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Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion

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How to Build a Better Library Marketing Team (Whether You’re New or Not)

Historic black-and-white photo of a crowded library reading room with patrons reading at tables. Overlaid text reads, "Better Library Marketing Begins with LISTENING," with "LISTENING" emphasized in purple.
Photo courtesy of Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

In this post, you’ll learn:

  1. Why listening is often more valuable than launching something new.
  2. How to build the systems, messaging, and processes that make library marketing more effective.
  3. How to see your library with fresh eyes even if you’ve worked there for years.

When I started my current library marketing leadership role at the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Library this past March, I had a plan.

Actually, that’s not entirely true.

I had a list of things I thought needed attention. I had ideas. I had opinions. I had years of experience.

But I also knew I was walking into an organization that existed long before me, had been through a tumultuous six years, and will face tough challenges in the not-so-distant future.

So I made a decision. For the first few weeks, I just listened.

And looking back, it was probably the most important thing I did.

Start With People, Not Projects

The temptation in a new leadership role is to make your mark immediately. You want to launch something. Reorganize something. Fix something.

Resist the urge.

Before I touched processes or strategy, I sat down with every member of my team and with every member of senior leadership for one-on-one conversations. I asked questions like:

  • What do you spend most of your time doing?
  • What part of your job do you enjoy most?
  • What are you exceptionally good at?
  • What drains your energy?
  • What skills do you wish you had more opportunities to use?
  • What gets in the way of doing great work?

I wasn’t looking for complaints. I was looking for opportunities, gaps, and patterns. And those things started emerging quickly.

Some people were doing work they loved. Others had talents that weren’t being fully utilized. Some responsibilities seemed to belong to multiple people. Other responsibilities didn’t seem to belong to anyone.

That information was incredibly valuable. It became a roadmap to set up a foundation for success.

Build a Team Map

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that organizational charts don’t tell you much.

A job description tells you what someone is supposed to do. A conversation tells you what they actually do.

As I talked with my staff, I started mapping the team. I asked myself:

  • Who are the strongest writers?
  • Who can manage projects?
  • Who understands data?
  • Who has strong design skills?
  • Who is great at relationships and collaboration?

Just as importantly, I looked for gaps. Specifically, I pinpointed the skills that were missing, areas that seemed underdeveloped, and places where work was getting bogged down or stopped altogether.

I wasn’t trying to evaluate people. I was trying to understand the system.

Before you can build a stronger team, you have to understand the team you actually have.

Define the Real Problems

As I observed the department and reviewed existing work, I noticed something that I’ve seen in other organizations too.

People were working incredibly hard. But they were often operating without shared expectations, messaging, or processes.

Projects moved through different review paths depending on who was involved. Marketing requests arrived in different formats. Staff made decisions based on their own understanding of priorities.

Nobody was doing anything wrong. The team simply lacked some foundational systems. That realization shaped my plan for moving forward.

Map Out Your Priorities

Once I had a clear picture of my team and the larger organization they worked in, I worked on identifying and prioritizing what I needed to do. I created what I call my “Post-It Pyramid of Priorities.”

I wrote down the foundational tasks I needed to tackle, one on each Post-It. Then I arranged them in a pyramid, with the tasks I needed to complete at the top. (Groundbreaking, right?)

I put tasks that were interrelated into a line to signal to myself that I needed to work on them simultaneously.

A collection of sticky notes arranged on a wooden wall under the heading "Priorities."
Post-It Pyramid of Priorities

Using Post-Its makes it easy for me to move and change my priorities as conditions change.

Establish Your Messaging Foundation

One of the biggest priorities during those first 90 days was working through messaging.

What exactly were we trying to say about the library? More importantly, were we all saying the same thing?

Libraries are wonderful at promoting programs, events, and services. We are less consistent when it comes to communicating our larger value.

Ask staff members why the library matters and you might get a bunch of different answers.

  • Some will talk about books.
  • Some will talk about literacy.
  • Some will talk about technology.
  • Some will talk about community.

None of those answers are wrong.

But if your organization wants to build trust, recognition, and support, there needs to be some shared understanding of the bigger story you’re telling.

