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Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
When Mary Short was little, the local public library was just a block from her school and regular childhood destination.
“My favorite memory is going to the library with my best friend, Nancy, and being able to pick out whatever books I wanted. I felt so grown up,” recalled Mary.
Now Mary is grown up, and working for that same organization, the Grosse Pointe Public Library, as Marketing and Programming Coordinator. She landed the job five years ago after working in communications for a large, international company.
“Before joining I had no idea all of the fabulous services the library provides,” said Mary. “I’m still learning about them. And I love sharing all the great programs and services we offer.”
Mary’s initial lack of knowledge of the full breadth and depth of the library is not uncommon. But here is a vital fact to keep in mind whenever you land yourself a new cardholder.
It costs 5-7 times more to get people to sign up for a library card than it does to get people who already have a card to use it more.
Harvard Business Review
So, it makes good sense for libraries to get their new cardholders to use their cards and keep using them! And the way to do that is through intentional, strategic library marketing. An onboarding email series works, as Mary will tell you.
“When I first started working at the library, I made my brother get a library card,” explained Mary. “He hadn’t had one in years. And he mentioned to me that he didn’t know what the library offered besides checking out books. And I realized we had no way of introducing the library to new cardholders. So, that was one of the primary goals I had was to develop an onboarding series of emails.”
Mary’s email onboarding series consists of six emails in total. The first email is sent 14 days after the patron has received their library card. It’s a welcome to the library from the library director, personalized with the recipient’s first name.
That first email includes an overview of the library’s services. The language drives home the message that the new cardholder is now a member of the library, an idea she borrowed from another library.
“Being a member is so much more meaningful than just being a cardholder,” suggested Mary. “Membership has benefits and you feel more a part of a team, more invested when you’re a member.”
After that, new cardholders get an email every two weeks until the series is complete.
“Each following email focuses on one service,” explained Mary. “Like downloading or streaming music with your library card for free, getting magazines for free, using our special collections such as the tool library, seed library, Wi-Fi hotspots, and book discussion kits. The final email is 10 totally free things you can do with your library card.”
Using this strategy, Mary’s library now has a new cardholder retention rate of 70 percent, a phenomenal success. Even with that great rate, Mary occasionally tweaks her messages.
“After a few months, I check to make sure the messages are still relevant and update some of the images or add a new service,” explains Mary. “It’s important to keep the messages current.”
When Mary isn’t celebrating her onboarding email campaign success or doing the other library promotions, she is looking for inspiration… from you!
“I signed up for a ton of email newsletters from a variety of libraries including the New York Public Library and the Oak Park Public Library in Chicago,” shared Mary. “I also visit libraries whenever I travel, and I take their materials and see how they position their signage.”
“One of the first ideas I borrowed from a library was from the New York Public Library. They did a promotion as a take-off on Black Friday. They created great graphics around that theme and said everything is 100 percent free at the library. I loved it. I contacted them to make sure it was ok for me to steal the idea and they said, of course, you can use that. That was before I knew libraries are wonderful about sharing ideas.”
And Mary considers herself fortunate to do this library promotional work for Grosse Pointe.
“I never would have dreamed I’d be working for my local library,” said Mary. “I feel so honored to have this job. I learn something every day and am so proud of all that our library does for the community.”
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There’s an easy trick that your library can use to get attention in the email inbox.
What is it? I’m going to share with you in this episode!
Plus we’ll give kudos to someone (or perhaps a group of someones?!) doing great work in Library Marketing.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? 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, enteryouremail addressand 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:
Your library may be making a gigantic mistake when it comes to email marketing!
But don’t worry, it’s not too late to fix it. 😊 I’m going to talk about how to make sure your emails are exactly what your community needs in this episode.
Plus we give away kudos! Watch the video to find out which library is being recognized.
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, enteryour email addressand 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:
The Library Marketing Show, Episode 173: What if I told you, there is a calendar that can help you program all of your library emails for 2023? I’ll share this secret resource and more library email tips.
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. 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
For many of us, a hamburger is a delicious sandwich, no matter where you get it. No one can mess them up.
But there are things you can do to make your hamburger exceptional. For me, that means the addition of bacon, cheese, and avocado. I’ll still eat and thoroughly enjoy the hamburger if those ingredients aren’t available. But they make the hamburger go from good, to memorable.
Hamburgers are like marketing. Much of the work you do to promote your library is already good (because I know you’re doing good work!) Now, you’re on the path to maximizing the effectiveness of your marketing.
One of the ways you can ensure success is to make certain your marketing content is the perfect length. It may seem insignificant. But the right number of characters or words for a piece of content can make all the difference.
How do you know how long your tactics should be? I did the research, so you don’t have to.
Ideal length of a Facebook post: 100-259 characters
Research from experts on this one is mixed. Some studies suggest you keep captions at 50 characters or less.
But in my work with libraries, I try to pay attention to engagement rates and post length. And I personally think 50 characters is too short. So, I would suggest you try to write between 100 and 259 characters.
Ideal length of a Tweet: 240-259 characters
Most experts agree that using slightly less than 280 character limit on Twitter is ideal. That gives people the room to quote Tweet your library.
But you can do two other things to improve your library’s Twitter engagement.
Include rich media in your post, like photos, graphics, and video. In fact, multiple photos or a mix of photos and a video will help your Tweet get more engagement.
Use emojis at the beginning of your Tweet to capture attention and stop people from scrolling past your messages.
Ideal length of an Instagram post: 138-150 characters
Fun posts should have shorter captions. Information or educational posts should have longer captions.
There are other caption tricks that help with Instagram post engagement.
Add spaces between your sentences, so they look like paragraphs. Here’s an example from Amherst Town Library.
Weave in plenty of emojis. You can even substitute emojis for words to add character to your post.
Include multiple kinds of rich media, like photos and videos all in the same post, to increase the value.
Ideal length of a TikTok video or Instagram Reel: between 7 and 34 seconds
There is not a lot of data or research surrounding TikTok videos or Instagram Reels. It does appear that, even though the platforms allow you to create videos that are several minutes long, shorter videos lead to maximum engagement.
Ideal length of a LinkedIn post: Less than 210 characters
There is lots of dispute around this recommendation. I’ve picked the median number. And to help with engagement, I have a formula that’s worked well for me.
Construct a good, first teaser sentence, and then put a space between it and the rest of your post caption. This will cause your reader to have to click on “see more.” It works!
Good content on LinkedIn is also important. Videos natively uploaded to the platform get lots of engagement. Also, try polls to increase engagement.
Ideal length of an email: 100 words
Different types of emails should have different lengths. If you’re sending someone an onboarding email, you’re going to need to write more than if you’re sending an email promoting an upcoming event.
There are some scenarios where a couple of sentences is plenty to capture your cardholder’s attention and others where you’ll need several paragraphs to get your full point across.
In general, keep your email text as simple as possible. Be straightforward about the benefit of your library service or collection item or event. And drive recipients to your website for more information.
Ideal length of an email newsletter: 3-4 pieces of information
In my experience advising libraries, email newsletter recipients never click anything past the first 3-4 pieces of content in an email. I always recommend sending shorter, more frequent email newsletters rather than one long monthly version.
If you don’t have control over how long your email newsletter is, you can help engagement by placing the 3-4 most important things at the beginning of the email. If your email provider has a table of contents feature, use that to drive interest to content further down in the email.
Ideal length of an email subject line: either very short (30 characters) or very long (90 characters or more)
It appears that the extreme ends of length catch the attention of the inbox scroller.
Longer subject lines boost response rates, according to Adestra, a U.K.-based email service provider. Its analysis of more than one billion emails showed that subject lines of 90 characters and more produced the highest response rates. They theorize the added characters increase engagement because they can communicate more value to the recipient.
But their research also found that subject lines at 30 characters or less performed well. That’s because the full subject line can usually be seen by the recipient, both in desktop and mobile versions of mail provider apps.
Experiment with both ends of the length spectrum to see which your audience responds to. And keep in mind the other factors that can impact subject line effectiveness.
Ideal length of a YouTube video: Between 7 and 15 minutes
This stat comes from several sources, including Social Media Examiner.
It’s important to let your content dictate video length. A how-to video may need five minutes or more to show the process. An unboxing video can be shorter. If your video is interesting to watch, the length won’t really matter.
Ideal length of a podcast: 22 minutes
Your target audience will really dictate the perfect length for your library. Most research I found recommended 20 minutes for podcasts aimed at listeners who are doing chores or taking short walks, 40 minutes for people commuting or doing longer chores, or 60 minutes for those who want an extended listen.
Ideal blog post length: 2,000 words
That’s a lot of words! For context, the Monday articles here on Super Library Marketing run between 1,000 and 1,500 words each.
So, before you get anxious about word length, remember that quality blog posts will always do well, no matter how long. If your post contains valuable or interesting information that your reader wants and needs, it will do well.
If your blog is less than 2,000 words, there are some things you can do to make it feel meaty to the reader. You may have noticed these tricks in my blog posts.
Present information using bullet points or lists.
Write longer paragraphs at beginning of the article.
Insert scannable headlines.
Include images, especially those that explain concepts or demonstrate your point.
Finally, it’s important to include keywords in your title and frequently within your post. You may notice I use the terms library marketing and library promotion in almost every title and throughout my articles. That’s because I know those are used by library staff searching for help with their marketing.
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 153: In this episode, I will try to put to rest a question that continues to permeate the library marketing world.
Libraries are defenders of truth, democracy, and privacy. And in that noble quest, they sometimes hurt themselves by repeating the false myth that they cannot send emails to their patrons because it’s an invasion of privacy.
Email marketing is not an invasion of privacy. I’ll explain why and what you can do even if there are laws (not privacy-related!) that limit the amount of emails you can send.
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.
Thanks for watching!
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.
In this episode, I’ll share the MOST IMPORTANT thing you need to do in library marketing and why you must make time for this step!
Kudos in this episode go to the Madison Library District for their commitment to marketing on Pinterest.
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 video tip for libraries each week.
Lisa at Oshkosh Public Library asks “Do you have any examples of libraries that do an exceptional job welcoming new cardholders? What do they focus on when someone signs up for a library card? How do they follow up to gauge their new cardholders’ experiences and ultimately turn them into regular library users? I’m talking about libraries that do a great job engaging with new cardholders – not just bombarding them with all the rules involved with using the library.”
I use an email drip campaign to introduce the best of what my library offers. But readers, help a sister out! Tell us what you do in the comments.
KUDOS this week to the Princh blog for their blog article “Why The Library Intimidates Me.” It was heartbreaking and great food for thought for library marketers. Read it here.
Have an idea for the next Library Marketing Live Show?Submit it now.
Check the Upcoming Events page to see where I’ll be soon. Let’s connect!
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, click on “Follow” button in the bottom left-hand corner of the page. Connect with me on Twitter,Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion 