.

As far as marketing with social media is concerned, I think the main aim should be to promote the image of the library as a modern, friendly, approachable place, and to publicise services that are available. I agree with Stewart Bain that libraries' use of social media should be fun and engaging, and that the content provided would need to be kept up-t0-date and posted relatively frequently. I understand that the point of social media is to encourage conversations and participation, and should not be used merely as a means to broadcast information. I'm not sure how easy this is to achieve, but it's certainly worth a try, and a process of regular evaluation would be needed to identify what is working and what is not.

The tool that I consider most suitable to promote my library's sevices to its users is Facebook. As I mentioned before, the best chance of connecting with users is by utilising a space that they are familiar with and spend a lot of time in. Now I realise there is no guarantee that users will fully embrace the library's efforts in this area, but I believe the format offered by Facebook Fan Pages is ideal for communicating information about new resources, news about the library, publicising services and the collection, and promoting a friendly and accessible image of the library. Maybe including features that encourage direct participation by users (asking directly what they think about a particular service, or maybe something more fun like captions for photos) could help to measure the effectiveness of the page (but do students have the time/interest to spend on these kind of things?). Maybe having the Library's Facebook page displayed on a pc within the library would help in promoting awareness and visibility. Though interacting and communicating with students through social media may be a little beyond my expectation right now, utilising it to at least promote the library's services and resources, I feel, would be a step in a positive direction.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is new to me, and I will definitely consider joining in the near future. Its features seem rather similar to Facebook: a profile on which you can write comments, an inbox for private messages, contacts, and Groups. However, I like the fact that it focuses on your professional identity, and acts as a kind of digital CV, with the option to include your work experience, and school and academic history and achievements. Though it does appear to be rather geared to businesses, I can see that it might be useful for librarians to connect with each other and make professional contacts which could be used for sharing knowledge and advice. It thus seems to be a great place to be for professional networking. I also like the idea of receiving updates from Amazon about new publications in your field of interest.



A new network that I have recently joined is the LIS New Professionals Network, which I have to say is fantastic, and is a source of a huge range of information geared specifically to new and aspiring librarians like myself, and it's a great place to do some professional networking! There's a jobs and placements section, an events page to find out about interesting conferences, forums to discuss topical issues, ask questions, and share advice, ideas and experiences, and an excellent resources section with reviews of LIS Masters courses, Chartership portfolio examples and a series of How To guides. It's a great example of just how good social networking can be!

The LISNPN homepage

Facebook

I think that library Facebook pages have huge potential as an outreach tool to share news and promote library services to students. Large numbers of students have Facebook accounts, and I think it makes sense to appeal to users in a space they are familiar with and spend a lot of time in! (In this way I think Facebook has much more scope than Twitter as a means of communicating with students). Looking at the Cambridge library Facebook pages that exist, and seeing the number of 'fans' they have, shows just how useful they can be, and I was impressed by how much can be incorporated into the Page. The posts that can be written on the wall are perfect for sharing pieces of news, posting links to interesting news and information, promoting new resources, displays and exhibitions, talks and workshops, and notifying users to changes in opening times and vacation due dates etc. I'm also impressed by the number of library-related applications that are now available, for example the Cambridge Libraries Widget, COPAC, WorldCat and JSTOR searches, the possibility of incorporating other Things such as Delicious bookmarks and Flickr photostreams (I love that it's possible to bring things together into one place!) I also like the look of Bookshare, and adding book cover images of items the Library holds.

I found it very interesting reading about the differences between a Facebook Fan Page and a Facebook Group, and have given my vote to the Fan Page. This has much more scope for adding the extra apps and it is possible to get visitor statistics for the Fan Page (extremely useful for seeing how many people are actually visiting the Page, and may help in evaluating how useful the Page is). Fan Pages are also indexed which means they are visible to people not registered with Facebook, which increases their potential audience. I also discovered that updates can be sent to Fans via an easily missed updates folder within the messages section of the site. Unfortunately no indication is given that you have updates in your folder (unlike email notifications for messages), so on investigating my folder I found a large number of updates, much to my surprise!

My main concern about Facebook library pages is how much users will actually look at them. I think users would quite happily become fans of their library's page, but it's unlikely to be a page they would visit daily/regularly. In my experience, new additions/content to Fan Pages are rarely displayed on the newsfeed on the Homepage, so would it be best to write an update to Fans everytime something important/interesting is posted on the page to alert them to it (I don't think these updates are generated automatically), and then just hope that they think to look in the updates folder, for which they receice no notification? I guess not much can be done to resolve this problem, but the important thing is that it is another route for communication with users, and as long as they are aware it is there, should they need/want to look at it, it is available to them. It would be important to advertise the page well via the the library website and posters within the library.

I am planning to write a proposal for a Facebook Fan Page for my library, so watch this space. In particular the ease of adding content to the page, and its accessibility to our library users really makes this Thing stand out for me. Existing Library pages provide lots of inspiration and encouragement to give it a go, and I really believe that they have the potential to be greatly beneficial to users for keeping up-to-date and informed with library news and resources.