Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
Francesca Castro has been visiting libraries for as long as she can remember.
“My mother took me to children’s programs at the public library when I was very young,” recalled Francesca. “Then, in elementary and middle school, I begged my parents for cash to spend at the annual book fair. In college, I was pulling all-nighters and made some of my best memories of my academic career in the library.”
Now, not even a year after graduating from Arkansas State University with a degree in communications, Francesca is working her first professional job at a library. And her success, particularly around TikTok, is inspiring library marketers twice her age, myself included.
Francesca is a Marketing Coordinator for the Saline County Library in Benton, Arkansas. The library has a service population of about 85,000 residents.
Francesca’s interest in managing the library’s TikTok began during her interview. “I remember asking if Saline County Library (SCL) had a TikTok account,” she said. “Their response was no. So I told them if they hired me, I would make a Saline County Library TikTok account and that I had gone viral a few times on my personal account and would want to do the same for SCL.”
“I understand that it is hard to grab the attention of teens and tweens these days and a lot of them are already on TikTok, so why not bring the library content to them, ” continued Francesca. “I also use the platform to show that libraries are more than what people assume that they are. I have made videos about what working in the library is like versus what people probably think it is like, and I make sure to post content that shows you can check out items other than books.”
Francesca has created more than 40 posts on TikTok since she launched the Saline County Library account, which has nearly 500 followers. One of the most popular posts is a simple, short slideshow of storytime set to music.
She’s quick to jump on trends, like this one featuring the Titanic theme. Francesca also appears in some of the posts, which adds a personal touch to the account and adds a face that library patrons may recognize when they walk into the building.
Francesca does have a secret formula for TikTok success based on her experience and research.
“I have learned to almost spam posts on TikTok,” she revealed. “The algorithm on TikTok is like an endless loop, and videos from weeks ago are still floating on the surface. Unlike other platforms, your post would not be the first to pop up on the screen after a few days. The reason I say spam post is because the more videos you post, the more content you have going through that endless loop.”
“Another tip I have figured out is to keep the content short and relatable. The key to success on TikTok is to be short, entertaining, and straight to the point.”
And even though consistency is key, Francesca admits she is not always consistent when it comes to posting TikToks. “I usually post them when I have an idea, and I get inspiration from other library TikTok accounts. I try to post 3-5 times a week.”
Many library marketers are also intimated by the process of editing videos for TikTok. But Francesca says you don’t need fancy editing software or third-party apps. Simplicity is key.
“When it comes to editing the videos, I usually just edit them on TikTok, which only takes a few minutes,” she advised. “I will say I am consistent with the hashtags I use. I like to use #Librarytok #librarymarketing, and #booktalk.”
And although she’s only six months into her new role, Francesca has advice for other libraries looking to use TikTok to reach new audiences.
“If you are unsure about starting a TikTok page, I suggest you have a person or a team of people who are outgoing and not shy to run the page,” she said. “The advice I would give any Library would be to beware of trends and KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE!”
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The #LibraryMarketing Show, Episode 178: A viewer issues a plea for help!
Grace wrote in with this request:
“I am interested in working on our YouTube channel but I am really struggling with content ideas. In the past, no one held the only marketing position at my library so everyone made content (especially during the pandemic). This was good because subscribers were hearing book reviews, storytime programs, etc. directly from librarians and programmers.
Now that I am in the sole marketing position, I would like to do videos, but I don’t think folks want to get their book reviews, book recommendations, etc. from a marketer. And now, post-pandemic(ish), our librarians are back in-person doing traditional library roles and don’t have time to support much with content creation.
Any recommendations for the best approach to take to YouTube if a library marketer has limited access to our very busy librarians?“
I’ll share five tips for coming up with great ideas for YouTube videos.
Kudos in this episode go to a school librarian named Lucas Maxwell.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know in the comments.
And please subscribe to this series on YouTube to get a new weekly video tip for libraries.
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.
Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
I do my best writing in the darkness.
I wake up most workdays around 5:30 a.m. I pour coffee and add enough creamer to turn the liquid from black to beige. Then my coworker Scarlett and I stumble a few steps through the backyard to my office to begin the day.
I turn on the twinkle lights. I scratch my coworker behind the ears. She crawls into her office bed for another two hours of snoozing (lucky dog).
And then I begin.
The early morning, when my brain is empty and uncluttered by the tasks of the day, is when I do my best writing.
Library marketing often means cranking out text for a variety of promotional pieces. You’re likely writing blog posts, emails, speeches, press releases, talking points, and more.
Writing is difficult. But clear, concise text is essential as your library works to position itself in a world full of content.
Maybe you have been thinking about posting less on social media. You may consider turning to other, more content-rich and impactful tactics like blogs and print newsletters. If that’s the case, you’ll need to make sure your writing is readable, relatable, and memorable.
That’s where online writing tools come in handy. They can help your writing have more of an impact. They can help you craft sentences that are clear and concise, even when the subject matter is not. They can help you figure out a headline that will draw readers in. They can help you discover the right word to make your meaning clear.
And no matter what time of day you do your best writing, these tools will help you perfect your work. I use them every day on everything I write (including this blog post). Here are my favorites! They’re all free.
Sometimes the most difficult part of writing is coming up with an idea. This site has thousands of fill-in-the-blank prompts that can help you brainstorm your next topic. It’s a great place to visit when you’re suffering from writer’s block.
To demonstrate, I went to the site and typed in library marketing, then selected is an industry. Here are the suggestions it gave me.
You can save the suggestions and download them if you are willing to subscribe to their newsletter. And if you hit refresh, it will keep giving you ideas until you find one you like.
This is a very simple tool that shows you new keywords and performance data to use in your text.
I typed in reading recommendations and then chose Education & Instruction and the United States for my search parameters. Here are the results.
You’ll want to use this tool to see what phrasing to use when you are creating content. So if you were looking to promote your library’s reading recommendations, you may use phrases like “Best Books of All Time” in your email and in your blog posts to drive lots of traffic to your library’s website.
This fantastic tool measures searches from Google, the most popular search engine. You’ll get to see if your ideas play well in terms of topic, queries, and regions. It can help you to decide if a certain topic is something your audience in your community is searching for.
This text editor is helpful for creating copy that is clear, clever, bold, and easy to understand. You can either write inside the program or you can copy and paste your draft into the site.
The Hemingway App highlights complex phrases and errors. It grades your text and prompts you to break up sentences and replace words to clarify your meaning.
For example, originally, the eighth paragraph of this blog post went like this:
And if you’ve been thinking about the advantages of ramping down your library’s social media posts, and turning to other, more content-rich and impactful tactics like blogs, you’ll need to make sure your writing is readable, relatable, and memorable.
The Hemingway App led me to change the paragraph to this:
Maybe you have been thinking about posting less on social media. You may consider turning to other, more content-rich and impactful tactics like blogs,. If that’s the case, you’ll need to make sure your writing is readable, relatable, and memorable.
This tool is designed to help you write more conversations. It’s based on the premise that clear writing stays within the bounds of the ten-hundred most commonly used words in the English language. Use it to review the language you are using in any piece of text to make certain your writing makes sense.
Here’s how it works: You copy and paste a bit of text, or type directly into the tool, and then hit enter. The tool will point out all words you should change to be more conversational.
To demonstrate, I typed this sentence into the editor: Books help readers understand their place in the world. They can open new perspectives and new experiences for readers and enrich their lives.
Up-Goer suggested I replace these words: readers, perspectives, experiences, readers, enrich.
Obviously, you don’t have to change your text based on every suggestion. I changed several of the words in that paragraph for the final draft of this post and ignored the rest of the suggestions.
And even though I don’t always take all of its suggestions, this tool forces me to rethink the way I write. It makes me consider whether my words are truly the best way to express my thoughts and feelings to my library marketing audience.
I am not certain I would survive without this tool. It catches spelling and grammar errors, sentence structure problems, run-on sentences, and punctuation issues that are missed by the Microsoft Word editor.
Grammarly also lets you add words using the personal dictionary function, which is helpful for those quirky instances that may be part of your library style guide. For instance, I work for NoveList, and that capitalized L in the middle of the sentence always gets flagged as an error in other editors. But I’ve added it to my personal dictionary in Grammarly.
This browser extension is a mix between Grammarly and the Hemingway App. It gives you seemingly endless ways to rewrite sentences in a more creative fashion. It’s great for when you’re exhausted (hello Fridays!).
To demonstrate, I typed this sentence into the editor: Books help readers understand their place in the world. They can open new perspectives and new experiences for readers and enrich their lives.
The editor gave me more than six alternative ways to phrase that paragraph, including these:
WordTune integrates with Google Docs, Gmail, Slack, Facebook, Twitter, Web Outlook, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp.
There is a free version and a 30 percent discount for nonprofits and academia on paid plans. To take advantage of the discount, go here and scroll down to the point about discounts.
This tool highlights clichés in your text so you can avoid overused expressions. If clichés are your pet peeve (as they are mine), then this tool will be your new favorite!
This free tool trains you to write clear, catchy headlines with powerful, uncommon, and emotional words. It also shows you how your headline will look in a Google search and in an email on a desktop or mobile device.
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, enter your email address and click on the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know in the comments.
And subscribe to this series to get a new weekly video tip for libraries.
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Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
Your subject lines play a significant role in the success of your library email marketing campaigns. They’re the first thing your recipients notice about your emails.
And a good subject line is crucial because you can’t get email recipients to take an action, like registering for a program or downloading a book, unless they open your email.
The subject line is also the most difficult part of the email to create, at least for me! So today I’m going to share the tricks I use to write better subject lines. I’ve shared these tips with the libraries I’ve worked as well as my own staff at NoveList. We’re using these tips to increase open and click-through rates.
And I want to issue a challenge.
I want to see your best library marketing subject lines! When you write a great subject line, just forward the email to ahursh@ebsco.com.
At the end of every month, I’ll recognize the best subject lines from libraries in the Kudos section of The Library Marketing Show.
Here are 8 tips to help you create those irresistible library marketing email subject lines. Scroll down to the bottom of the post for 6 free online tools to help you make sure your subject line is the best it can be.
Tip #1: Write the subject line AFTER you create the email.
If you write the body of the email first, you’ll have the tone, the graphics, and the call to action decided by the time you get to the subject line. Those elements will help you write a subject line that works well for the email. By the time you get to it, the subject line might write itself!
Tip #2: Be personal.
Many libraries don’t have the budget for the automated personalization of emails. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still add a personal touch to your subject line.
Email marketing expert Jay Schwedelson says open rates increase when you add a personal touch. According to Jay’s research, here are some specific examples of exactly how much open rates increase when you add this bit of personalization.
Geography: 26 percent. Example: Join other readers in Smithville and take the Winter Reading Challenge.
Life Event: 31 percent. Example: High school seniors get an extra boost of confidence with the library’s online college prep course.
Hobby or interest: 22 percent. Example: Knitters… we want to help you create your next project!
Generation: 25 percent. Example: Gen Xers—get a dose of movie nostalgia with Kanopy!
Personalization signals to your community that a real person was thinking of them when they sent this email.
Tip #3: Say something urgent.
Urgency can create the “fear of missing out”(FOMO) effect in your emails.
For example, you can use urgent language to promote the Big Library Read promotions from Overdrive. This is a limited-time offer and using urgent language in the subject line is appropriate. Phrases like Hurry, Limited time offer, and Ending soon will increase participation.
You can also use urgent language to promote programs with a registration cap. Phrases, like Grab your seat now, will prompt people to open your library’s emails and increase registration and attendance.
Tip #4: Start with an “alert” phrase.
Using words like Alert, Sneak peek, First look, and Hey there to stop email recipients from scrolling past your message in their inbox. You might think they’re so overused by big brands that there is no way a library cardholder will engage with that language. You’d be wrong.
Cardholders are honestly accustomed to very serious library emails which avoid alert language. So, when you do use it, it grabs their attention.
Tip #5: Use sentence case.
Your library emails should be written to connect with people. For everyone but the President of the United States or the King of England, that means a more conversational tone.
Sentence case will make your library email seem like it’s coming from a friend. For example: Do this one last thing for your library in 2022 or If you love free books, you’ll want to open this email.
Tip #6: Use emojis.
Emojis work because the brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text. More than 90 percent of the information that we process is visual.
The emoji drawing stands out in a line of letters. And if your recipient is using a device that adds color to the emoji, that also makes your subject line pop.
For example, 🎵 Now THIS sounds like a fun Tuesday night! Or Best 👏 book 👏 ever! 👏
Tip #7: Attempt alliteration.
Alliteration can break the monotony for someone scanning through their inbox. It’s catchy and memorable.
And you don’t have to do it for every word in your subject line. Use it on two or three keywords and watch your open rate increase. For example, Fast fixes for the winter reading blahs or Grandparents get groovy at the library’s new exercise class.
Tip #8: Use a subject line analyzer.
There are lots of free choices. Each has its own method for predicting the success of a subject line.
A good rule of thumb is to run your subject line through two or three analyzers. If you consistently get a good score, you’ve got a good subject line!
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The #LibraryMarketing Show, Episode 175: Is this the end of social media marketing for libraries?? I know that’s a scary thought. (But, is it really?) There are signs that social media, in general, is not holding the audience’s attention as it once did. And that’s bad news for your library marketing.
In this episode, I’ll share my predictions and the four things you can do right now to move away from dependence on social media to promote your library.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know in the comments.
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.
Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
When Julia Pitts walks into a library or flips open a newly checked-out book, she remembers her grandmother, Velma.
A frugal woman who grew up in the Great Depression, Velma embedded Julia with her a few lifelong habits, including frequenting the library for its free entertainment.
“With eerie clarity, I can picture her tiny body reading a hardcover crime novel wrapped in the plastic library sheathing under the glow of her lima bean green table lamp,” recalled Julia.
Julia Pitts and her grandmother Velma
Today, that lamp sits in Julia’s office at the W. Frank Steely Library on the campus of Northern Kentucky University, where she serves as Communications and Marketing Manager. Before taking the job at NKU, Julia was a freelance marketer. But after four years of feeling like she was always on the clock, she was ready for a change.
“The idea of working on a college campus where the target audience is primarily young adults actively working to create a better future for themselves excited me,” remembered Julia. “After all, what group of people could be more fun to market to than college students? Better yet, I could use my skills to share the work of a library, an institution designed to empower its patrons with free access to life-changing resources and services. It truly felt meant to be.”
The Steely Library Instagram account is a favorite of mine. Julia says the platform is where she focuses most of her content creation energy, and for good reason.
“From a strategic standpoint, it is where the most significant chunk of our primary target audience (students) prefers to consume their content,” she explained. “Additionally, Instagram is where the majority of NKU’s other social media accounts are the most active.”
“Steely and a handful of other NKU accounts have created a bit of an unofficial influencer circle. We tag and share each other’s posts on stories, increasing the visibility across the campus of NKU’s services, resources, and events. After all, we aren’t competitors and are working towards the same goal; student success.”
“On a personal note, Instagram is my favorite platform. It is where I feel like I can best humanize the library through visual and written storytelling, speaking in a voice that resonates with students, capitalizing on visual elements, and creating fun mini-digital user experiences to engage with our audience. It’s where I can let Steely’s hair down and have a little fun.”
In the spring 2022 semester, Steely Library launched a weeklong scavenger hunt-inspired social media campaign. Staff hid six baby dinosaurs, each with their own adorable personality, throughout the library. The goal was to increase Instagram engagement and build awareness about their brand-new makerspace, Stego Studio, named after a 20-foot-long sculpture created by artist Pat Renick.
“Stego is the library’s beloved unofficial mascot,” explained Julia. “The six baby dinosaurs represented Stego’s children, curious wanderers, and patrons of the arts who had gotten lost in the library. If a student found and returned a baby stego, we rewarded them for their heroic efforts.”
Stego, the unofficial mascot of Steely Library
Each day, Steely Library shared a photographic clue along with a brief caption personifying the baby dinos on Instagram. Each baby stego included a small tag redirecting students to the makerspace with a message that read, “Woohoo! You found me! Take me to Stego Studio (Room SL 215) to claim your prize.” The prize for finding one of Stego’s long-lost children consisted of a Stego Studio sticker, an “I found baby stego” keychain, and a certificate to create a project of their choosing (free of charge) in the makerspace.
“To increase the awareness of our campaign and maximize the number of students that could participate, we created a second way to win a prize,” revealed Julia “If students liked, saved, shared, and tagged friends in the campaign launch post, they were entered for a chance to win a study room for a day with a Jimmy John’s catered lunch for them and three friends.”
The idea for the campaign originated with the Board of Student Stakeholders (BOSS), the student library advisory board. Each year, the group receives funds to execute a library improvement project of their choosing.
BOSS’s idea to launch a social media campaign was the perfect opportunity to begin building awareness of the space and demystifying its technology to the student users. “With the makerspace’s off-the-beaten-path location in the library, we knew the campaign needed to contain an element that physically brought students into the space,” explained Julia.
“Once we launched, it did not take long to realize that we were on to something. The first baby stego was found in seven minutes, the second in 30 seconds, and the third in 20 (seconds). Before we launched, I was just hoping that the baby dinos would be found by the end of the day. I was not expecting (or ready for) the high level of interest we received.”
After the third baby stego was found so quickly, Julia knew it was time to go back to the drawing board and shake things up. What started as a simple scavenger hunt promptly pivoted into a trail of clues and challenges rivaling the Amazing Race.
Students formed teams, scouting potential hiding locations, camping out in study rooms to be close to the action, and tracking Julia’s movements once it was revealed that she was the baby stego hider.” One student even planted fake clues to lead other hopeful seekers astray,” remembered Julia. “It was pure chaos, and I loved every minute of it.”
“By the end, it was clear that we had created something that struck a chord with our students and accomplished our goals. Over the week, we saw a 4,381% increase in post interaction and 71 new followers on Instagram. But, more importantly, we introduced Stego Studio and its technology to a highly captive audience.”
When she’s looking for inspiration, Julia turns to other libraries, both academic and public. One of her favorites is the University of Kentucky’s social media accounts. “Their posts are fun, lighthearted, and have a unique tone of voice,” she explained. “I think far too often, libraries fall into the trap of only sharing text-heavy promotional graphics for events and programs. As a result, their feed can come off as impersonal and spammy. UK relies more on intriguing photography to lure its viewers in, and I knew I wanted to do the same.”
And despite the successes she has created at Steely Library, Julia knows 2023 will be a banner year. “The most significant project of my life is projected to launch on January 21…the birth of my first child (eeek!). So, for the first few months of the year, I will be preoccupied with learning and panicking over how to keep a tiny human alive and well. Upon my return, I’d love to start building a team of student content creators or a library marketing fellowship opportunity.”
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, enter your email address and click on the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page.
The Library Marketing Show, Episode 174: I received the best out-of-office message EVER from a librarian! And part of the reason it was the best was that it contained a marketing message.
Find out how you can promote your library even when you’re not at the library.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know in the comments.
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.
Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
In my sophomore year of high school, I nearly failed my math class.
Geometry at Old Fort High School was taught by Mrs. Hoover, a quiet, unassuming woman with a bouffant hairdo reminiscent of the 1970s. She spent most of the class standing at the chalkboard, diagramming equations to calculate distance and space.
I believe she was doing the best she could do with me. But the numbers and formulas just didn’t sink in. I could not understand them.
I knew I’d be in trouble with my parents if I brought home an F on my midterm report card. So, I decided to take drastic measures.
I was working as a student assistant in the office. When the day of midterm reports came in, I set mine aside. It was easy enough to change my Geometry grade from an F to a B by connecting lines in the letters. I thought I was a genius.
Of course, I was caught. I should have known that my mother, who also taught in the school, would talk to Mrs. Hoover in the teacher’s lounge. I was assigned after-school tutoring several days a week until I eventually brought my grade up to a C.
It’s clear that I’m not good at math. But math is an essential part of my library job. Thankfully, I don’t have to calculate space and distance, at least not in the ways that Geometry requires.
Library promotion does require data analysis. For too long, this was a step that many libraries skipped.
But in the last year, the scales have tipped as more libraries see the benefit of analyzing their promotions. In the most recent Super Library Marketing survey, 55 percent of respondents said they are measuring their promotions to gauge effectiveness. HOORAY!
It would be SO EASY to just chuck the analysis. You are so dang busy. But you must do it because it’s necessary and because the results always reveal something important.
Without data analysis, you are blind to the trends that emerge in your community’s behavior. Your work is more efficient when you know how your cardholders react to messages and how those reactions change over time. So, to begin the new year, I want you to focus on analytics.
It doesn’t need to take you a bunch of time. You don’t have to be a math whiz. Focus on two core principles:
Identify what is working so you can replicate it.
Identify what isn’t working so you can STOP doing that.
Three tips to make data analysis easier for libraries
Tip #1: Record your results soon after you send your promotions.
Make it a habit to document your data as soon as the campaign ends. If you love spreadsheets, this is your chance to put them to use. Here are my recommendations for how soon to record the numbers for the most used promotional tactics.
Emails: three days after the send
Social media: two days after posting
Videos: 30 days after publishing
Blog posts and website promotions: one week after posting
Print flyers and bookmarks promoting events: As soon as the event happens, record attendance and how attendees found out about the event.
Tip #2: Clear your schedule and set manageable time expectations for yourself.
Schedule your promotional measurement time into your calendar like you would a regular meeting. That ensures that time won’t get taken away from you and that you won’t be tempted to give it up for other tasks.
As you begin making a habit of data analysis, you’ll get a good sense of exactly how much time you need to set aside. Then, shut the door of your office (if you have one) and hunker down. It takes discipline but it’s worth it.
Tip #3: Share your results.
Transparency in marketing is a good thing. It helps your co-workers have a clearer understanding of what you are doing when you promote the library.
In my day job at NoveList, we share our metrics each month. And inevitably, someone asks a question about the results that is relevant and insightful.
Library marketers are often so close and precious about their work, that they can’t see the forest for the trees. Your colleagues may look at the results and find some new insight that you missed.
Common digital metrics and why they are important
Social media reach and impressions
These two measurements should be analyzed together. They help you see how big your audience is. They also give you a good picture of the overall engagement of your social media content. But, because they are so closely related, they can be confusing to explain.
Reach is the number of unique users who saw your content on their screens. In basic terms, reach indicates the size of your audience on any social media platform.
Impressions refer to the number of times your content appears on any screen, even if one user saw the content many times. It’s a way to measure whether you are meeting the algorithm’s expectations.
If your posts are resonating with audiences and following the best practices of the platform, your Impression number should be higher than your Reach. If your Reach and Impressions are nearly the same, you know you’ll need to adjust something to make your posts more algorithm friendly.
Social media likes and reactions
Likes and reactions are a way for social media users to express their support for a piece of content. These measurements are proof that your audience connects with your content. Also, every algorithm uses likes and reactions are used as a ranking signal. More reactions lead to a wider audience.
Reactions can also help you refine your posts to increase engagement. For example, if you have an unusually low number of interactions on a post with a very high reach, you might want to consider changing up the text or graphic to make it more appealing to your audience and the algorithm.
Link clicks
Most of your library marketing is meant to drive action by your community members. Link clicks tell you whether people were inspired by your marketing to take an action.
If your promotions get only a few link clicks, you may need to adjust the text or accompanying media to be more enticing to your audience. You might also think about whether the promotion is being sent to the right audience on the right platform.
Video Views and Watch Time
Like social media impressions and reach, views and watch time should be analyzed together. Views can tell whether your video title, thumbnail, and video description are interesting to users. Watch time shows you how engaging the video is.
In my opinion, watch time is more valuable than total views. You’ll be working toward an average watch time of 70-80 percent.
Email open and click-through rates
An email open rate is the percentage of people who receive your email and open it. It can indicate the success of your subject line.
An email click-thru rate is the percentage of people who click on something inside your email. This is the true indication of success for your email. Once they opened the message, were they persuaded to click on your website or catalog by something you said? Compelling text, graphics, photos, and calls to action will all increase your click-thru rate.
Website visitors and bounce rate
As you analyze the success of your library website, record the raw number of visitors to your website. You’ll also want to keep track of the number of new visitors versus the number of returning visitors. And finally, track the length of time visitors spend on your website.
Note: If your main library marketing focus is on the collection, and your main focus is to drive people to your library’s catalog, your time spent on the website may be minimal. In this case, focus on tracking circulation stats for the titles or collection items in your promotions.
Blog views and visitors
Blog views are the total number of people who click on a post. This is a good way to measure the success of your post title and your promotion of the posts.
Blog visitors indicate the total number of people who visited any post on your blog.
In general, you want the number of your views to be twice the number of people who visit your blog. That would tell you that your visitors are clicking on more than one post as they visit your blog because your blog is filled with content that your visitors find interesting!
Can you measure non-digital promotions?
Non-digital library marketing, including print promotions and word-of-mouth marketing, is an effective way to promote your library when used in the right context. It’s true these tactics can’t provide you with the kind of clear, concise data that digital promotions can. But there are ways to measure them.
QR codes
Google Analytics: view traffic to specific landing pages on your website. You can see how well those print pieces work by filtering for time and date.
Circulation and visitor stats
Whenever possible, use your print marketing messages to drive your community to a digital platform, like your website, where you can collect more detailed data.
A potential downside to library marketing data
There is a balance to strike between data and creativity. Sometimes, the most successful library promotions happen when you take creative risks.
Don’t be afraid to experiment. And don’t let data paralyze you or prevent you from trusting your gut instinct.
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Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion 