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:
You asked for it and this week, I’m sharing the results of the latest Super Library Marketing Survey.
Surveys are an effective form of market research. They illuminate the services that are needed to help a target audience. And you, my dear readers, are my target audience.
For the past 8 years, I’ve asked questions that help me get a better sense of who you are, and how this blog and The Library Marketing Show can be as helpful to you as possible. The Monday posts and Wednesday videos are direct responses to the questions and concerns you share in the survey.
The struggles and goals of libraries shifted in some major ways. As we begin 2024, here is the state of library marketing.
Basic methodology
The survey was conducted for two weeks in early September 2023. The survey response rate rose this year by a whopping 32 percent. The survey was a mix of multiple-choice and open-ended questions.
Type of library
Respondents to the survey consist mainly of public library workers.
86.6 percent of respondents work in a public library.
7.1 percent work in an academic library.
The remaining 6.3 percent of respondents work in school, special, or state libraries.
Marketing experience
Most of the respondents are experienced marketers.
69.3 percent of respondents say they’ve been managing promotions for 3 years or longer.
19.7 percent have been doing marketing for 1-2 years.
The remaining 11 percent said they have been in promotions for less than 12 months.
Time spent on library marketing
The average respondent estimated they spent about 60 percent of their daily work time on marketing and promotions. This means that many of you are also managing other job duties, such as programming and collection development.
Marketing as a priority
Every year, I ask respondents to tell me if their library has a dedicated marketing department. A marketing department can consist of one or more people, whose sole job role is marketing. The presence of a marketing department is a clear indication of whether marketing is a priority for senior leaders.
This year, the results were:
50.4 percent said no.
49.6 percent said yes.
The number of libraries with a dedicated marketing department fell two percentage points this year. That’s not enough to call it a trend but I will keep an eye on this.
The most pressing question or concern
Last year, the top concerns of my readers were how to reach new users, storytelling for marketing, email marketing best practices, and budgeting.
This year, the answers can be broken down by five categories.
How to reach new users
Respondents said they struggled to promote to community members through traditional means, like newspapers, as well as on social media. Several named specific target audiences they hope to reach, including young adults, parents and caregivers of young children, and non-English speaking communities.
One respondent said, “How do we make sure we are effectively reaching patrons and members of the community without overdoing it or over-communicating? I am a one-person marketing team for my library.”
Time
Respondents shared frustration over a lack of time to adequately plan, create, and analyze their marketing. They struggle with the coordination of tasks, especially when working with other library staff. Balancing priorities and goals is difficult.
Said one respondent, “We’re a progressive system that’s constantly adding new things (which is great) but it seems like there’s never enough time or space to share it all and get real awareness out there.”
Buy-in and strategy
Many of the respondents said they are struggling to get supervisors and co-workers to understand their jobs: the difficult parts of marketing, the time this work takes, and the value of doing it right.
“There are not enough marketers for everything Admin wants us to do,” said one respondent. “Others don’t understand how many priorities we’re trying to balance or how time-consuming our work is. I feel like some coworkers think we’re doing our jobs badly, but they don’t understand our jobs.”
Another respondent asked, “How can I best unify staff? My biggest challenge is encouraging everyone to follow our style guide or at least inform themselves about marketing best practices.”
Social media
Respondents shared frustration with changing social media algorithms and the burnout that can happen. “They’re showing more Reels, then they are showing still pictures, then they aren’t showing unless there are comments…you know what I mean?” asked one respondent.
Other concerns
Content creation, audience segmentation, reaching volunteers, burnout, budgeting, metrics, competing with nearby libraries for attention, and AI all round out the list of concerns this year for library marketers.
These topics will all be addressed this year.
Social media use
Here is the percentage of libraries using specific social media platforms, according to the survey respondents. Of note was the jump in Facebook and Instagram use this year, as many libraries moved away from Twitter/X.
Facebook: 97 percent
Instagram: 92 percent
YouTube: 54 percent
Twitter/X: 38 percent
LinkedIn: 21 percent
TikTok: 16 percent
Pinterest: 9 percent
Threads: 6 percent
In the open-ended questions, many of you said you rely on this blog for social media news and analysis. And I will continue to provide that this year.
However, I have made the decision not to promote the blog on Twitter/X anymore and will not cover any best practices for that platform this year, unless something drastic changes.
Email marketing
I asked my respondents how often their library sends promotional emails.
The big takeaway: more of you are sending emails. Only 9 percent of respondents said their library doesn’t send any email at all. That’s down ten percentage points from 2022!
Here is how the rest of the sending breaks down:
Once a month: 38 percent
Once a week: 36 percent
Several times a week: 12 percent
The most important library goals
Last year, I asked respondents if they set goals. This year, I got more specific. I asked respondents to check all that applied. Here is how the results break down.
Driving visitors to your physical location, website, or catalog: 76 percent.
Increasing program attendance: 67 percent.
Reaching non-patrons: 63 percent.
Getting current cardholders to use the library more often: 60 percent.
Driving the use of services like databases, Makerspace, Library of Things, etc.: 57 percent.
Advocating for the freedom to read: 18 percent.
Facing book challenges
This year, I added a question asking respondents if they’d faced a book challenge in the past 12 months.
55 percent said no.
30 percent said yes.
15 percent were not certain.
And though most readers said they hadn’t been targeted; this issue does loom large over the work you are doing for promotions.
“Our library is choosing to keep our head down on the book-banning issue, hoping no one will notice or bring it up,” reports one respondent.
Says another, “We’ve had to be careful about how we promote everything. For example, we used to hand out these fun rainbow-colored pens to kids but stopped because we were called groomers during the book challenges. We have also been having a rash of bomb threats to the libraries in our area which has also affected the feeling of security with our staff. I feel like my job is less about promoting programs and services and more about crisis management these days and how to communicate feelings of safety etc. This is not something I was really trained to do so it can feel overwhelming.”
More changes for Super Library Marketing this year
Readers asked for posts about how to create interactive and impactful community presentations to outside groups and tips for print promotions. I’ll cover these in the next year.
Some want the videos to be released as podcasts on Spotify. I will consider that if time and money allow.
Many of you requested more advanced subject matter in the blog posts and videos. I will try to do more of that this year.
I’m also hoping to more profile school libraries and special libraries this year. Do you work at a school or special library and have a library marketing success story to share? Contact me here.
I always try to share tips and strategies for library marketers who wear multiple hats, and that will continue in 2024.
Finally, someone asked for subtitles for the videos. This year, I started providing captions for all my videos on YouTube and LinkedIn. Click the “CC” icon on the screen to see the captions.
The CC button circled in white is where you click for captions on YouTube.
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:
Recording The Library Marketing Show does not always go as smoothly as planned. In fact, sometimes it’s downright messy.
So, today I’m showing you some of the biggest bloopers from recording sessions in 2023. Thank you for sticking with me, even when I’m not entirely polished. 🤪 Small warning: There are a few curse words in here. Sorry!
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:
Fact: the effectiveness of social media in promoting your library’s programs, services and collection is declining.
But that is not a reason for despair. One of the best minds in marketing says there is a way to turn your one-off, in-person library events into effective marketing. The idea is brilliant and pretty easy to pull off.
Get the scoop in this episode of The Library Marketing Show. Plus, we’ll give away kudos to a library that did something spectacular and innovative using its Maker Space!
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:
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:
We are coming to the end of a very stressful year.
In addition to all of the things that you’ve been doing in library promotions, you’ve been fighting book challenges, plowing through summer reading, trying to reach new audiences, struggling to stay up to date with social media changes, and more.
And by now you are feeling very tired and very burnt out. I know this because one of my viewers asked how to manage that feeling.
I’m not your therapist. But I’m gonna play one in this episode! I have four of my personal tips for managing burnout that I’ll share.
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 