Search

Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion

Open Search
Month

October 2023

A Nevada Library Shares How They Used A Smart Video Marketing Strategy To Combat Drag Story Hour Protests

Photo courtesy Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County

As a child, Jamie Hemingway wandered acres of backyard and admired the lush scenery of her home in North Carolina. When she wasn’t exploring the outdoors, she was at the library.

“I still have memories of my school library, and asking my parents to take me to the public library where we lived near Winston-Salem,” she remembered. “Libraries have been a constant in my life. I went from checking out my favorite creepy books in North Carolina to walking to the library from my house in Bakersfield, California as a teen, and later, seeking out the library as a quiet refuge in college.”

It’s no wonder she ended up working in a library. While working towards a bachelor’s degree from the University of Reno, Nevada, Jamie started her career with the Washoe County Library System. 

“When it comes to working in the book industry, with a last name like Hemingway, you either write them, or you do the work to get them into readers’ hands,” exclaimed Jamie. “I’ve done a little bit of everything. I started out as a part-time shelver, then became a Youth Services Library Assistant. I was quite satisfied with that job for many years and had a great time doing hundreds of story times with my trusty monkey puppet.”

“One of the things I have really enjoyed about my time with Washoe County Library is the ability to transfer into different jobs at different library locations. The options for variety really allow you to re-invigorate a long-term career. In 20 years, I’ve worked at three different libraries and held three different positions. In 2016 I made the conscious decision to pivot my resume towards library marketing and joined our Marketing and Communications team. My ultimate goal was to get where I am today!”  

Jamie does much of the same work as many of my readers: producing flyers, sending emails, and working on social media posts. Unfortunately, she’s also had to become skilled at handling backlash.

Her library held its first Drag Story Hour in 2019. Jamie recruited the performers and acted as emcee.

“I bought a rainbow suit, brought along my monkey puppet for moral support, and had the distinct privilege of introducing our fabulous drag performers, Aspen Meadows and Ginger Devine,” explained Jamie. “That year we had 800 people walk through our library doors. We also had hundreds of supporters outside who came just to cheer us on.”

Washoe County Library held several more Drag Story Hour events. The last happened in 2022. When plans were made earlier this year for another event, the library faced opposition from a small but vocal sector of their community. A group of self-described “Nevada patriots” led by the Washoe County Republican Party chairman sent a mass email urging people to come to a county commission meeting. His goal: to urge commissioners to put an end to Drag Story Hour.

The group was not successful. However, Jamie and her coworkers knew they needed to address the misinformation. So, they decided to create a video featuring one of the drag performers out of costume, choosing books for storytime.

“The idea for the video series came about through conversations between our Youth Services and Library Events team, Library Administration, the local LGBTQIA+ nonprofit community space called Our Center, and our drag performer, Ginger Devine, AKA Christopher Daniels,” explained Jamie. “We all felt it was important to show our patrons who Ginger/Christopher was out of costume. De-mystifying our friend Ginger seemed like the best route to potentially flipping the script. At the very least, we hoped our patrons would see the great and normal person that Christopher is all the time—whether they are dressed in their workweek clothes or decked out in a fabulous costume.”

“We worked with Christopher to develop a general goal for the series and then let them come up with a draft of a script. Christopher has worked as an actor, improviser, theater director, and entertainer for many years, so we knew we were in capable hands with the script content.”

Jamie’s team was well-prepared for video production, something they got very good at during the pandemic. It took two days to shoot the video and two days to edit it.

“We divided the series into segments based on Christopher’s tips for storytellers, and we included a video about how they get ready for Drag Story Hour,” recalled Jamie. “Chris is an engaging performer and knows how to keep a theater audience entertained, so we wanted to share some of their tips for families who might want to make storytelling at home even more fun and theatrical.”

Here are the tips for storytellers from Christopher:

  • Tip 1: Character Development
  • Tip 2: Tempo and Tone
  • Tip 3: Asking Questions
  • Tip 4: Keeping it Fresh.
  • Tip 5: Audience Participation

Washoe County Library shared the videos on Facebook and Instagram and promoted the series in our weekly newsletter. (That’s where I first spotted it!) The feedback was positive.

“The video of Chris getting ready for Drag Story Hour by visiting staff members at different libraries was especially funny and heartwarming,” said Jamie. “People got to learn more about Christopher and see them as a person who lives in their community (and loves the library!), and that was one of our main goals.”

The library plans to include video promotion for the event in its marketing plan for 2024 and beyond. The library’s director, Jeff Scott, also talks about the Drag Story Hours on a local news segment.

“It’s a great way to build excitement and get the word out,” advised Jamie. “And we love giving our community a behind-the-scenes look by showing people what the event is about–promoting literacy for all kinds of unique kids and families while sharing great picture books about kindness, self-acceptance, and self-esteem.”

Jamie is also working on the launch of a new grant-funded Bookmobile,

“We use parade appearances as an additional marketing and outreach tool, so next up on our list is to debut the Bookmobile at the Sparks Hometowne Christmas Parade,” said Jamie. “It’s one of our favorite parades and it really gets us out there in the community. People love seeing a librarian dressed up as a snowman pushing a book cart down the parade route! I highly recommend parade participation for libraries. It’s a fun way to build goodwill and remind people that they’ve got a great library system and some seriously fun librarians in the area.”

For any library systems looking to add a Drag Story Hour program to their roster, Jamie has some advice.

“A great starting point is the Drag Story Hour 501(c)(3) nonprofit,” counseled Jamie. “They provided us with some great tools for how to improve our program and it was a big reminder that no one should have to go it alone.”

“Interested libraries might even discover that a Drag Story Hour chapter exists in their community, or for that matter, doesn’t yet exist. It’s a great time to get involved and get active. It might not always seem like things are changing for the better, but I like to look at the big picture. Twenty years ago, we never would have hosted Drag Story Hour. But it’s here now, and it’s not going away.”

More advice

Is Artificial Intelligence a Threat to Your Job in Library Promotions? An Expert Explains Why It’s Not Time To Freak Out

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address and click on the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page. You can also follow me on the following social media platforms:

0

A 13-Year-Old Kid Gives Library Marketing Advice About YouTube. Is He Right??

Watch this video now

#LibraryMarketing Show, episode 212

The 13-year-old son of one of my viewers has been giving some library marketing advice to his mom and to others. He says libraries should be posting on YouTube Shorts.

Is he right? I’ll let you know whether this kid is a future library marketer in this episode.

Plus someone will receive kudos!

Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here.

Thanks for watching!

Miss last week’s episode? No worries!

Will I see you soon?

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address and click on the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page. You can also follow me on the following social media platforms:

0

Your Library Promotions Are Probably Missing One Essential Step for Success. No Sweat! 😅 Here’s How To Fix It.

Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

This week I want you, my dear reader, to make me a promise.

Please, for the love of all that is wonderful and majestic about libraries, add one critical step to your library marketing and promotions.

I want you to start setting goals.

Now, I know this may make you sigh/scream/cry/get angry at me. I know you are incredibly busy. I know you are trying your best every day to create effective library promotions. And I want you to have ALL the success possible.

Which is why I am asking this tiny but incredibly important thing of you.

Goals are an absolute necessity for library marketing success. Full stop.

And they will make your work EASIER for you. I promise.

Why you should set goals for your library promotions

Goals will help you:

  • Focus your efforts, allowing you to measure your progress and determine whether your promotions are successful.
  • Establish priorities so you can show your supervisors, your co-workers, your community, your donors, and yourself where your energy is best spent.
  • Stay motivated. Goals will help you identify your successful promotions so you can repeat them and create more success!
  • Reach your library’s overall strategic goals more quickly.

Where to start with goal setting for library promotions

Your marketing goals should align with and support your library’s overall strategic goals.

For example, let’s say your library’s strategic plan includes an objective to improve the kindergarten readiness of children in your service area. A goal you could set for your library marketing is:

To increase the circulation of our library’s picture book collection.

But that goal isn’t quite good enough. To turn this from an okay goal to an effective, meaningful marketing goal, you have to add two things:

  • A number to reach for
  • A time frame for reaching your goal.

Here’s your new, more meaningful goal:

To increase circulation of our library’s picture book collection by at least 10 percent before June 30, 2024.

Here’s another example from a real library. The Buda Public Library’s strategic plan includes this objective: “Create and circulate Maker Kits, for wider accessibility of the library’s technological resources.”

Their library will likely do all sorts of things to promote the Maker Kits: emails, social media posts, bookmarks, and more.

A meaningful goal they can (and should!) set is:

To get 100 checkouts of our library’s Maker Kits in a 12-month period.

See how easy that is?

The most important thing to remember about goal setting for library marketing is to define what you want to do specifically.  

Do you want to increase circulation? By how much? And in what time frame?

Are you looking to boost the use of a certain part of your collection, like your digital materials?  By how much? And by when?

Are you trying to get more people to participate in your event? What percentage increase in attendance do you wish to achieve in what amount of time?

You can set both long-term and short-term goals for library marketing success. A long-term goal might be to get 500 downloads of your library’s new app by December 31st. A short-term goal might be to increase Kanopy streams by 25 percent before the end of the month.

One important question to ask yourself

A key element of library marketing goal setting is to make sure your goal is realistic. If your goal is too far-fetched, you and your coworkers may end up feeling demoralized when you fail to achieve it.

For example, if you try to double traffic to your library website in a month, you are likely setting yourself up for failure. Instead, ask yourself this question when you are setting goals: Is this goal ambitious AND achievable?

The final step

Once you’ve set a goal, write it down.  Why? Studies show the most successful people write their goals down on paper!  

More advice

Paid Partnership for the Win! How a Library System Turned a Holiday Tradition Into an Opportunity To Reach New Library Marketing Goals

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address and click on the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page. You can also follow me on the following social media platforms:

0

Controversial Opinion: Why Your Library Should Stop Using the “R” Word in Your Promotions (Please!)

Watch this video now

#LibraryMarketing Show, episode 211

This one may be controversial but…

I want you to stop using the “R” word in your library promotions.

What is the “R” word, and what should you say instead? I’m going to explain in this episode.

Plus someone will receive kudos!

Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here.

Thanks for watching!

(P.S.)

Miss last week’s episode? No worries!

Will I see you soon?

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address and click on the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page. You can also follow me on the following social media platforms:

2

How To Use ChatGPT To Build Target Personas and Hit the Mark 🎯Every Time With Your Library Promotions

Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

Terrance is a senior in high school, with a bright future ahead of him.

He’s gregarious, curious, and extroverted. He lives with his dad and two younger siblings. His dad is managing to make ends meet, but there isn’t a lot of money left over for things like vacations or extra-curricular activities.

Terrance doesn’t have a car, but he’s been using public transportation all his life. He really wants to go to college. He’d be the first in this family to go. But the application, the financial aid paperwork, interviewing, and essay writing required for admission feels overwhelming to him.

Terrance isn’t a real kid… not exactly. He was a target persona I built when I worked at a library.

Terrance was based on real teens who used our library. And when I read that description, I could clearly see Terrance in my mind. (I still can–can you?) More importantly, I could find the words I needed to say in library promotions that would reach Terrance.

Terrance helped me figure out how to create effective library promotions.

What is a target persona and why do we need them?

A target persona is a fictional profile of a person who represents one of your key target audience groups, based on the characteristics of your community members.

Target personas help us get granular about our target audience. Getting granular helps us create promotions that let our community members know that we see and hear them.

Simply put, we can use target personas to create marketing that convinces those community members to use the library. 

A target persona is not supposed to detail one specific person. It should never be based on one specific individual. It’s a composite sketch, like Terrance, that should reflect most people it is supposed to represent.

How to build target personas for your library

Your community members can be broken down into core segments, or groups, based on their wants, motivations, and the problems they need your library’s help to solve. Those are your target personas.

The number of target personas your library will need will depend entirely on your library’s strategic goals and your marketing goals. Some libraries only need 2 or 3 target personas. Some will need more.

The first thing your library will do is gather demographic information about the community or target group for which you are building a persona. You may do this by researching census data or other data available from your city or town government. Settle on a general answer to these questions:

  • Age range
  • Income
  • Education level
  • Living situation (Married, single, living with multiple generations in one house, living in an apartment, unhoused, etc.)
  • Transportation situation (Do they have their own car or do they use public transit?)
  • Current library usage

Then you want to add depth to your persona. Write down answers to these questions:

  • Their motivations.  Are they career or money-motivated? Are they family-focused?
  • Their attitudes. Can you identify their perspective on social issues like environmental welfare, human rights, or intellectual freedom?
  • Their pain points: What problems are they looking to solve?
  • Their aspirations for the future.
  • The activities they participate in, both inside and outside of the library.
  • Their religious and political affiliation.   

Using ChatGPT to create target personas

Once you have gathered as much information as you can on your target audience by answering the questions above, it’s time to create your target persona. ChatGPT can help you get started.

Let’s say you want to build a target persona for someone who might use your library’s small business center.

Put all the information you have on your target persona together in a description and feed it into ChatGPT like this:

“Pretend you are a marketer. Build me a target audience persona for a person who is in their mid-50s, who was laid off from the job they held for more than 20 years. This person has always wanted to start their own business, and they figure now is the time. But they do not have a business or marketing degree, and they have very little money. They are single and are living off savings now. They do have a bachelor’s degree in English. They have their own car. They use the library to check out books about once a month. They could use library resources to help them start their small business.”

ChatGPT generated a target persona for “John Anderson, a resilient midlife entrepreneur on a mission!” ChatGPT assigned characteristics that I hadn’t considered, like tech savviness and media consumption.

Here’s the rest of the ChatGPT-generated target persona for John Anderson.

Goals and Motivations

  • Fulfilling a lifelong dream of starting his own business.
  • Achieving financial stability and independence.
  • Creating a legacy and finding personal fulfillment through his work.

Challenges

  • Limited budget and financial resources.
  • Lack of formal education in business and marketing.
  • Navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship later in life.

 Hobbies and Interests

  • Enjoys reading, especially classic literature and business-related books.
  • Values community engagement and local events.
  • Appreciates the arts and cultural activities.

 Media Consumption

  • Relies on traditional media like newspapers and local community bulletins.
  • Limited online presence and social media usage.
  • Listens to podcasts or watches videos for learning and entertainment.

 Tech Savviness

  • Basic computer skills but may need assistance with advanced online tools.
  • Open to learning and adapting to technology for business purposes.

 Values

  • Values hard work, perseverance, and integrity.
  • Desires to make a positive impact on the local community.
  • Values practical and actionable advice.

 How the Library Can Help

  • Access to beginner-friendly business books and resources to guide him through the basics of entrepreneurship.
  • Workshops and one-on-one assistance on creating a business plan, marketing on a budget, and utilizing digital tools.
  • Free or low-cost online courses for building essential business skills.
  • Networking events to connect with local entrepreneurs and mentors.

ChatGPT also said, “Understanding John’s unique situation and tailoring library resources to cater to his specific needs will be crucial. Marketing messages should focus on the practicality, accessibility, and community support the library provides for someone like John as he takes the leap into entrepreneurship.”

If I worked at a library, I qould take this ChatGPT generated persona and add or subtract the things that apply to my community.

Are personas too generalized?

There is nothing that replaces a personal conversation with a community member. But it is physically impossible to talk to everyone who lives in your service area.

Personas allow us to find the commonalities of the different segments of our audience. This exercise will lead you to create promotional items that connect with your target audience.

Your target personas will likely change over time. They may be different for different programs or goals that your library is trying to reach. That’s okay! Your target personas should be like your library: adaptable, flexible, and able to change to meet the needs of your community.

But by having defined target personas, you are better equipped with the insights needed to build an experience that consistently and efficiently speaks to your patrons as individuals – with content that’s super relevant to them.

More advice

The Top 7 Tips for Library Emails That Are Guaranteed To Appeal to Millennials and Gen Z Readers

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address and click on the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page. You can also follow me on the following social media platforms:

0

⭐It’s Never too Early! Get Ready to Promote Your Library on TikTok This Holiday Season

Watch this video now

#LibraryMarketing Show, episode 210

I know, we haven’t even gotten to Halloween yet. But guess what??

TikTok has released its holiday shopping guide for marketers! And although this guide was created for shops and profit brands, there were a lot of really great tips in here that you can use at your library. Let’s dig into the guide in this episode.

Plus someone will receive kudos!

Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here. Thanks for watching!

(P.S. Here is the guide mentioned in this episode, no email required!)

tiktok_holiday_playbook_direct_2023Download

(P.S.)

Miss last week’s episode? No worries!

Will I see you soon?

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address and click on the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page. You can also follow me on the following social media platforms:

0

The Top 13 Places To Find Library Content To Share When You’re Tired and Overworked (Bookmark This Post!)

Courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

Promoting your library can feel a lot like feeding a very hungry, very demanding giant.

You want your community to know that your library is the source of rich and valuable information. But, let’s be honest. When you are doing the entire job of promoting your library by yourself or with a small staff, keeping up with the audience’s expectations can be exhausting.

Heck, doing it with a big staff is exhausting. Marketing is tiring.

And the more exhausted and overworked you get, the more your original content suffers. You can’t put your best work out into the world when you are weary.

Your original content, like blog posts, videos, newsletters, and social media posts that talk about what your library offers and how your library helps your community, must be as engaging as possible. Those pieces of content take precedence. You should devote your energy to making those shine.

But there are so many content holes to fill! That’s where a little trick called content curation can be super helpful.

Content curation is sharing articles, infographics, case studies, videos, and other content created by other organizations on your library’s platforms.

Now, I know this sounds counter-intuitive to promoting your library. Why would you share the work of someone else with your audience? Shouldn’t you take every opportunity to engage your followers with your library’s stuff?

That would be ideal. But I know darn well you don’t have a staff of 20 writers to fill your content needs every day. And besides helping you fill your editorial calendar, content curation has other benefits.

Sharing content that aligns with your library’s mission, vision, and values will strengthen your library’s brand. It does this by building trust in your library as an institution of knowledge and inspiration. And it helps you to drive home important messages, like the joy of reading.

Before you begin sharing

The library I used to work for was huge: 600,000 plus cardholders and 41 locations. However, I had a small marketing staff. We often shared content from other sources to fill gaps in our social media and email calendars.

We set a focus for this shared content: anything we shared from outside sources had to be related to books and the literary world. This aligned with one of our library’s overall goals to drive circulation.

That focus was both simplistic and broad. It allowed us to fill our content needs with posts about authors, new books, books being made into movies, health news related to reading, beautiful libraries around the world, historic libraries (including our own), and a lot more.

Our library’s curated content led to higher organic reach on social media. Those pieces of shared content were intriguing additions to our emails. The curated content got a high click rate.

This strategy positioned us as a news source for all things related to the book world. Our followers and fans thought of us as more than a library. They turned to us for information on all topics related to literature.

So, I advise you to set a focus: one that is simple and aligns with your library’s strategic goals.

For example, Hennepin County Public Library’s strategic plan includes the line:  “Offering free access to essential technology and connectivity.” Their curated content focus can be on technology and the benefits of open access to a community.

Here’s another example. One of Montgomery County Public Library’s strategic goals is to make sure all children ages 5 and younger are ready for kindergarten. Their curated content focus might be on shared literacy tips for caregivers of young children, as well as any content that helps caregivers prepare their kiddos for school.

Once you’ve set your focus, you can start sharing. Here is a list of 13 websites where you can find library-related content to share with your audience.

Do you know of a website I should add to the list? Comment below the post to let me know!

BuzzFeed Books

This fantastic BuzzFeed spin-off is a rich source of fun content related to books, authors, and celebrities.

reddit Books

This list of user-generated content on books, libraries, and the literary world is invaluable. Use the discussion boards to give your ideas for fun, and interactive polls to create for your social media followers or email subscribers.   

NPR Books

A good source of more high-brow literary news and lots of book reviews. Use this site to help you decide which books to highlight for individual promotions on social media and through email.

HuffPost Books

Like NPR Books but with a lot of news about politics, book challenges, and diverse authors.

Book Riot

Find in-depth articles and interesting angles on literary themes. Scroll down to the bottom for links to a host of podcasts on every kind of literary subject.  

Electric Lit

A high-brow website with a fun, cultural perspective on literature.

NoveList

My team is responsible for the blog and newsletters, and we work hard to make sure they are a rich source of content curation or promotional ideas for your library. Steal away!

Library Journal’s technology section

Periodic stories about how technology can impact libraries and their patrons. They publish about once a week.

School Library Journal

A great source for posts about books and other library-adjacent services for young readers.

The Princh blog

This company is based in the UK and sells printing options for libraries. Their blog is rarely about printing. Instead, they cover library topics like the impact of early literacy strategies and the joy of volunteering at a library.

American Library Association Office of Intellectual Freedom blog

Need help curating content that educates your community about the dangers of book challenges? This is the premier spot to find it.

Content Prompt

This daily email from Megan Kowalski (profiled here) will give TONS of great, daily ideas for content. She’s a whiz at following those little-known holidays that can make for great fun on social media (Hello, Fish Tank Floorshow Night!)

Any blog from another library or one of your partners!

If you type “library blog” into Google these days, you’ll come up with a whole list of libraries that are publishing content on a variety of subjects. They’ll appreciate you if you share their content. And you’ll know those content pieces are well-researched and written from the library’s perspective.

Your partner organizations will also be flattered if you share their content. For example, if the town yoga instructor who occasionally holds a class at your branch posts about how yoga helps relieve stress, and your content curation focus is on mental health, share that post!

P.S. Want more advice?

Empathy Marketing: How To Use Greed, Fear, Love, and Hope To Motivate Your Audience

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address and click on the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page. You can also follow me on the following social media platforms:

3

A WordPress.com Website.

Up ↑