The answers to your questions about…

The answers to your questions about…
Survey Results
Facebook
 Twitter
 YouTube
 Flickr
 MySpace

47.0%
18.0%
14.0%
8.8%
8.6%
Web 2.0 and Marketing
•
Why do we want to use social media?
• How do we work it into our already busy
schedules?
• How do we choose which social media to use?
• How do we use it?
• How do we promote it?
• How can we tell if it is really worth our time?
Why do we want to use
social media?

Libraries need to change and adapt to
the needs of customers.
 Social networking sites give voices to your
customers.
 Social media is rapidly becoming a core
channel for disseminating information.
 Go where the fish are!
 85% of teens engage in some form of
electronic personal communication—they
are immersed in media and gadgets. They
are mobile!
It’s not going away…
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- With
Facebook registering its 300 millionth
user and investors valuing Twitter at $1
billion, it's time to put to bed the notion
that social networking is a fad. It's not.
It's our destiny. (October 13, 2009)
 The main players today may not be the
main players tomorrow.

How do we work it into our
already very busy schedule?
Share responsibility with other staff
members.
 Look closely at the current duties of staff
and decide which functions to stop
performing so that Web 2.0 tools may
be incorporated into the work flow of
library staff members.
 If you are a one or two person library,
just chose one or two tools to use and
focus on them.

Policies for Using Social Media
Visit Genny Carter’s delicious page
http://delicious.com/gencarter/policy
 http://socialmediagovernance.com/polici
es.php

How do we choose which one to use?
Facebook
MySpace Blogs Twitter
YouTube
Pictures
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes (with
app)
No
Videos
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes (with
app)
Yes
Live Chat
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Announcements
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Comments
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
What do people want out of
social networks?
Getting news and product updates
(67%)
 Having access to promotions (64%)
 Viewing or downloading music or videos
(41%)
 Submitting opinions (36%)
 Connecting with other consumers (33%)

So….
Give them information that they can’t get
elsewhere
 Make it the first place you place the
updates
 Give them an offer that can only be
gotten from the social network
 Provide value and be contextually
relevant to why they’re there in the first
place.

How do I use it?

Share information.
 You can post links related to your niche (databases,
your web page, etc) or just interesting things you find
around the Internet.
 “Today in History”
 Answers to frequently asked questions
 Post tips related to your niche.

Ask questions.
 You can increase your relationship with your
fans/followers by asking questions.

Share your opinion.
 You can post links to recent news stories, especially
those related to your niche, and offer your opinion.
Any more ideas?
New book/materials information
 Announce events/programs
 Share pictures or video from
events/programs
 Inform about current displays
 Tell about a service the library offers
 Be sure and tell them when you make
history (Brentwood addition for example)

And for Universities….
Gather and Share Information
 Showcase Student and Faculty Work
 Broadcast Events
 Emergency Notification
 Create a dialogue with students

Facebook:




Number 1 social
network in the U.S.
Number of users
350,000,000
Number that log in
every day
175,000,000
Number of friends
average user has
130
61% of users are between 18 and 44
Twitter







Third largest social
network…but is
considered the “hottest.”
Number of Tweets to
date 1,111,991,000
Number of Tweets per
day 3,000,000
Number of users
26,000,000
63% of Twitter users are
male
Lots of free applications
at various other sites
http://search.twitter.com/
(see following page)
http://search.twitter.com
Do an advanced search
 Search for the word “library” within 25
miles of your city to see what people are
saying about the library
 Search for a keyword if you want to see
if there is any interest in a particular
subject (for a potential program, etc.)

MySpace



Second place, but….
Down to 30 percent of
the market from 66.8
percent last year.
“Facebook and Twitter
are in, MySpace is
out, according to
Experian Hitwise.”
http://news.cnet.com
YouTube (videos)




Number of total
videos 70,000,000
Number viewed per
day 100,000,000
Average length of
video 2 min 46.17
seconds
Average age of
uploader 26.57
YouTube uses:
 Tours of library
 Information about library services
 Show programs at the library
 Online tutorials
The Big Question:
How do I promote it?



“Doesn’t social media promote itself?...well, kind
of. You can usually find someone through a search
engine.
But…You still need to let folks know of your
presence. It’s just like a building. Do you want
people to find you through “serendipitous
discovery” only?
Passive endorsement-when fans and friends post
to your wall, comment on your postings, and
accept invitations, News Feed (FB) will tell the
story!
Promoting…

Electronic
 Link, link, link: web site, to FB, to Twitter, etc.
 Staff can obtain accounts to help promote library’s
account
 Ask “fans” to “share” with their friends (If your 100 fans
tell their 100 friends….wow)
 Library’s email signature

Word of mouth
 Tell about it everywhere you speak

Post it everywhere! (use old marketing methods)





Flat-screen TV in library which displays library info
Receipt when patron checks out materials
Outdoor sign
Handouts
Your business card
Social Media Cards
Just remember…
Be patient.
 Rome wasn’t built in a day.
 It takes time.
 Do not measure your success by the
number of fans.

How can we tell if it is truly worth
our time?
Difficult to measure quantitatively
 Set goals that can be measured
qualitatively—assessing the value of the
resulting conversations and
relationships.

And we didn’t even talk about
Wikis
 Blogs
 RSS feeds
 Flickr
 Delicious (social bookmarking)
 Web sites
 Or the next big thing….

Which is……
Mobile technology
 Read about it at http://ow.ly/10XQR
 Convergence is the keyword
 People want what they want, when they
want it, with the least amount of effort as
possible

Dinah Harris
[email protected]
www.everetthornlibrary.org
http://twitter.com/librarye
Search for Everett Horn Public Library on
www.facebook.com
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