In my next post on July 27, I’ll go more in-depth to show you how our library determined a messaging focus and how we’re executing it.

Create a Strategy People Can Actually Use

The word “strategy” seems to scare people. I think it’s because most strategies are created by senior leadership, who then pass them down to the staff without taking the time to get buy-in. (This happens at for-profit companies too!)

I wasn’t interested in creating a document that nobody would read. I wanted a framework that would help people make decisions.

  • Who are we trying to reach?
  • What behavior are we trying to influence?
  • What organizational goals are we supporting?
  • How do our messages connect to those goals?
  • How should different channels work together?

Once you have the answers to those questions, you can create a simple strategic framework that you and your staff can follow for the next year.

Standardize the Review Process

When organizations don’t have a clear review process, everyone creates their own.

One project gets five rounds of edits. Another gets none. One person is included in decisions. Another is surprised at the last minute.

Over time, that creates frustration for everyone!

So we built a standard review structure. It helps me and my marketing manager to, well, manage projects!

We worked together to decide:

  • Who reviews what.
  • When they review it.
  • What kind of feedback they’re responsible for providing.
  • What final approval looks like.

The result is more consistency, fewer surprises, and much less confusion.

Focus on Culture, Not Just Process

The systems matter. The strategy matters. The messaging matters. But the biggest adjustment we need to make is cultural.

Instead of asking, “Can we promote this?” I’m prompting my staff to start asking, “What are we trying to accomplish?”

Instead of thinking about outputs, we are thinking about outcomes. Instead of automatically saying yes to every request, we started discussing priorities. (That is a biggie!)

It definitely is a mindset change. It won’t happen overnight, and you’ll face some bumps and pushback along the way. But getting yourself and your team to work these questions into your daily thought process will lead to better results.

What I Didn’t Do

Here’s what I did not do in my first 90 days!

  • I didn’t reorganize the team.
  • I didn’t launch a huge new campaign.
  • I didn’t overhaul every process.
  • I didn’t try to solve every problem.

New leaders sometimes feel pressure to demonstrate value immediately.

Ironically, one of the most valuable things you can do is slow down. Ask questions. Gather information. Build trust.

What If You’re Not New?

You don’t have to start a new job to use this approach.

In fact, if you’ve been at your library for years and feel like you’re stuck, this mindset can be even more valuable.

One of the advantages of being new is that you notice things everyone else has stopped seeing. You ask questions because you genuinely don’t know the answers. You challenge assumptions because you haven’t inherited them yet.

After you’ve been somewhere for a while, it’s easy to accept the way things are simply because “that’s how we’ve always done it.”

So borrow a trick from your first-day self.

Schedule listening meetings with colleagues you don’t work with regularly. Ask people what gets in the way of doing great work. Map your team’s strengths and gaps again. Follow a marketing request from start to finish as if you’ve never seen the process before.

Sometimes the biggest breakthroughs come from looking at familiar problems with fresh eyes.

Want more help?

The Real Difference Between Marketing and Promotion and Why It Matters for Your Library’s Success

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How to Build a Cohesive Library Brand Across Your Entire System

Black-and-white photo of two women standing behind a library circulation desk, surrounded by shelves of books and large windows. Overlaid text reads “How to Build Your LIBRARY BRAND!” with “Library Brand!” in bold orange lettering.
Photo courtesy Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library

In this post, I walked you through what branding really means in a library: It’s the consistent experience people have every time they interact with you.

Now comes the harder question: How do you actually make that happen across an entire library system? Believe me, I know what a struggle this can be!

The Real Problem Isn’t Branding. It’s Alignment.

Most library marketers I work with tell me they struggle with branding because the library system is very siloed. Libraries are collaborative by nature but decentralized in structure.

Most library systems have:

  • Multiple branches
  • Multiple departments (youth, adult, outreach, etc.)
  • Staff with different backgrounds and comfort levels with marketing

So people do what they think is best in the moment. And over time, that creates inconsistency.

  • Each department and branch creates its own promotional materials
  • Messaging varies depending on who writes it
  • Tone and style vary depending on who writes it

No one is intentionally trying to dilute the brand. But no one is working from the same playbook, either.

The Fix: Give Staff Clarity, Not Control

Here’s where many branding efforts go off track. Leadership tries to “fix” inconsistency by:

  • Locking down templates
  • Requiring approvals for everything
  • Centralizing all marketing decisions

That might create consistency. But it also creates bottlenecks, frustration, and disengagement. It also lowers staff morale, because it appears that leaders don’t trust branch or department staff to do their jobs.

Instead, what staff really need is clarity.

The 2 Things Every Staff Member Needs to Know

If you want your entire library to create promotion using one brand, every staff member, regardless of their role, should be able to answer these two questions:

1. Who Are We?

I’m not talking about reciting your mission statement. I’m talking about your library’s personality, tone, and voice. 

Are you:

  • Friendly and conversational?
  • Educational and authoritative?
  • Playful and creative?

If staff don’t understand this, they’ll default to their own voice.

2. Who Are We Talking To?

Your audience is not everyone. I know that’s so hard to understand when you’re working in an organization that aims to serve everyone.

But when you are working on promotions, you have to target a specific audience. So, your staff must be trained to think in specifics.

Who are they hoping to see come through the door as a result of their promotion? Are they looking for:

  • Parents of young children?
  • Job seekers?
  • Lifelong learners?
  • Teens looking for a place to belong?
  • Some other target audience?

When staff can identify the specific people they are trying to reach, their messaging becomes more consistent — naturally

How to Communicate Your Brand to Staff

Your library doesn’t need a 40-page brand guide. Most libraries only need a simple document that includes:

1. Voice Traits (3–5 words)

These are the personality descriptors that guide how your library “sounds” in writing. For example:

  • Friendly, welcoming, knowledgeable, community-focused
  • Curious, inclusive, encouraging, playful
  • Helpful, clear, approachable, trustworthy

For example, if your library decides its personality descriptor is “helpful, clear, approachable, and trustworthy,” you can tell staff that instead of saying, “Patrons must return materials by the due date“, you’ll say, “Just a heads up… return your items by the due date to avoid any fees.”

2. Visual Guidelines (colors, fonts, image style)

These define how your library looks visually across every tactic and channel, including social media, flyers, signage, and your website.

For example, your library might have three colors in your brand palette. Each color likely represents a feeling or emotion that you want your community to experience when they encounter materials from your library.

Let your staff know about the intentionality of your color palette by explaining each color’s associated emotion, like this:

  • Primary: Deep blue (trust, stability). We use this color for promotions about our hours and policies.
  • Secondary: Bright orange (energy, engagement). We use this color for promotions that include a call to action, like signing up or registering for a program.
  • Neutral: Light gray or cream. This color provides us with a clean background for promotions.

Set guidelines for font use. Be sure to lay out which font staff should use for headlines, body text, or as an accent font for special promotions for kids’ programming, summer reading, or other big programs.

Finally, give staff clear direction about the use of photos in your promotions. You may want to indicate that all photos must depict real patrons in one of your branches. (Check out this post about how to do a “stock photo day” to build your library’s cache of photos.)

If photos of real community members are not an option, let staff know what kind of stock photos they may use. For example, you may set guidelines that all staff photos must include:

  • Warm, candid, natural lighting
  • Diverse, inclusive representation
  • Focus on interaction (reading, attending programs, using spaces)

Coming Next

Now that you know how to align your team, there’s one more big challenge.

How do you create a consistent voice and look without making everything feel rigid and templated?

Your job is not to control every piece of marketing. Your job is to:

  • Set the direction
  • Define the brand clearly
  • Equip your team to execute

That’s what we’ll tackle in Part 3, which will publish on May 11.

Want more help?

Branding for Your Library: Stand Out From the Crowd With Smart, Strategic Placement of Your Brand

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3

What Branding Really Means in a Library (And Why Most Libraries Get It Wrong)

A black-and-white photo of a historic library reading room with long wooden tables, chairs, and bookshelves lining the walls. Desk lamps sit along the tables, and a few people are visible in the background. Overlaid on the image is a translucent box with the text: “What Is LIBRARY BRANDING?” with “Library Branding” highlighted in yellow.
Photo courtesy Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library

When most libraries talk about branding, they’re really talking about logos, colors, and templates.

But branding isn’t only what your materials look like.

It’s how your library feels to the people you serve.

And that experience doesn’t center only on the work that your communications staff does. It comes from every single staff member. This is especially true for small or rural libraries and for large metro libraries. 

A solid library brand will define your library in a crowded world. It’s the thing that makes people say, “I love my library.”

But many libraries struggle with branding. When I asked, “What do you need help with?” in the State of Library Marketing survey, one of the most common answers was “branding.”

So, we’re going to tackle that! This is the first in a three-part series all about library branding. 

Branding Is Not a Logo 

We’ll begin with this concept, because it’s the root of the problem.

Branding is often confused with:

  • Your logo
  • Your color palette
  • Your graphic templates

Those things matter. But they are expressions of your brand, not the brand itself.

In fact,  research into library branding shows that a library’s brand encompasses multiple dimensions tied to user experience, perception, and emotional connection — not just visuals.

That means your library’s brand is shaped just as much by a storytime experience, a conversation at the circulation desk, the tone of a Facebook post, or signage in your building as it is by your logo.

Here’s the truth: Your library already has a brand! People in your community have an existing impression of your library. This is true even if you’ve never written a brand guide, your graphics are inconsistent, and your co-workers all seem to do their own thing when it comes to library promotion.

So, you’re not starting this journey from scratch.

Real Library Examples: When Branding Becomes Part of the Library Experience

One of the best examples of true library branding is the transformation of Rangeview Library District into Anythink Libraries.

Here’s what happened: The Rangeview Library District was considered by its community to be old-fashioned, small, and unappealing. In 2009, as part of its renewed branding efforts, the District changed the names of its libraries to Anythink libraries.

But the library did more than a name and logo change. They renamed every branch. The changed staff job titles to include “Concierge” and “Guide.” They reframed the entire library experience around creativity and curiosity.

It was a complete alignment of experience, language, and culture. And it worked.

The rebranding led to higher circulation and visitor numbers. The system was able to connect with users and pass a levy, which helped them build or renovate libraries. And they were awarded a national Medal for Museum and Library Service.   

My own library, the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library, also went through a rebrand in the last five years. While our name change is not as significant (previously, we were The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County), we are transforming our connection to the community.

Yes, we created a completely new visual palette. But the core of our new branding is focused on our beliefs, which every library staff member is committed to living out through their work. Our beliefs are:

  • Empathy: We believe in everyone’s innate value and potential.
  • Enjoyment: We believe there is no prescribed path to knowledge, so why not make the journey fun?
  • Connection: We believe we got farther, together.
  • Community: We believe libraries are incubators of community.

That defined focus on those four beliefs is strengthening the connection our library has to the community, elected officials, and donors. That’s the power of branding.

Many libraries have also leaned into branding through physical experience and design. In fact, studies show that libraries are increasingly positioned as community hubs and cultural spaces, with branding tied to how people use and feel in the space, not just what they see.

Branding encompasses everything. The building, the programming, the atmosphere — all of it contributes to the brand.

Where Most Libraries Go Wrong

Most libraries don’t have a branding problem. They have a disconnect problem.

It usually looks like this:

  • Marketing creates one type of message
  • Youth services create another
  • Branches design their own flyers
  • Social media has a completely different tone

This creates a fragmented experience. And from a patron’s perspective, it feels like interacting with multiple different organizations instead of one library system.

So What Is Library Branding?

Here’s the simplest, most useful definition I can give you:

Your library’s brand is the consistent experience people have every time they interact with you.

Branding is not owned by the marketing department. Branding is created by the entire staff.

That means every flyer, every conversation, every program description, every social media post is either strengthening your brand or weakening it.

Coming Next

In the next post on April 27, we’re going to tackle the biggest challenge libraries face when it comes to branding: 

How do you actually get an entire library system to act like one brand?

Meanwhile, if your library has worked on branding, I’d love to hear what worked, what didn’t, and where your staff struggled. You can let me know by commenting below or by emailing me.

Want more help?

Boost Your Biggest Supporters: Branding and Marketing Advice for Your Friends of the Library Group

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1

Library Marketing Case Study: How UVU’s Fulton Library Connects with 47,000 Students

Black-and-white photo of a large, historic library interior with multiple balcony levels filled with students looking down. Overlaid text reads, “Academic Library Shares Secret to Connect with Students.”
Photo courtesy Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library

Lauren Tolman learned to read when she was just three years old.

“Books have been part of my life since I was little,” she explains. “My family made weekly trips to our local public library. I tore through Arthur, The Baby-sitters Club, Little House (on the Prairie), and any series I could get my hands on.”

“As a kid, my dream job swung between ‘mermaid’ and ‘librarian.’ The librarians at my local branch sat at this big wooden desk surrounded by paperback spinner racks, and they’d read to kids on carpeted risers. I visited the library again thirty years later… the same desk, the same brown carpet, the same happy library noise.”

Lauren’s first library job was as a shelver. In her 20+ year career, she’s been a page, a story time performer, a clerk, a children’s librarian, and a supervisor. Now, she’s the Communications Specialist in the Marketing Department at Utah Valley University’s Fulton Library. 

Lauren and two other staff members market the library to the school’s 47,000 students. Lauren supervises the department full-time and handles project management, social media, and campus outreach. Her work is complemented by a part-time graphic designer and a part-time copywriter.   

Lauren says the most effective channel for reaching her audience is Instagram. The library appears to have a formula down that works well for their audience. All the videos are short-form with a healthy dose of humor.

The library is also really, really good at putting its own, unique twist on trends, as they did for this video. (You will remember when this song was all the rage on Instagram and TikTok videos!)

And this is an absolutely memorable video to help students remember citation styles!

But beyond social media, Lauren and her staff have other ways to reach students on campus. 

“Our staff is our best ‘channel,’” shares Lauren. “They talk with students constantly through instruction sessions, resource fairs, research help, circulation desk interactions, etc.”

“Students love seeing other students in marketing. We also work with peer mentors, ambassadors, and other student leaders who help share our posts or pass along information to their programs.” 

Recently, Lauren and her team worked through a library campaign refresh with new branding, colors, iconography, and more, called “Find It at the Fulton Library.”

“We aim for a new brand campaign every 3-4 years to keep our image fresh and current for our students,” explains Lauren. “The process can take 6-9 months, as we work with our campus marketing, communications, and photography departments to produce all the materials.”

“They help us with concepts and developing a brand kit with colors, fonts, and more to help maintain a consistent look among all of our deliverables. They also help us with student lifestyle photoshoots, giving us a high-quality photo library to use throughout the next couple of years.”

As you can see, this new brand has a vintage feel, while being fresh and colorful.

But not everything is all fun and games for an academic library looking for promotional success. Like most library marketers, there have been times when the strategiesy Lauren has tried just didn’t land with her audience. 

“I will say I’ve had many disappointments where social media posts or Reels get low engagement,” explains Lauren. “It always seems to be the ones that are really informative or take forever to make that turn out to have the lowest interactions. That can be frustrating, but I try to learn from it. If even one student is helped by the content, that’s great. And there are always other channels to try to share that information!”

To that end, Lauren has some advice for libraries of all sizes and types when it comes to marketing. 

“Get to know your audience, what they care about, where they hang out, what they struggle with. Lead with approachability and benefits. Our audience likes to feel seen and have their problems solved.”

“Track your results, even informally. This will help you figure out your strengths and weaknesses, and the direction your content should go. And don’t be afraid to experiment with types of content, even the casual kind. While we keep our language kind and professional, students love it when we go a little unhinged or use pop culture references in our content.”

Want more help?

From Shelves to Screens: How an Academic Librarian Captures Student Narratives for Library Marketing

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How to Get Library Staff Excited About Appearing in Short-Form Library Videos

Watch this video now

#LibraryMarketingShow, episode 326

Creating short-form videos is one of the best ways to reach your community. But… convincing colleagues to step in front of the camera is difficult!

If you’re running into resistance — or just quiet reluctance — this episode is for you. I break down how to reframe video participation, build buy-in internally, and help staff feel confident instead of self-conscious on camera.

Plus, I’m giving kudos to a library that created a hilarious parody video with staff in the midst of a snowstorm!

Do you have a suggestion for a future episode’s topic? Do you want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here.

Thanks for watching! 

P.S.: If you wish, you may download a transcript of this episode.

Miss the last episode? No worries! Watch it now.

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Big Gains, Bigger Lessons: Why One Library is Rebuilding Its Social Media Incentive Program After Huge Early Growth

A black‑and‑white photograph of an ornate, multi‑level library filled with towering bookshelves and balconies. In the upper left corner, a translucent teal box contains the text “Social Media Incentive:” and below it, in white, “Lessons Learned.”
Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

Key Takeaways:

1. Hyper‑local social media works but only with empowered staff. By giving staff autonomy to create content tailored to each branch’s unique audience, the library sees more meaningful engagement than a one‑size‑fits‑all strategy could ever provide.

2. Incentives can spark huge engagement if the program is simple. Josh’s initial point‑based contest led to dramatic increases in reach, interactions, and followers at participating branches. But it also revealed the importance of designing challenges that align with staff capacity.

3. Start small, collaborate early, and refine as you go. Josh’s biggest lesson: don’t skip the research stage. Understanding staff time, motivations, and manager buy‑in is essential.

Josh Mosey lives in the same town where he grew up: Middleville, Michigan.

“My older brother and I used to ride our bikes to the library in the summer when we were kids and take part in the summer reading program,” remembers Josh. “I wasn’t as big a reader then, but I did enjoy the books on cassette tape that came with the physical books attached. When nothing new was available in that form, I’d pick a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ book, which I would read until one or two endings and call it good.”

“I was a notorious cheater when it came to counting books for the summer reading challenge back then. I’m making up for it now by reading voraciously as a grownup.”

Josh can get plenty of books, thanks to his current job as part of the six-person Library Marketing and Communications team and the Kent District Library. KDL serves 440,000 residents in Kent County, MI, excluding the city of Grand Rapids and a couple of smaller municipalities on the north end of the county. The library consists of twenty branches, one express library, and a bookmobile.

Josh is responsible for email and social media marketing for KDL. And the social media part of his job involves working with 20 “social media branch champions”. These are staff members appointed to create content and list events on their branch’s Facebook page.

“The social media branch champions have been around for as long as each branch has had its own Facebook page,” explains Josh. “They are chosen by that location’s manager as someone who either has time, interest, or expertise in that area. While I oversee the group, give tips, and create content they can use, the social media branch champions don’t take orders from me.”

Josh says the goal of our social media branch champions is to engage with their community, cultivate relationships with community members who might come to their events in person, and reflect the things that make their communities unique.

“Since the patrons at each branch can vary widely in interests and socioeconomic makeup, a one-size-fits-all mentality doesn’t work for our branch pages,” he says.

But this system has its challenges.

“Skills and interests vary widely from branch to branch,” explains Josh. “My graphic design background is borne out of the fact that my roommate in college was a graphic design major, and he let me play around on his computer with Photoshop. I’ve been able to do a lot with that over the years, but I’m a rarity among library staff members. Most folks have backgrounds in library science, literature, or education.”

“And while we have a comprehensive brand guideline and I’ve given the team examples of what a well-designed image should look like, some folks just don’t have the time, interest, or expertise to create on-brand, engaging content.”

And because this job likely falls under the “other duties as assigned” for many of the social media branch champions, they may not want to take on the frustrating job of posting to social media. So, Josh decided to incentivize social media work for this library.

“The incentives are based on best practices like consistent posting, interacting with local groups, sharing posts from the main KDL page, promoting branch events, and so on,” explains Josh. “Each of those activities is awarded a specific point value, and the points are calculated quarterly. At the end of each quarter, the branch with the most points wins a pizza party for their branch, a bookstore gift card for themselves, and temporary ownership of a goat trophy that says, ‘You’re the G.O.A.T.’”

Josh says the incentives worked well… at first.

“While some branches simply didn’t have time to put their numbers in (or participate, really), the branches that took the competition seriously saw massive increases in followers, interaction, and post views and likes.”

For example, Josh says the first branch to win was the Alto Branch of KDL. The results were as follows:

  • Views increased by more than 356 percent.
  • Reach increased by 811 percent.
  • Content interactions increased 334 percent.
  • Link clicks increased by 1,400 percent.
  • Visits to the Alto Facebook page increased 51 percent.
  • Follows increased by nearly 191 percent.

That sounds like a great leap. But when Josh solicited feedback from the branch champions on the incentive program, he discovered that most felt participation was just one more thing they needed to squeeze into their already busy routines, especially in the summer and fall. So Josh is making some changes.

“The program is going to change from a cumbersome Excel spreadsheet into a simple, physical Bingo sheet with twenty-five challenges that a branch can do monthly,” says Josh. “The more bingos a champion earns, the more chances they’ll have to win a prize. This should still get at the heart of what motivated the ones who participated while addressing the complexity of the previous version of the challenge for those who didn’t do much with it.”

Josh has some candid advice for anyone considering a similar incentive program for staff.

“I was too quick to go from the ideation phase into implementation,” confesses Josh. “I should have done a little more research into what my champions had time for and what exactly would motivate them.”

“I would encourage libraries that want to do this to sit down with the folks who manage their library’s social media presences, along with those folks’ managers, to increase the level of buy-in at the beginning.”

“Also, simpler is better. I was trying to get my people to do all the right things from the beginning, but I probably should have started smaller by focusing on two or three things each month until everyone had some momentum going for a bigger training and competition event.”

And Josh has one more, unrelated piece of social media advice for libraries.

“Don’t give up on social media posts that use words,” advises Josh. “Photos and videos are great, but it’s okay to make basic, nice-looking posts with nothing but words on them. It’s been working for us since I started in my role four years ago, across all our platforms.”

Want more help?

When Should Libraries Jump on Social Media Trends?

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The Real Difference Between Marketing and Promotion and Why It Matters for Your Library’s Success

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#LibraryMarketingShow, episode 325

Are “marketing” and “promotion” the same thing? We say they are… but should we?

One of my readers challenged me to think more intentionally about our terminology, and it sent me down a fascinating rabbit hole.

In this episode of The Library Marketing Show, I’m making the case for why these words matter more than we think, and how rethinking them can change the way your library connects with your community.

Plus, I’m giving kudos to a library staff member who had a recent brush with fame for their work outside the library!

Do you have a suggestion for a future episode’s topic? Do you want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here.

Thanks for watching! 

P.S.: If you wish, you may download a transcript of this episode.

Miss the last episode? No worries! Watch it now.

Subscribe to this blog, and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. You can also follow me on the following social media platforms:

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When Should Libraries Jump on Social Media Trends?

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#LibraryMarketingShow, episode 324

Short-form video trends can help libraries reach new audiences… but only when they’re used at the right time.

In this episode of The Library Marketing Show, I explain how to recognize which trends are worth following, when to act quickly, and how to avoid content that feels cliché.

Plus, I’ll share kudos for a library marketer whose promotional tactics bring new visitors from around the world (!) to his programs.

Do you have a suggestion for a future episode’s topic? Do you want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here.

Thanks for watching! 

P.S.: If you wish, you may download a transcript of this episode.

Miss the last episode? No worries! Watch it now.

Subscribe to this blog, and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. You can also follow me on the following social media platforms:

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Making Confident Library Marketing Recommendations to Leadership

Watch this video now

#LibraryMarketingShow, episode 323

Have you ever known exactly what your library should be doing but struggled to convince senior leadership to agree? You’re not alone.

In this episode of The Library Marketing Show, I respond to a viewer facing a tough leadership challenge and share tips for making the case to library leadership with confidence. Even if her situation isn’t identical to yours, the lessons apply to anyone navigating library marketing decisions and internal buy-in.

Plus, we’ll give kudos to a library with a landing page on its website that you should add to yours!

Do you have a suggestion for a future episode’s topic? Do you want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here.

Thanks for watching! 

P.S.: If you wish, you may download a transcript of this episode.

Miss the last episode? No worries! Watch it now.

Subscribe to this blog, and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. You can also follow me on the following social media platforms:

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