This holiday week, I wanted to ensure you are set up for success in promoting your library in 2025. These are the most popular Super Library Marketing posts from the past year that you may have missed. (We’re all so busy!)
Most Popular Super Library Marketing Articles of 2024
I hope you are looking forward to 2025 as much as I am. We’ll be tackling new library marketing and promotion subjects. Plus I have lots of library profiles on the calendar. You’ll be hearing advice from libraries just like yours. As always, I welcome your suggestions about topics you want to cover. Happy New Year!!
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:
2025 is almost here, and I have six library social media predictions. Well, these actually come from Social Media Today. But I want to share them with you and tell you how they might impact your library marketing in this episode.
Plus we’ll give kudos to a library that put a billboard in an unusual but clever spot… right where they have a captive audience!
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!
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address. Then 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:
I want to give you a quick tip to make your library’s digital marketing more accessible to everyone in your community. It’s really simple, and it only takes five seconds of your time. But it will make your library marketing truly inclusive. I’ll reveal that trick in this episode of The Library Marketing Show.
Plus we’ll give kudos to a library recovering from a natural disaster… but that didn’t stop them from celebrating a big anniversary!
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!
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address. Then 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:
What do you do if you log on to your social media metrics and suddenly notice that your stats are dropping?
Your first instinct is probably to panic, but don’t! We will talk through 4 steps to take when this happens in this episode of The Library Marketing Show.
Plus we’ll give kudos to a library that managed to receive press coverage for a very important event.
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!
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address. Then 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:
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!
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address. Then 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:
If you have ever wondered what metrics to track for your library marketing… wonder no longer! There’s a new infographic out, and I think it’s the perfect cheat sheet to help you figure out the metrics to track for any promotion.
I’ll explain how it works in this episode of the Library Marketing Show.
And a library staffer also nominates her co-workers for kudos for their creativity and work to promote a fundraiser!
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!
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address. Then 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:
For the first time ever, libraries that email their community to promote their services have metric benchmarks!
I will discuss how this new report came about (spoiler alert: it was born out of my annoyance!) and how you can get your hands on it in this episode of The Library Marketing Show.
Plus we’ll give kudos to a library that reached a whole new audience to promote their collection.
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!
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address. Then 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
Amanda Weakley was pursuing a master’s degree in English when a comment from a professor changed the course of her career.
“I took an elective in Library Science,” recalls Amanda. “The class went well, and the professor commented that I would be a great librarian. Shortly after that, I noticed a vacancy at a local library and applied. Once I started working in libraries, I knew it was where I wanted to be.”
Amanda grew up in Rappahannock County, Virginia, located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She’s been a cardholder of the Rappahannock County Library since she was a preschooler.
Now she serves as director of the library, where she started working 14 years ago. Rappahannock County Library is a small, rural library that serves a population of just over 7,000 people.
“Currently, we have 3.5 FTE employees, me included, so we all do a bit of everything,” explains Amanda. “If there is an idea, we work together to see it through, usually a person or two handling every detail from planning to presentation and assessment. It is a lot of work, but the reward of successful library services and programs is immeasurable.”
With such a small staff, the library must get the most out of every tactic they use to promote their library. Rappahannock County excels in two areas: their word-of-mouth promotions and their partnership promotions.
Partnership marketing involves collaborating with other organizations, businesses, or influencers in the community to achieve mutual goals. Word-of-mouth marketing is all about building a buzz through community members, staff, and volunteers. It encourages people to spread positive stories, experiences, and testimonials about the library.
Staff members are often the key to both strategies. They are trained to spread news about new services and upcoming events and look for partnership opportunities.
“It really is a way of optimizing resources,” says Amanda. “Especially with a small staff and a small community, it helps to have as many happy patrons as possible and community partners advocating for you and spreading your news. We have friends of friends, clients, and members of partner organizations attending our events, using, and recommending our materials and services.”
“For as long as I have worked in libraries, and even prior, my focus has been on positive experiences and connections. I want everyone to have a positive experience or association with the library, be it through participating in a program, staff interaction with individuals, or staff collaboration with community partners.”
“We know people talk, so let’s give them wonderful things to say about the library and library staff! In a small community, I think word travels faster, and our organic tactics have evolved into strategic decisions.”
Amanda says libraries of all sizes should focus on what they do best in their community. Then, build and maintain healthy relationships with patrons and community partners around those key resources.
And don’t be surprised if it takes time to see the results from word of mouth and partnership marketing.
“There is a reality that you can work hard to get the word out and make connections, but there will always be people who will not receive your message,” explains Amanda. “It’s frustrating when you do everything to share information and someone says, ‘I did not know you offered that!’”
“If you have the opportunity, talk to the person, and see where they seek or find out information. Learn from each interaction and try to meet people where they are with a positive library or library staff experience. After a positive experience, your mentions will stand out and have more impact.”
The strategy’s success is easy to see if you look at Rappahannock County Library’s Facebook page. They are often tagged in photos and posts by their partnership organizations. That gives their library exposure to a whole new audience of potential patrons.
“We want our patrons and partners to tell people about us, send people our way, and even send us or our services to people. It’s a cycle of working for people, and if all goes well, they seem to work for us by continuing to market for us without even realizing it!”
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:
As you create content for your library’s website, there is one tiny feature you should consider: how do your links open? Are they in a new tab or open in the same window? This decision will impact the experience of anyone visiting your library’s online presence. I’ll give you my advice… and then tell you why you might want to ignore it (!) in this episode.
Plus we’ll give kudos to a library that has accomplished A LOT in the marketing space in a short time.
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!
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address. Then 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 