Morning drive time. Evening drive time. Afternoon talk show. Radio stations, their formats, their audiences, and their ad prices vary greatly.
You might be wondering if an ad on a radio station is an effective use of your limited library marketing budget.
I’ll break down the list of things you’ll need to consider if you want to buy a library radio ad in this episode.
Plus, kudos go to a library for media coverage of a new service at their organization.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Or do you want me to come and speak at your event? Let me know here. And thanks for watching!
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Most of us think libraries are a magical place. But the library Patrick Culliton frequented as a child was truly a place of wonder.
It was in the William E. Telling Mansion in South Euclid, Ohio. Built in 1928, the Telling Mansion now houses the Museum of American Porcelain Art. But back when Patrick was a kid, this historic building was home to the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library system.
“I remember going to storytimes with my mother, studying with friends in junior high, and even exploring the wooded area on the back part of the lot,” recalls Patrick.
Nowadays, Patrick works on a marketing team of two at Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library. He and his coworker manage all the digital and print promotion for the library, which serves a population of 67,000 residents with four locations.
A few months ago, Patrick and the team at Willoughby-Eastlake launched a Banned Book Challenge. The idea came from the library’s Collection Services librarian, who was concerned about calls to remove library materials from shelves.
“I noticed other libraries and educational institutions in Ohio conducting their own events about “controversial” materials, including art shows, book discussions, and guest presentations,” says the librarian, who wishes to remain anonymous. “It felt right to involve the Willoughby-Eastlake libraries in the effort to combat book banning and to educate the public about the matter.”
“To promote the Banned Books challenge, I had our four library branches create a display for their building that encouraged patrons to sign up for the challenge and retrieve a small prize from the circulation desk for noticing the display.”
“The primary goal was to engage readers and encourage them to check out library materials. That is always the main prerogative for all reading challenges—to get patrons in the door and circulating those library materials!”
“The second goal was to show the public what materials are up for debate—currently and throughout history. I assembled a list of 450 books that have been challenged at any point in time in the United States. Patrons and staff alike were surprised to see their favorite books from childhood, such as Where the Wild Things Are on the list with A Clockwork Orange and The Bluest Eye. The public had an opportunity to learn why books were challenged, as well as what is challenged.”
Library staff published a blog post to explain the threat that book challenges pose to all readers. The challenge itself was simple: patrons were asked to read 5 books from the banned books list and enter a drawing for a gift card.
Patrick and his team promoted the challenge using a press release, a graphic for our website carousel, scheduled social media posts, and the library’s e-newsletter.
“The experience itself was up and down,” remembers Patrick. “Our local paper ran a story on it from our press release, and they shared their article on their Facebook page, which got a lot of traction. The comments there were mostly positive.”
“Then, when we sent our e-blast the following Monday, with the Banned Books Challenge as the lead, we received a few angry phone calls and emails. While this was concerning, it spurred us to have a good conversation at our Staff Day. Marketing and Administration then updated some policies related to materials challenges and first amendment audits and then supplied staff with the necessary support and documentation, should these issues arise in the buildings.”
“And I should say, we also got a few positive emails from patrons, too, along with positive comments on our posts about the Challenge. That e-blast had a marked increase in clicks, naturally.”
The email had a click-through rate of 6.5 percent. That’s three times higher than Willoughby-Eastlake’s average click-through rate.
163 people of all ages signed up for the challenge and 35 people completed it, reading five banned books. Two of those patrons won Target gift cards.
“We received a lot of positive feedback both online and in-person,” says the collection services librarian. “Patrons enjoyed the displays and shared the social media posts about the challenge.”
“We also received a handful of disputes, which were handled accordingly. Complaints were mainly made over the phone to the director. Willoughby-Eastlake employees also hosted a panel for the staff, in which they learned more about banned books on a larger scale and how to handle argumentative patrons.”
Now Patrick and the staff are turning their promotional attention to their winter reading Warm-up Challenge and the Solar Eclipse in April.
“We have a LOT of eclipse glasses, programs are being planned, and one of our Librarians received Eclipse Ambassador training from the Great Lakes Science Center,” relays Patrick. “It’s going to be a fun, wild day!
For inspiration, Patrick and the team follow lots of other libraries on social media. And one non-library account: the NE Ohio Regional Sewer District’s Twitter account.
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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:
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:
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:
Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
I won’t bury the lede on this post. I will no longer be promoting Super Library Marketing on Twitter/X. And I hope that you and your library will stop promotions there too.
I’ve been debating this move for a while now. I am keenly aware of the challenges libraries face when reaching their community. Libraries need every single free resource at their disposal to effectively promote their library.
But you don’t need Twitter/X. Not anymore.
The number of libraries that use Twitter/X for promotion fell an astounding 17 percentage points this year, according to the 2023 Super Library Marketing Survey.
Only 38 percent of libraries are currently actively marketing on Twitter/X. I hope this post convinces them to stop.
The platform’s promotional effectiveness continues to plummet. It sincerely is no longer a beneficial use of your time.
And the man who runs it has made changes that allow hate speech, trolling, and abusive behavior on the platform. He’s reinstated numerous banned accounts and freely allows posts from climate deniers, anti-vaxxers, as well as antisemitic dog whistles.
In fact, on Friday, December 15, as I was writing this piece, he published this Tweet.
I don’t want to support that, and I don’t think your library should either.
Statistics to support a Twitter/X exit
If you want to see numbers, here are the latest statistics from What’s the Big Data.
Twitter is the 7th most popular social media platform worldwide and has far fewer users worldwide than any other social network we’ve covered in the recent Social Media Guide for Libraries.
10 percent of Twitter users account for about 92 percent of the Tweets shared on the platform. Most users aren’t active. They visit to consume content rather than interact with it.
Only 33 percent of Twitter users come to the platform to follow brands and companies.
Elon Musk, Twitter’s current owner, has imposed limits on the number of Tweets and direct messages your library can send in a day, as well as the number of accounts your library can follow.
Other library marketing experts agree: It’s time to leave Twitter/X.
Ned Potter splits his time between being Faculty Engagement Manager: Community + UX at the University of York and running freelance workshops on library marketing and social media. He’s worked in the academic library world since the mid-2000s. He was featured on this blog in 2022.
Ned recently published a piece laying out several reasons he believes libraries should leave Twitter. He echoed my concerns, including hate speech, misinformation, and Musk’s behavior.
Ned has worked with libraries across the world and says he does have mixed feelings about leaving Twitter/X.
“I have found the librarian community to be fantastically open, generous, and curious,” said Ned. “I really value my networks online too, which is why I’m so sad to have been driven to leave Twitter!”
Laura also wrote a recent post calling for libraries to leave Twitter. Her reasons include the platform’s focus on monetization and the fact that so many people have left the platform. Laura also believes libraries’ public perception may be damaged if they continue to post on Twitter/X.
She admits this is going to be a difficult move for some organizations.
“I have heard from some that they plan to address their libraries’ administration about it,” said Laura. “I suspect it will be an uphill climb.”
Ned says he can understand that pushback. But he has some good advice for staff members who want to make the case to their supervisors.
“I’d point to statistics,” advises Ned. “You absolutely see the reduced numbers of likes, impressions, and link clicks happening on the platform. So we’re not achieving the things we’re on social media to achieve, like driving behavior and influencing perceptions of the library.”
“I’d also point to the potential reputational harm of being on a platform run by someone so seemingly intent on causing harm and being so openly hostile to almost everyone.”
“But I’d also focus on the positive – leaving social media platforms can be incredibly liberating. If it frees up your creative energies to be spent on, for example, Instagram instead, that account is going to benefit hugely from that! You’ll see engagement levels skyrocket, and your impact increase.”
Laura says library staff who want to leave Twitter should share articles with their supervisors about how companies are reacting to the chaos and actions of Twitter and Elon Musk.
“Provide data about how much referral traffic the library (probably isn’t) getting at this point,” adds Laura. “Remind admins that they really don’t want their libraries associated with an international disinformation mechanism. Twitter isn’t what it was a year ago.”
What to do if your library decides to leave Twitter/X
If your library decides to stop promoting on Twitter, don’t delete your account. Things may change in the future, and you don’t want someone else claiming your handle. Instead:
Pin a post to the top of your profile, letting your followers know that you no longer will be posting on the platform.
Give Twitter/X users an alternative way to find information about the library (ideally, a link to your email opt-in page!).
Remove the Twitter logo from your emails and website.
I’m curious: what are your library’s thoughts about Twitter? Let me know in the comments.
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:
A few weeks ago, we talked about eliminating the word “resource” from your library marketing. That video started a conversation that resulted in a whole list of words to eliminate from your library marketing vocabulary.
Get the list and the reason why this change is so important (I promise I’m not trying to be a pain… there is a good reason) in this episode!
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here.
Subscribe to this blog to receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter youremail 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:
Setting goals for library marketing is incredibly important. A couple of weeks ago, I issued a challenge.
You all responded and I accepted. So here’s the payoff: we’re going to set some goals in 60 seconds in this episode. And you’re going to see just how easy it is.
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.
Subscribe to this blog to receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter youremail 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:
Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion 