We have breaking news on the social media front. Instagram is making a huge feature change. This is so big that I upended my entire Library Marketing Show editorial calendar to record this episode.
We will discuss what will happen and how it might impact your library marketing.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Do you want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here. Thanks for watching!
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Here’s a shocking headline: It turns out that young people are not using Google to find your library!
How do we know this? There’s a new study from Forbes that may have you rethinking your strategy on search and where you post your library promotions. I’ll share the results with you in this episode of The Library Marketing Show.
Plus we’ll give kudos to a library system offering a much-needed service for its community.
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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About 10 miles north of the northernmost coast of Scotland lay an archipelago or chain of islands called Orkney. The islands surround Neolithic sites dating back 5,000 years with tall sandstone cliffs and colonies of seals. Archeological evidence shows that humans have lived on the island for nearly 9,000 years.
That’s where John Peterson lives and works. He has managed social media for Orkney Library & Archive since 2017.
The library is one of the oldest public libraries in Scotland, dating back to 1683. These days, the Orkney library has two physical locations, a mobile library, and serves a population of about 22,000 people.
“Orkney is a very rural community with a lot of farming and agriculture,” explains John. “And of course, we’re an island so we’re surrounded by the sea and have a lot of maritime history, particularly from the 20th Century and the World Wars.”
The Orkney library may be remote, but it has fans worldwide. In fact, one of my readers nominated this library for a profile, saying “I love their use of social media and how they got such a small library on the world map.”
“We’re a very small organization and so we don’t have a marketing team or anything like that,” says John. “We just try to share what we’re doing with our followers on social media and have a bit of fun as we go along.”
“We use social media as a way of sharing what’s happening in the library and the archive and what we do every day. It’s a good way of showing off Orkney and what it is to be a library and archive service in the 21st century.”
“It has its challenges sometimes but it’s probably still our favourite as a way of telling stories and making fun posts or threads,” explains John. “For us, it has been a great way of communicating an idea with a few words and pictures. Our Twitter following is approximately 4 times the entire population we serve.”
“Instagram is our newest platform, but it has a growing audience, and we get a lot of nice feedback.”
“The platforms work differently, so we often have to tweak the posts slightly to suit each. Often, we post on Twitter first and then on to the other two platforms.”
When John sees a particularly effective post, he builds on that success by sharing the same kind of content his audience is responding to. But he admits that, like most of you, he’s sometimes baffled by what does and doesn’t work!
“We post different kinds of content,” explains John. “But they usually involve books, archives, or old photographs.”
Today is #TolkienReadingDay so we're in the hobbit of letting folk boromir #Tolkien Books than usual. We're not being smaug but we're a library and it's good to shire. So come along and baggins yourself some books. 📚
“Sometimes a post takes off far better than you expected and other times a post that you thought was interesting or funny doesn’t get much engagement. There is a whole load of reasons for that and it’s important not to get too disheartened if something doesn’t work.”
“Of course when a post doesn’t work it could be that the idea wasn’t good or wasn’t communicated well enough. But often it is just a case of timing – wrong time, wrong day, it didn’t get the retweets to send it further across the platform, etc. You could post the same post at two different times and get totally different responses.”
Try to post good content and try to post regularly – but not too much. Not every post can be funny or interesting. But try to make sure that some of them are so people have a reason to follow you.
Try to make it interesting. Don’t just do what everyone else is doing, and don’t rely on sharing content from other accounts.
Try to write your own stuff and find your own voice.
Pay attention to what works for you and then do more of it. Listen to feedback, good and bad – it’ll help you to do more of what people like and less of what they don’t.
Don’t be controversial and try to avoid politics.
Concentrate on what makes your library or organization different from everyone else and try to use those things to build your own presence and identity.
Look around you. Spot opportunities for good content. The more you do it the easier it gets.
Find some libraries on social media and follow them, no matter where they are in the world. They don’t have to be the famous places you’re always hearing about to be worth following. Anybody can be worth following if they post good, interesting content – even small local libraries on remote islands. Find some libraries and archives, museums and galleries, and give them a follow. You’ll be glad you did.
In one of our archive strong rooms there is a shelf. The shelf does not contain the most exciting or interesting item in the archive but it does contain something amazing.
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Instagram has made four major changes to its algorithm! One of these changes might be a deal-breaker for your library, especially if you are a team of one person. We’ll unpack the four new things you’ll have to keep in mind when posting to Instagram and how those changes impact the work of your library marketing in this episode.
Plus we’ll give kudos today to a library that won’t have to worry about changing their Instagram strategy because they’re already following best practices for one of these four new Instagram algorithm changes.
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:
You’re not imagining it: Engagement on Instagram Reels is going DOWN. And it’s happening not only to libraries but to content creators from all industries. What is going on?! And is there anything we can do to reverse this trend? We’ll dive into it in this episode of the Library Marketing Show.
Plus, kudos go to a library that’s been doing something that received coverage on a national television news program.
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:
On a cold Sunday in February, I hopped onto a Zoom call with someone I felt I already knew.
About 8 months prior, this Solano County, California resident appeared on my “For You” page on Instagram Reels and TikTok. He shared joyful, heartfelt, hopeful stories of his work and the profound impact libraries had on his life.
So, I must admit that when Mychal Threets came into view on my laptop screen, I was a bit starstruck.
Seated in a staff work area, with a giant cutout of Bob Ross behind him, Mychal graciously squeezed an interview with me into his workday. He answered my questions about the impact his simple, yet profound stories have had on the public’s perception of libraries.
“March of 2023 is when I shared that first story of the library kid who asked me if I’m a boy librarian or a girl librarian,” recalled Mychal. “And I thought that was great. This is the 15 minutes of fame for libraries. Maybe a few more people will get library cards. But it just kept on going, and I’ve just been sharing daily stories and affirmations ever since.”
One of Mychal’s earliest memories is from age three when his mother took him and his siblings to the library to get books. At the age of 5, he got his first library card. But Mychal did not aspire to be a librarian.
“I wanted to be an astronaut, a firefighter, or a police officer,” chuckled Mychal. “I never saw any men behind the library desk. I never saw any people of color behind the library desk.”
“I was struggling, waiting for my next career path. I was at the local library trying to think of my next steps. And I was like, let me ask the person at the desk about how a person ends up working for the library. She already had the site pulled up. She was like, ‘I knew you’re going to ask that soon enough.’”
In 2018, Mychal became a children’s librarian. He loved the silly, carefree nature of the kids he worked with, and he wanted to share stories about the joy of his work with children. So, he started posting to Facebook. The response was positive.
Then, during the 2020 pandemic, Mychal downloaded TikTok and Instagram and began experimenting with videos on those sites. But it wasn’t until March of 2023 that he started sharing those personal stories… and getting traction.
“I was just trying to remind people that the library exists. I try to remind people that the library is for everybody, that everybody belongs. The library is for them, whatever they’re going through in life. That was my whole goal.”
Mychal Threets
As of this writing, Mychal has more than 682,000 followers on Instagram and 680,000 followers on TikTok. His videos have gotten millions of views, and he’s been interviewed by the New York Times, Good Morning America, The Washington Post, and Huffington Post, among others. He received the “I Love My Librarian” award and the day before my interview with him, was the recipient of the Tri-City NAACP Unsung Shero/Hero Award.
It hasn’t been an easy road. Mychal is open about his struggles with mental health. And, as is the case for any internet star, he’s faced insults. But his thousands of fans were quick to come to his defense.
His reach extends beyond the normal library loyal crowds. I cannot count the number of non-library friends and family members who have sent me his videos, usually accompanied by the comment, “Have you seen this guy??”
“What I’ve achieved thus far, was never in my mind. I never thought it was a possibility,” admitted Mychal. “I didn’t think I’d go viral once, let alone several times. That has been a huge surprise.”
Mychal’s videos highlight his work and focus on “patron as hero” stories. Mychal explains how the library has impacted the community members he interacts with, in big and small ways.
He fiercely protects the privacy of his patrons, sharing his stories without using names or genders, instead calling his patrons “Library kids” or “Library adults.” He also says that technique prevents misgendering and disrespecting his patrons.
“Most library people don’t mind their stories being shared,” said Mychal. “I’m aware of the platform that I’ve grown. I know that it’s weird to have your story shared with the amount of people who follow me.”
Besides sharing his stories on social media and working full-time at the library, Mychal is working with author, influencer, and illustrator Blair Imani on an event in late March that will be a celebration of natural hair.
“We’re going to get a bunch of books donated celebrating hair love, and we’re just going to give them out to people who come to come to the event,” explained Mychal. “We’re going to have hopefully some very cool people present, including authors, illustrators, barbers, and hairdressers. It’s just a chance for people to celebrate their hair love, to get some free books, and celebrate literacy.”
“My other goal is that I just want everybody to get a library card if possible, and to fall in love with books. So, I’m trying to pursue a nonprofit LLC to celebrate literacy, celebrate our right to read, celebrate the joy of access to books, and just put books in the hands of kids and get them excited about reading.”
Mychal is a big fan of his own library on social media, but he also has praise for other libraries’ promotional work.
“Milwaukee Public Library is probably the best library on social media,” declared Mychal. “They just do such a wonderful job of following trends and then putting a library spin on it.”
“Harris County Library is in a similar vein. They also are very good at accepting being ‘cringe-worthy’ as a library system.”
“Storybook Maze is a street librarian in Baltimore, Maryland. She also has a fascinating job.”
“But otherwise, just BookTok and Bookstagram, in general, is just an easy way to find social media platforms doing great things for libraries, putting libraries on the map in the best way possible to remind people that everyone belongs in the library any different day.”
“I’m constantly impressed by the different libraries that tag me and want me to see their videos. People are doing such wonderful things for libraries and for books and literacy overall.”
As we wrapped up our interview so Mychal could set up a library program, he shared advice for library marketers.
“Always remember, the library is a place where everybody does belong. As I repeatedly say, you don’t have to leave your anxiety, your depression outside the library doors. It’s all welcome inside the library. Every day is a library day.”
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TikTok or Reels. Which one is better for library marketing?
I came across some new research that will help you determine where to spend your precious energy and time on library marketing. The answer is revealed in this episode.
Plus, kudos go to a library that showed authenticity when it made a mistake on New Year’s Day!
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:
Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
One of Paul Wellington’s first library experiences was not a pleasant one.
Growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, his parents occasionally took him to the Milwaukee Public Library, but it wasn’t a big part of his life.
“In high school, I distinctly remember visiting a branch after school,” recalls Paul. “I was not allowed to use a computer since I didn’t have a library card. I felt very unwelcomed, with little interest in returning. But little did I know libraries would become a big part of my life just a few years later!”
If you pay attention to library social media, you have seen Paul’s work. He is currently the social media specialist for the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library (CHPL), working on the team I used to lead!
Paul’s work received national attention earlier this year when he posted this now-famous TikTok showing how holds are gathered at the library. The post has, as of this publication, a whopping 3.7 million views, 599,000 likes, and has been shared nearly 25,000 times.😮
“I came across the idea when I saw a duet of a woman mimicking the person in the original video on TikTok,” explains Paul. “The next week, I proposed the idea to staff at a branch, with the realization that finding a volunteer was a long shot. Surprisingly, Kelwin (the Cincinnati Library staff member in the TikTok), agreed to mimic the person in the video. Cue the hilarity!”
“I thought the clip would receive a few thousand views, and I was really shocked at how quickly it went viral, including on other social media platforms.”
Paul Wellington
“Some other posts that have performed well are the Taylor Swift visit and Pedro Pascal as libraries posts. I shared the Taylor Swift TikTok a few days before she visited Cincinnati, and I hopped on the Pedro Pascal trend after seeing a post from Vancouver Public Library.”
Working for a library was not Paul’s first career choice. He originally pursued a degree in architecture at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. During the spring of his first year, he got a job as a circulation aide at the Milwaukee Public Library.
“I was promoted to Circulation Supervisor at a branch in 2016,” says Paul. “During the height of Covid in 2020, physical circulation was slow, and I asked to assist the Marketing department with Facebook and Instagram. I loved managing social media, which eventually led to my current position as the Social Media Specialist with CHPL.
“My favorite part of managing social media for CHPL is thinking of creative ways to promote the library, whether it’s through humorous text, videos, or memes,” shares Paul. “My least favorite part, and this is something I’ve started recently, is editing captions for our YouTube videos. While very tedious, it’s important that CHPL makes its content accessible to everyone!”
I can say from experience it is difficult to manage social media for a library like CHPL, which has 41 locations and serves a population of 800,000 residents county-wide. Paul has the library’s five strategic priorities, which are guiding principles for deciding what he posts on social media.
“Within these priorities, I focus on promoting the library’s events, services, and resources,” explains Paul. “Each day I share 4-6 posts on Facebook and Twitter, and 1-2 posts on other platforms (Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads), so there are plenty of opportunities to promote the library offerings.”
“I would say one key to success is capitalizing on social media trends and events in your local community. If you’re able to incorporate the library into this type of content, you’re setting yourself up for success.”
How does Paul resist the urge or the demand to post about every program or service the library provides?
“The most common requests for social media posts are events, and the library has hundreds of them each month,” says Paul. “A large number of our events are recurring storytimes and book clubs, so I tend to promote other unique events. Library staff understands this process, and I rarely have to deny a requested event promotion.”
Paul spends a lot of time on social media, (go figure!) looking for inspiration. His top four favorite libraries to watch are:
And Paul has one big piece of advice for anyone working on social media for a library.
“It is important to understand the demographics for each platform. For example, CHPL’s Facebook followers have an older demographic, while Instagram consists of a large number of Millennials.”
“Content that works on one platform may not work on another. You can still share the same event, service, or resource across all library platforms, but consider the text and the way it’s presented (photo, graphic, meme, or video).”
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Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion 