I have a new trick that I use in my own workday for posting across multiple social media platforms. It helps me stay within best practices in terms of post length. And this is one of those instances in which the robots are very helpful!
I will show you exactly how I do this, in this episode.
Plus, kudos go to an academic library that uses Instagram Live to build excitement and engagement.
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!
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Photo courtesy Cincinnati and HamiltonCounty Public Library
Do you feel like you’re playing a rigged game of hide and seek as you try to figure out how to reach target audiences?
Hide and seek is fun for kids. For adults working in library marketing… not so much.
Loyal library users and fans are likely subscribed to your library’s emails. They follow you on social media. They visit your library either in person or virtually.
But (and I know I’m stating the obvious here) finding community members who have no regular interaction with your library is incredibly difficult and costly.
This is where robots can be helpful. You can use ChatGPT to figure out the channels your target audience uses.
Here’s how this works
Let’s say your library has partnered with a health and wellness center to create a new, monthly program for community members with memory loss. The program will include activities for caregivers as well.
Your job is to make sure the right people know the program is available for free at your library. Specifically, your marketing goal is to ensure at least 10 people attend the program each month.
Who do you target?
Your first step is to figure out who your target audience is.
For this example, you could go to the Alzheimer’s Association website and search for statistics on patients with memory loss and their caregivers.
From this, you can create two focused target audiences.
Memory loss patients: Specifically, women of color over the age of 65, who are most likely to suffer from memory loss.
Caregivers: Women between the ages of 30 and 50 with a household income of $50,000 or less are most likely to be caring for someone with memory loss.
Double-checking your work
ChatGPT can help you check your work. Did you miss anyone who might be interested in the memory loss program?
In the ChatGPT search, you can type “Pretend you work at a library. The library has partnered with a health and wellness center to create a new, monthly program for community members with memory loss. The program will include activities for caregivers of those with memory loss as well. Can you give me the target audience for promotions of this program?”
ChatGPT will weigh in on whether you’re on the right track with your two target audiences. But it will also show you audiences you would have missed. In this instance, ChatGPT says:
With this information, you are ready to move to your next research step.
How do you reach these three audiences?
Of course, you would start by sending an eblast to the members of your subscriber list who match this target. You would also promote the program on your library’s website, through in-library digital signs, and bookmarks.
But outside of your library resources, what other channels can you use to reach these three audiences? ChatGPT can be a starting point for answering that question.
In ChatGPT, you can type, “What online blogs or publications are most popular for women in *your area*?” (For this example, I used Cincinnati because that’s where I work, which allows me to check ChatGPT’s accuracy.)
Now you have a list of publications to start your research. You can go to those websites, see what kinds of articles they publish, and determine if they would be a good place to pitch a story about your new memory loss program.
Radio stations are still popular with people over the age of 50. And your might be wondering if it would make sense to advertise your memory loss program on the radio.
There are 30+ radio stations in Cincinnati! I suspect there are a similar number in the city or town where you live. You’ll want to whittle your list down before you research. You can use ChatGPT for that too.
In the search you can type, “Which radio stations are most popular for people over the age of 65 in *your area*?”
ChatGPT identified four target stations in Cincinnati. That’s so much easier than going through the list of 30 radio stations!
Help from ChatGPT with another idea
There may be neighborhoods in your city or town that consist mainly of people over the age of 65. You can use ChatGPT to help you identify those neighborhoods.
In the search, you can type, “Which neighborhoods in *your area* have a population that is mainly over 65?” Here are the results for Cincinnati.
With that information, you can do some geo-targeting with your message.
For example, you can pull a list of cardholders who have named the branches in those neighborhoods as their home branch. Then, you can send them an email about the memory program.
You might also consider boosting a Facebook post and targeting users living in your target neighborhoods.
Finally, you can ask ChatGPT, “How do I reach an audience of doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals who work with patients with memory loss in *my area*?” ChatGPT will give you a list to use as a starting point.
While you will still need to do some research, ChatGPT is a helpful and free tool to help you get started as you identify ways to reach your target audiences. The results it generates for this task tend to be more focused and helpful than a Google search.
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Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) a threat to your job as a library marketer? It’s a serious question I’ve been pondering for a while. I turned to someone I truly admired for advice and we’ll unpack what she has to say about AI and promoting your library in this episode.
Plus we’ll give kudos to someone doing great work in library marketing. And this week, it’s a surprising choice!
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 and you’ll 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:
Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
In my freshman year of college, a woman came to my Intro to Communications class to talk about the future of the Internet.
She told us that someday, the internet would keep track of our previous searches and purchases. She predicted that we would see ads for products and be offered discounts based on our search and purchase history.
I remember being simultaneously awed, intrigued, and scared by this vision of the future. I’m having that same feeling lately as I read and learn more about ChatGPT.
It’s likely your news and social media feeds have been filled with chatter about Chat Generated Paragraph Techniques or ChatGPT. Launched six months ago, it’s become the center of every tech article and philosophical debate.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is an advanced natural language processing tool that provides text or information to a user based on prompts.
It’s different from a chatbot in that it can remember past conversations and provide more sophisticated answers as it “learns.” It allows users to provide follow-up corrections. It can reject inappropriate prompts and, allegedly, it can admit its mistakes.
ChatGPT is free for now. There is a Plus version that promises to be “available when demand is high,” “faster response speed”, and “priority access to new features.” It costs $20 a month.
Testing ChatGPT
I recently started playing with ChatGPT.
The very first prompt I gave it was What is library marketing? Here is the response.
Library marketing refers to the strategies and activities that libraries use to promote their services, collections, and programs to their target audience, which could be the local community or a specific group of users. The aim of library marketing is to increase the usage and visibility of library resources and services by building relationships with patrons, increasing awareness of library offerings, and creating engagement with library users.
Library marketing may involve a range of activities, such as creating promotional materials such as flyers, brochures, and newsletters, organizing events and programs, creating social media campaigns, developing partnerships with local organizations, and conducting outreach to underserved or marginalized communities. The goal is to reach potential users where they are, whether that be online or in person, and to communicate the value and relevance of the library’s offerings. By using effective marketing strategies, libraries can attract new users, retain existing patrons, and ultimately improve the overall impact of the library in the community.
ChatGPT
It’s a bit professorial but accurate.
Next, I asked ChatGPT to give me a social media post that would convince teenagers to participate in my library’s summer reading program.
Hang on to your hats, folks.
Attention all teenagers! 📢📚🌞
Are you ready for an exciting summer filled with adventure, knowledge, and prizes? Join our library’s summer reading program and discover the joy of reading! 📖🌟
Not only will you get access to a wide variety of books and resources, but you’ll also have the chance to win awesome prizes for reaching your reading goals! 🎁🏆
Plus, reading is the perfect way to unwind, escape into different worlds, and improve your vocabulary and critical thinking skills. 🧠💭
So, what are you waiting for? Sign up for our summer reading program today and let the fun begin! 🎉🌞📚 #SummerReading #LibraryLove #TeenReads
ChatGPT
It’s long. And why so many emojis??
I don’t think I’ve ever heard a teen use the word “access.”
And, in my experience, anytime you say, “Attention all teenagers”, teens immediately run for the exits. So, it’s not perfect. That’s because it’s not human. And there are other problems with ChatGPT.
Downsides of ChatGPT
There are limitations and concerns about ChatGPT. Some are disturbing, especially for libraries.
It may generate incorrect information.
It may occasionally produce harmful instructions or biased content.
It also has limited knowledge of the world and events after 2021. That’s because the original data feed provided by its creators happened that year.
One major concern for libraries
For libraries, there is also a privacy concern.
In its privacy policy, Open AI, the creators of ChatGPT, say the application may collect personal information from your messages, any files you upload, and any feedback you provide. Conversations may be reviewed by OpenAI to improve the chat. This article has more information on the potential privacy and security risks.
There is also a healthy debate happening now about whether Google will penalize online content creators, including library websites and blogs, for using machine-generated text.
Google can detect website copy and blog posts that may contain ChatGPT content. They use machine learning algorithms (ironic!) to detect text patterns that are indicative of AI content.
Under current guidelines, Google considers AI content to be “spammy”. Specifically, its guidelines say “…content that’s been generated programmatically without producing anything original or adding sufficient value: instead, that it’s been generated for the primary purpose of manipulating search rankings and not helping users.”
There does not appear to be a penalty at this time from Google for using ChatGPT to help with social media posts, emails, or ads.
So, should libraries use ChatGPT?
ChatGPT can’t replace people (at least, not yet). The tool can’t strategize or empathize. And it doesn’t know the human experience of your cardholders.
But it can save you time. It can jumpstart the creative process and help you move past writer’s block.
And many library marketers are beginning to experiment with ChatGPT.
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:
Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion 