Hashtags. They’re not dead, but things are changing, and the way we should use them is also changing.
There’s a new article from the Content Marketing Institute that outlines the changes to hashtags. I’m going to go through it with you so you don’t have to, and give you some hashtag-specific tips for each social media platform in this episode of the Library Marketing Show.
Plus, we’ll give kudos to half a dozen libraries that won a big award.
Do you have a suggestion for a future episode’s topic? Do you want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here. Thanks for watching!
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What if I told you that posting less frequently on social media could actually help your library reach a wider audience? I know it sounds backward, but I think I’m on to something here, and I’ve got some data to prove my theory!
So we’re going to talk about why fewer posts lead to more engagement in this episode of The Library Marketing Show. Plus, we’ll give kudos to a library system that just released a beautiful and tangible way for patrons to take a piece of the library with them wherever they go!
Do you have a suggestion for a future episode’s topic? Do you want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here. Thanks for watching!
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Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
My former employer recently purchased sponsored content in the local newspaper to educate the Cincinnati community about all the library has to offer. When I saw the ad, I knew exactly what they were doing: Trying to drive more use of the resources they spend so much time and money curating for the community.
I’m frustrated by the fact that many regular community members are unaware of the existence of these databases. It’s great if you have the money to promote them. But most libraries have no advertising budget. So, how do they drive the use of the databases?
This is a marketing problem I want to address with this post. It’s vitally important for your library to boost usage of your databases so you can make the case to keep the budget you’ve set aside for them! A year-long promotional plan with strategic key messages can help you build awareness and turn occasional database or library users into regular users who rely on your library for information.
This plan goes beyond the normal “Did you know we had that?” campaign. It focuses on the core problems each database solves for your community. This method will effectively explain to your community why the database is essential to their life. Here’s how to do it.
Identify the problem the database solves
Your first step is to set aside time to play with the database yourself. This “playtime” is how you’ll uncover the real value of the database.
Pretend you’re a curious patron exploring it for the first time. What features catch your attention? What tools are easy to use? What specific problem does this database solve for your community? Is it saving students time on citations? Helping job seekers prep for interviews?
Write the problems down as you explore the database. Those problems will be the focus of your campaign. This will keep you from promoting the database with language that sounds generic, like “access to great information.”
Generic benefits are too vague to meaningfully connect with or interest your patrons. They don’t address the real-life needs of your community. And they make your library marketing sound like every other piece of marketing content out there in the world.
Call the database by its name and tie it to your library
Patrons usually have to sign in to the database using their library card, and that action can create a separation in the mind of your patron between your library and the database.
Using the name of the database builds name recognition for the resource. And, with a consistent, deliberate effort to add your library’s name to each database, (“NoveList Plus at the Maple Tree Library” or “Consumer Reports from the Maple Tree Library”), you will begin to create a connection in your patrons’ minds that solidifies all that your library provides.
Promote one database each month
Create a simple month-long campaign for each of these databases. Consider:
Who is the ideal patron who will benefit from this resource? This is your target audience for the month.
What channels are best for reaching your target audience? Focus your library promotions on those channels only.
Set goals for the month. How much of a usage increase will you be aiming for? This number will likely be different each month. Be sure to write your goals down and check at the end of the month to see if you’ve accomplished them.
12-month database promotional plan
I’ve put together a calendar of promotions to get you started. I’ve also identified the problem each database solves and suggested two potential key messages for your campaigns. Don’t you have one of these databases? Feel free to substitute any resources you wish for any month!
January: Homework Help Database (e.g., HelpNow, Tutor.com)
Problem it solves: Students get help with homework they might not receive at home due to busy caregivers, the cost of private tutoring, or a lack of subject expertise. These databases also typically offer test prep and FAFSA help.
Potential key messages:
Homework help is one click away. Get free online tutoring, test prep, and more—all from the comfort of home.
Test prep without the stress. SAT, ACT, and more—no expensive classes are required.
February: Full-Text Academic Research Databases (e.g., JSTOR, Academic Search Premier)
Problem it solves: Gives users access to credible, peer-reviewed sources with no unreliable websites or paywalls.
Potential key messages:
Say goodbye to paywalls. Find full-text articles for your next paper—free with your library card.
Need solid sources without the stress? These articles are 100% human-written and citation-ready—no AI, no trouble.
March: LinkedIn Learning or Career Skills Services
Problem it solves: Free training in business, tech, and creative skills for career growth.
Potential key messages:
Learn new skills. Land the job. Free classes in Excel, coding, communication, and more.
Your next promotion starts here. Learn in-demand skills on your schedule, at no cost.
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Are you marketing and promoting your library by yourself or with a very small team? Do you feel overwhelmed and stressed, like there’s never enough time in the day to do everything that needs to be done?
I have five tips to help you make the most of your time and be efficient with your library marketing without getting stressed. We’re going to talk about it in this episode of The Library Marketing Show.
Plus, kudos goes to a library that managed to work a talking point about the value of libraries into a story about a book returned decades after its due date.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Do you want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here. Thanks for watching!
Subscribe to this blog, and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address. Then, click the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page. You can also follow me on the following social media platforms:
I’m not sure this is healthy for me. Still, I’ve been thinking about Facebook organic reach a lot lately. I’ve been wondering: Does it make any sense for libraries to post organically to Facebook anymore?
I think there are some hard truths about Facebook that we need to work through. We’re going to do it in this episode of the Library Marketing Show.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Do you want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here. Thanks for watching!
Subscribe to this blog, and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address. Then, click the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page. You can also follow me on the following social media platforms:
One of the hardest parts about working in a library is the bureaucracy! It can slow everything down, including approval for your marketing materials.
I’ve been there. I might not be able to fix it completely, but I have five things you can do to help make that approval process a little less painful, and that’s in this episode of The Library Marketing Show.
We’ll also give kudos to a library that got an unusual and exciting patron testimonial during Library Lovers Month.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Do you want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here. Thanks for watching!
Subscribe to this blog, and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address. Then, click the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page. You can also follow me on the following social media platforms:
Library marketing… it’s sometimes a balancing act.
There are things that your library wants to promote. And there are things that your community wants from your library. Sometimes, those two things conflict with one another!
In this episode, you’ll get some tips for finding the balance between building things that your cardholders and community need versus working on your library’s overall vision. Plus, a library gets kudos for a patron as hero story!
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here. And thanks for watching!
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:
There is a very easy way to promote your library — even when nobody is in the building! And in fact, marketing when you’re library is closed for any reason is effective, and important, especially for one target group of library users.
I’ll explain in this episode of The Library Marketing Show.
Plus, we’ll give away kudos to a library for creating a video to explain the impact of their winning grant entry.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here. And thanks for watching!
Thanks for watching!
Special note: The next Super Library Marketing post will arrive in your inbox on Tuesday, Dec. 26.
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:
I sometimes daydream about taking a nap in the middle of the workday.
It would be easy enough. My office is in a shed in our backyard and ya’ll, there’s a pullout bed in here. I could totally take a power nap any time I wanted to.
But I never do.
Why NOT?? Seriously, what is wrong with me?
For many of you, a midday work nap is something you could never consider. You simply don’t have time. Marketing your library is not the only work task you are expected to do. You are answering phones. You’re filling holds. You’re making sock puppets for story time. You’re cleaning the restroom.
Your work is demanding. And for many of you, it’s leading to staff burnout.
Burnout is a big problem in library marketing. A quarter of all public libraries in the United States lost staff positions after the pandemic, according to the Public Library Association. And in more than half of those libraries, those positions were not replaced.
So, we’re doing more with less. And the burden is even heavier for those of you working to promote your library.
According to a survey by Blind, the burnout rate for anyone working in marketing and communications was already high pre-pandemic, at 74.8 percent. After the pandemic, that rate shot up to 83.3 percent.
We have a problem. But I’m certain my readers already knew that.
What do we do about it?
For the next two weeks, I want to address this issue. I’ll share some strategies I’ve learned in my own work and research.
I decided to write this series now because:
Summer is stressful and busy for library promotions.
You’ll do better promotional work when you aren’t stressed, and that’s good for your library.
I like you. A lot.
What the heck is burnout?
The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies burnout as a “syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.”
There are three main symptoms:
Feelings of fatigue, lethargy, or exhaustion
Feelings negative or apathetic about your library marketing work
Reduced productivity
Why are library marketers experiencing burnout?
This is, by no means, a comprehensive list. But I talk with libraries every day as part of my day job. And here are the main causes of burnout I’ve noticed.
Outside threats, like book challenges, hostile library boards, and antagonistic community members.
I put this first because, to be honest, I think it’s the biggest threat to libraries right now.
The constant, never-ending, soul-sucking, scary, demeaning, and demoralizing effects of book challenges are doing more than impacting our freedom to read. It’s threatening the very existence of libraries by making working conditions impossible.
This month, during Pride, I have held my breath every time I see a library post on social media. I tentatively check the comments, looking for anyone who might say something derogatory.
I hear stories from fellow library marketers who tell me they receive replies to their regular library emails from people threatening and demeaning them.
And I’ve listened as library staff break down in tears, describing hostile community members who threaten them, dox them, and call them all kinds of names, for doing their jobs–providing inclusive books and services.
Lack of support or recognition from leadership
You, my readers, are smart. You think strategically about your promotions and measure your results. And when you take those results to your boss and they ask you to keep doing the thing that isn’t working anyway… that leads to burnout.
If you are a manager reading this, here is a call to action: your job is to support your staff. Your job is to remove hurdles so your team members can do their best library marketing work.
That doesn’t mean you have to agree with every idea your team members bring. But if you disagree, provide context. And allow your team members to conduct library promotional experiments, even if you personally think they’re going to fail. You could be wrong. And the goodwill and trust you build with your team members are valuable.
Unrealistic deadlines and results expectations
How many times have you been asked to create an email, a social media post, or an ENTIRE campaign… right now, like yesterday.
Library marketing work takes time and it’s difficult to get others to understand that. And when they don’t, that leads to stress and burnout.
It’s also stressful when you’re receiving pressure from fellow staff who expect you to drive hundreds of people into their programs.
Remote work and mobile devices
There is a downside to remote work—one I personally struggle with.
Before the pandemic, most of us had to commute. And that driving time, as stressful as traffic can be, did create a barrier that helped us disconnect from our work.
Now, it’s so dang easy to open your laptop after dinner and finish that email newsletter you didn’t quite get through today. Or to check your email. We also carry these little computers around in our hand/purse/pocket that keep us constantly connected to the office.
For a while, my home office was in my bedroom. HUGE MISTAKE. I would wake up in the middle of the night, glance over at my to-do list for the next day which was laying on the desk right next to me, and suddenly, the gears in my brain would start churning.
Don’t get me wrong: working at home is FANTASTIC. But remote workers do have to consciously create a barrier between their workday and their home life.
The never-ending promotional content cycle
The work that sets library promotions aside from every other bit of work in the library is the constant need for online content.
Update the website. Write a blog post. Record a podcast episode. Post to social media.
The content beast is always hungry. And that constant need to feed the beast leads to burnout.
Are you experiencing burnout?
If you are feeling like one more social media post or newsletter is going to put you over the edge, you are not alone. Next week, I’ll share 10 tips for avoiding burnout for anyone working in library promotions.
Meanwhile, if you feel comfortable, share your burnout experience here. This form allows you to remain anonymous. I’m not a therapist, but hopefully, the act of writing about your feelings will help ease the burden a bit. I care about you.
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Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion 