library marketing ideas

The Top 13 Places To Find Library Content To Share When You’re Tired and Overworked (Bookmark This Post!)

*Courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library*

Promoting your library can feel a lot like feeding a very hungry, very demanding giant.

You want your community to know that your library is the source of rich and valuable information. But, let’s be honest. When you are doing the entire job of promoting your library by yourself or with a small staff, keeping up with the audience’s expectations can be exhausting.

Heck, doing it with a big staff is exhausting. Marketing is tiring.

And the more exhausted and overworked you get, the more your original content suffers. You can’t put your best work out into the world when you are weary.

Your original content, like blog posts, videos, newsletters, and social media posts that talk about what your library offers and how your library helps your community, must be as engaging as possible. Those pieces of content take precedence. You should devote your energy to making those shine.

But there are so many content holes to fill! That’s where a little trick called content curation can be super helpful.

Content curation is sharing articles, infographics, case studies, videos, and other content created by other organizations on your library’s platforms.

Now, I know this sounds counter-intuitive to promoting your library. Why would you share the work of someone else with your audience? Shouldn’t you take every opportunity to engage your followers with your library’s stuff?

That would be ideal. But I know darn well you don’t have a staff of 20 writers to fill your content needs every day. And besides helping you fill your editorial calendar, content curation has other benefits.

Sharing content that aligns with your library’s mission, vision, and values will strengthen your library’s brand. It does this by building trust in your library as an institution of knowledge and inspiration. And it helps you to drive home important messages, like the joy of reading.

Before you begin sharing

The library I used to work for was huge: 600,000 plus cardholders and 41 locations. However, I had a small marketing staff. We often shared content from other sources to fill gaps in our social media and email calendars.

We set a focus for this shared content: anything we shared from outside sources had to be related to books and the literary world. This aligned with one of our library’s overall goals to drive circulation.

That focus was both simplistic and broad. It allowed us to fill our content needs with posts about authors, new books, books being made into movies, health news related to reading, beautiful libraries around the world, historic libraries (including our own), and a lot more.

Our library’s curated content led to higher organic reach on social media. Those pieces of shared content were intriguing additions to our emails. The curated content got a high click rate.

This strategy positioned us as a news source for all things related to the book world. Our followers and fans thought of us as more than a library. They turned to us for information on all topics related to literature.

So, I advise you to set a focus: one that is simple and aligns with your library’s strategic goals.

For example, Hennepin County Public Library’s strategic plan includes the line: “Offering free access to essential technology and connectivity.” Their curated content focus can be on technology and the benefits of open access to a community.

Here’s another example. One of Montgomery County Public Library’s strategic goals is to make sure all children ages 5 and younger are ready for kindergarten. Their curated content focus might be on shared literacy tips for caregivers of young children, as well as any content that helps caregivers prepare their kiddos for school.

Once you’ve set your focus, you can start sharing. Here is a list of 13 websites where you can find library-related content to share with your audience.

Do you know of a website I should add to the list? Comment below the post to let me know!

BuzzFeed Books

This fantastic BuzzFeed spin-off is a rich source of fun content related to books, authors, and celebrities.

reddit Books

This list of user-generated content on books, libraries, and the literary world is invaluable. Use the discussion boards to give your ideas for fun, and interactive polls to create for your social media followers or email subscribers.

NPR Books

A good source of more high-brow literary news and lots of book reviews. Use this site to help you decide which books to highlight for individual promotions on social media and through email.

HuffPost Books

Like NPR Books but with a lot of news about politics, book challenges, and diverse authors.

Book Riot

Find in-depth articles and interesting angles on literary themes. Scroll down to the bottom for links to a host of podcasts on every kind of literary subject.

Electric Lit

A high-brow website with a fun, cultural perspective on literature.

NoveList

My team is responsible for the blog and newsletters, and we work hard to make sure they are a rich source of content curation or promotional ideas for your library. Steal away!

Library Journal’s technology section

Periodic stories about how technology can impact libraries and their patrons. They publish about once a week.

School Library Journal

A great source for posts about books and other library-adjacent services for young readers.

The Princh blog

This company is based in the UK and sells printing options for libraries. Their blog is rarely about printing. Instead, they cover library topics like the impact of early literacy strategies and the joy of volunteering at a library.

American Library Association Office of Intellectual Freedom blog

Need help curating content that educates your community about the dangers of book challenges? This is the premier spot to find it.

Content Prompt

This daily email from Megan Kowalski (profiled here) will give TONS of great, daily ideas for content. She’s a whiz at following those little-known holidays that can make for great fun on social media (Hello, Fish Tank Floorshow Night!)

Any blog from another library or one of your partners!

If you type “library blog” into Google these days, you’ll come up with a whole list of libraries that are publishing content on a variety of subjects. They’ll appreciate you if you share their content. And you’ll know those content pieces are well-researched and written from the library’s perspective.

Your partner organizations will also be flattered if you share their content. For example, if the town yoga instructor who occasionally holds a class at your branch posts about how yoga helps relieve stress, and your content curation focus is on mental health, share that post!

P.S. Want more advice?

Empathy Marketing: How To Use Greed, Fear, Love, and Hope To Motivate Your Audience

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October 2, 2023 2

Fight for Your Ideas! Four Tips to Help You Get the Green Light for New Library Promotional Ideas

Photo of librarians, courtesy Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County

It’s sometimes insanely hard to get any new marketing ideas to pass approval in a library.

If there is a silver lining to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s that the crisis helped libraries to see that there are new ways to market and promote their library. It’s opened the door for experimentation.

Even so, presenting a new marketing or promotional idea is sometimes challenging and intimidating for library staff. I know this because every time I talk with librarians at conferences or in one-on-one consultations, they ask, “How do I get buy-in for this great promotional idea with my supervisors and co-workers?”

Here are the four things you can do to gather support and approval for your great new marketing and promotional ideas.

Tell me about a time you had to pitch a library promotional idea. What was the idea? Did you get a yes or no? What did you learn from the experience? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Thoroughly research and prepare your pitch.

Before you pitch a new idea, do your research. You’ll want to present a clear, concise, and strategic case for your idea. Include the following information in your pitch:

How the work benefits your community and cardholders.
How the work ties into your library’s overall strategy and goals.
How the work will get done by staff.
The timeline for implementation.
What the success measures will be.
What the long-term goals of your promotional idea will be.
How you will handle problems that may arise.
The data to back up your claims.

Here’s an example pitch that includes these points.

You’ve determined that Facebook is not giving you the results you want when you promote individual programs. Registration and attendance at programs have been unchanged or decreasing in the last six months, despite the many posts you create. Instead of using social media, you want to start a targeted e-newsletter sent to the people who frequent each branch in your system. You believe these targeted emails will be more effective because they will reach the audiences most likely to attend these programs.

Your pitch will begin by explaining the problem using data. Include registration, attendance figures, and Facebook engagement figures especially clicks on your registration or event information links. Show how the Facebook posts are getting very little engagement and lead to no increase in registration or attendance.

Next, explain how the move to branch-specific e-newsletters will be better for your community and cardholders because it will offer information about events happening in their neighborhood that are specific to their wants and needs. Look for wording in your library’s strategic plan that will make it clear to senior leaders that you are working to fulfill the strategic goals by offering community-based access to information.

Next, make the case that e-newsletters are a more efficient use of your time because they will be more effective and targeted. Again, be specific when you talk about how long it takes to create a Facebook post versus an e-newsletter.

Now, talk about the ways you’ll measure success for your new e-newsletters: increases in registration and attendance, plus open and click rates on the emails. Be specific and use numbers. This will show that you are confident that your new idea will work.

Spend a few moments talking about your long-term goals: how many new subscribers do you want to get in the first six months or year? How much would you like to see registration and attendance grow? What other library services can you imagine promoting using your e-newsletters?

Layout a timeline: when do you think you can launch your first e-newsletter? How long will it take to grow your subscription list? How often will you send these e-newsletters?

Finally, talk briefly about problems you may encounter and how you’ll handle them. What program will you use to send the e-newsletters? Who will create them if you’re sick or on vacation?

Review and rehearse.

Review your plan several times. It’s a good idea to leave a few days in between each review of the plan, to let your ideas marinate. You may think of new benefits or pitfalls during those breaks. You’ll want to be fully prepared to answer any questions and defend your idea with confidence.

Next, practice presenting your idea to a friend at your organization. Choose someone you trust to give you honest feedback about your idea and your presentation.

You might also consider recording your pitch on Zoom or another video recording program. Check to make sure you are speaking slowly and clearly. Evaluate your tone of voice, eye contact, and body language during your practice pitch.

Pitch strategically.

Find a time when your supervisor won’t be rushed. They’re more likely to listen to you when they have time to truly consider your idea.

Pick the right day of the week for your pitch. For example, Mondays are often busy and stressful for bosses. Your supervisor may be more negative at the beginning of the week and it’s likely not the best day for your pitch.

When you pitch, be mindful of your body language. If you are sitting in a chair, don’t pivot back and forth nervously or jiggle your legs. Sit still, but upright, and with confidence.

If you are standing, try separating your legs about shoulder-width apart. This is a “power” pose that will help you maintain good posture and will subconsciously give the impression that you know what you are doing… even if you don’t feel that confident!

If the answer is no, don’t necessarily give up.

A “no” doesn’t have to mean the end of an idea, especially if you think it’s beneficial to your library and customers. There are no bad ideas–just ideas whose time has not yet come.

Write yourself a note in your work calendar to revisit the idea in six months. Keep your eyes open for new opportunities to present your ideas in a different format.

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You May Also Want to Read These Posts

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Five Creative Ideas to Help You Beat the Blues, Get Inspired, and Create Amazing Library Marketing Campaigns Again!

August 16, 2021 2

How Much Library Marketing Should You Hand Over to Your Branches? The Library Marketing Show: Episode 26

Watch Now

Erin at Casey Cardinia Libraries in Casey, Victoria, Australia, asks: “Could you talk about how marketing can support the branch and then what the branch can do locally on their own. It’s a constant thing coming up in our service and I’m thinking a one-pager with some face to face training will help. Marketing teams (if the service is lucky to have one!!) are generally small and we need everyone to take ownership!”

Plus you’re gonna want to watch through the Kudos sections!

Have an idea for the next Library Marketing Live Show? Submit it now.

Want more Library Marketing Show? Watch previous episodes!

Check the Upcoming Events page to see where I’ll be soon. Let’s connect!

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December 18, 2019 1

Three Secrets to Delight People with Your Library’s Instagram

So, Instagram is a thing. A REALLY BIG THING.

700 million active users each month.

400 million active users each day.

250 million active users of Instagram stories each day.

4.5 billion photo likes each day.

59% of internet users between the ages of 18 and 29 and 33% of internet users between the ages of 30 and 49 use Instagram.*

In the crowd of millions who use and love Instagram, there are tons of library lovers, particularly in the younger demographic. There is huge potential for libraries on this platform. I’m not saying you should ignore other social media platforms and switch all your focus to Instagram. But libraries aren’t using it enough, and that’s a missed opportunity. We should focus more on Instagram!

I really love the Cincinnati library account but I cannot take any credit for it. It’s managed by two people in our marketing department–our social media specialist and our assistant, who happens to have a great eye for art and photography. Our staff talks about our social media platforms, our strategy, and goals once a month and we are always looking for ways to improve. We’ve used these three easy tips on our Instagram to improve our posts and get more engagement and they work. Now I’m sharing them with you so you can have success too.

Start using Instagram stories. At our library, we noticed that organic engagement of our regular Instagram posts is tied to our use of Instagram stories. The more we use Stories, the more people see our regular Instagram posts. We have noticed that you don’t have to use Stories every day, but you do have to use it a few times a week to see better results in your organic posts. And it is a chance for you to exercise your creativity!

If you use Snapchat, you’ll be able to jump in and create Instagram stories right away–it works nearly the same way. If you’re new to stories, start small and be positive. Stories are a chance for you to be creative. Think of something you’d like to tell your customers and break it down into three or four sections. You can even plot out your idea using a storyboard or an outline to help you save time when you start shooting. An easy story idea is the journey of a book from the stacks into the hands of a cardholder. Shoot the book being taken off the shelf, rolling on a cart, going through the processing line, and then popping up on the holds shelf. How about a behind-the-scenes look at your drive-thru window? Or a peek at how your materials and selections department buys a book? There are so many interesting stories at your library and most of them can be broken down into three or four pieces of interesting video.

Don’t use your stories feed to talk directly to your audience… in other words, don’t post headshot after headshot of someone talking into the camera about something library related. Instagram is not the place for talking heads. The audience wants feel-good, “the world is a beautiful place” stories. Focus on showing your customers what makes your library and its workers and customers beautiful and different.

BONUS TIP: I’m a big fan of redistribution of content–who has time to shoot video more than once? Save each section of your Instagram story on your camera roll and then upload them to a folder on your desktop as soon as you get back to your desk. You can use a simple editing tool (here’s a great list of free video editors) and put together a longer piece to post later on YouTube, Facebook, or your own library website.

Really research your hashtags. Many library marketers feel lost when it comes to hashtags or they don’t spend enough time thinking about them. But they are the one tool that will help people who don’t know you’re on Instagram to find you. They’ll also help your avid fans see more of your posts. My favorite free hashtag research tool is Hashtagify. The easiest way for me to explain how it works is to show you an example. I did a search of Jane Austen and got this great graphic, which shows me all the top related hashtags I can use in a post about my favorite classic author.

I would suggest that you keep the number of hashtags you use to five or less. The less cluttered your caption is, the more engagement you’ll get. You should also check each hashtag before you use it to get a sense of how “crowded” it is. I like mixing my hashtags up with a few popular and a few rarely used ones. This helps increase the chances that someone will be able to find your photo!

Think through your caption. There’s no right or wrong length. You can take up to 2200 characters so if you have something really fascinating to say or a big announcement to make, you don’t have to limit yourself. You really need to focus on providing context about the photo. It’s okay to write out your caption before you post if it helps you to think through the process. Stay within your library’s brand voice and use conversational words, not library industry language. You should also experiment with emoji’s, which help to communicate the mood or feeling of the photo and are eye-catching! And if you’re talking about a follower or another organization in your caption, be sure to tag them for extra reach and engagement.

Do not use a call to action in your caption every time you post… I think doing that makes you seem pushy. But sometimes it makes sense, like in this recent post by my library for National Library Card Sign-up month.

Have you seen a library account doing great things on Instagram? Are you really proud of what your library has done on Instagram? Let me know about them in the comments section for a future post! For more inspiration, I found this in my research for this article. 12 Must follow Library Instagram Accounts.

*Thanks to Omnicore for these stats. See more here.

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, click on “Follow” button on the bottom left-hand corner of the page. Connect with me on Twitter and Snapchat–it’s where I talk about library marketing! I’m @Webmastergirl. I’m also on LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest. Views in this post are my own and do not represent those of my employer.

September 25, 2017 3

Eight of the Best Websites With Curated Content Ideas for Your Library!

Creating content for your Library social media feeds and blogs can feel a lot like feeding a very hungry, very demanding giant. You want your audiences to know that you are the source for all kinds of rich and valuable information but, let’s be honest, when you are doing the entire job of marketing for your library by yourself or with a small staff, keeping up with the audience’s expectations can be exhausting. And the more exhausted you get, the more your original content suffers. You can’t put your best work out into the world when you are feeding the beast.

That’s where content curation comes in. Content curation is the idea that you can share the blog posts, infographics, case studies, and interesting posts created by other organizations on your platforms. Now, I know this sounds counter-intuitive to marketing. Why would you share the good work of someone else with your audience? Shouldn’t we take every opportunity to engage OUR followers with OUR stuff? That would be ideal, but I know darn well you don’t have a staff of 20 writers to fill your content needs every day. Neither do I. The expectations of your audience are the same for you as they are for big brands. You simply can’t keep up, no matter how hard you try.

But here’s the really surprising thing about sharing curated content. If you do it right, by sharing content that aligns with your library’s brand and image, curated content actually helps to strengthen your library’s brand. At my library, we have a strategy which includes sharing curated content related to books and the literary world. That’s a pretty wide definition and it allows us to fill our content needs with posts about authors, new books, books being made into movies, anniversaries of books being made into movies, health news related to reading, beautiful libraries around the world, and a lot more. This strategy has positioned us as a news source for all things related to the book world, and our followers and fans think of us as more than a library. They turn to us for information on all things literature.

I want to share eight websites we use to find content to feed our curation strategy so you can find the same success.

BuzzFeed Books: We pull something from this fantastic BuzzFeed spin-off nearly every day. One word of warning though: check the posts for inappropriate language. BuzzFeed is loose in their writing style and occasionally, they’ll allow an obscenity or two.

reddit Books: This list of user-generated content on books, libraries, and the literary world is pretty invaluable. It also gives us ideas for polls to ask of our followers or original content posts, based on popular discussion boards. It’s a good way to put your finger on the pulse of the reading world in real-time.

NPR Books: Another place where you can find high-brow literary news and lots of book reviews. I use this site when I’m trying to decide which books I should highlight for individual promotions on social media and through email.

HuffPost Books: Similar to NPR Books but with a lot of news about book-related movies.

BOOK RIOT: A slick and modern website with more in-depth articles and interesting angles on literary themes. Scroll down to the bottom for links to a host of podcasts on every kind of literary subject. This website really warms your soul when you just want to immerse yourself in the world of books and think about how literature affects the lives of everyone.

Books – Flavorwire: The posts here are less frequent but are more varied than other sites. Their writers are very cultural and their perspectives are rare.

Electric Lit: A high-brow website with a fun, cultural perspective on literature. I also just love the look of their website.

NoveList: I’m pretty sure you all know this one exists but if you are like me and you didn’t come to this line of work from library school, this is THE go-to list for librarians who want to learn about new books or find reading recommendations for cardholders. I love their blogs and newsletters, which can be a rich source of content curation or promotional ideas for your library.

August 7, 2017 0

How One Library Is Using Content Marketing to Capture the Imagination

How One

Sometimes, I’m a curious girl. And about six months ago, a Twitter post featuring this billboard piqued my curiosity.

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It caught my attention because it’s different from any other library billboard marketing campaign I’ve ever seen. It’s a story-driven content marketing campaign, and I found it to be intriguing.

So I switched into journalism mode and went in search of the creator behind the campaign, hoping to pick his or her brain about how the concept was formed.

My search led to me to Jason Tutin, Digital and Learning Development Manager at Leeds Library and Information Service. The Leeds Library is located in the United Kingdom, roughly 200 miles north of London and has 35 locations.

Here’s what I asked Jason about the #whatsyourstory campaign, the strategy, and results.

What did you hope to accomplish–what was the strategy behind the campaign?

The campaign strategy was to change people’s perceptions of modern public libraries. We wanted a campaign that would be fresh, exciting, and high-profile. It was designed to be fun and appealing to adults living in Leeds to inspire them to engage with the library service. We also wanted to align our online and offline marketing so our offer was more ‘joined-up’ across promotional channels. In summary, we wanted to:

Engage new and existing customers
Raise awareness of libraries in Leeds
Develop brand recognition
Change perceptions of what libraries can offer
Improve online engagement with users through our existing social media accounts and the Leeds Reads blog.

How did you promote it? Was this a fixed-time campaign or is it ongoing?

We developed a human story PR strategy and detailed content strategy for both online and offline media. We wanted it to be about people’s stories and how the libraries played a part in their achievements. The #whatsyourstory campaign was launched in late June 2015. Lamppost banners, a billboard, press and TV coverage, a website, blog posts, and print flyers all accompanied a comprehensive social media campaign. Phase One of the campaign featured two real-life stories from users of Leeds Libraries. Phase Two of the campaign will be launched in early 2016 with two new case studies. We will continue to collect and promote new case studies as part of the campaign.

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Traditional media channels were interested in #whatsyourstory because of the stories of Wayne Levitt and Ma Maposa. These two people provided the inspirational case studies that featured in the first phase of the campaign. #whatsyourstory generated 20 pieces of media coverage including two articles in the Yorkshire Evening Post, a broadcast feature on Made in Leeds TV and many more articles in local publications. The potential audience reach of these media outlets is over two million people.

Did you have a budget?

A maximum budget of £10k (about $14,000) was allocated to the initial stages of this campaign. This included concept, design and plan execution. With a relatively small budget and inspiring content featuring real-life case-studies, #whatsyourstory brought Leeds Libraries to the attention of new demographics. The careful strategic planning of the social media content also resulted in the campaign gaining exposure regionally, nationally and internationally. Online engagement rose dramatically on Facebook, Twitter and the Leeds Reads blog.

Additionally, as the campaign is all about local stories from real-life people it has a longer shelf life. We plan to continue with the campaign over the forthcoming months/year and share more positive experiences from people who have used and benefited from the library service.

What was the response from the community?

In addition to reaching new audiences, we wanted the social media element of the campaign to promote engagement and interaction. Throughout the four weeks of the campaign we had 213 Twitter interactions for #whatsyourstory content and 152 interactions on Facebook. One of the most popular tweets was a photo of Ma’s billboard, which was erected on a popular commuter route between Leeds and Bradford. To date, it has received 65 interactions on Twitter alone. The campaign received great support on social media from Leeds residents, businesses and organisations as well as other Leeds City Council departments and staff.

The impact of #whatsyourstory reached far beyond Leeds, with positive interactions from Australia, Canada and the USA! Our social media engagements increased throughout the campaign and as a result we gained more followers and raised our social media profile. Wayne and Ma’s stories were posted on our Leeds Reads blog and were by far the most popular posts of 2015, gaining 120 shares on social media.

What did you do with all the answers once you had curated them?

We are using the responses that the campaign generates to find new case studies and engage with new audiences.

Was the campaign successful?

Yes, and this success has been recognized by others in the marketing industry. The #whatsyourstory campaign won the Best Creative Comms award at the ‘comms2point0 UnAwards 2015’. The judges said that the #whatsyourstory campaign was:

“A standout triumph across all criteria, from initial strategy and planning to evaluation and metrics and, of course, that crucial element of creativity. The smart use of storytelling was the highlight and we loved the application of real-life, personal journeys to draw on the emotions, capture the imagination and change the perceptions of the audience.”

Any words of advice for other libraries planning a similar campaign?

Marketing of public library services is notoriously difficult because we offer so much to so many people! We decided that the best way to promote our services would be to have real people advocating on our behalf. Their stories have generated a real buzz around the campaign and have really helped to raise the profile of Leeds Libraries within the city and beyond.

Are you interested in writing a guest article for this blog or do you know someone whose insight would be helpful to my readers? Leave a message in the comments or email me at ahursh@yahoo.com.

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, click on “Follow” button on the bottom left-hand corner of the page. Connect with me on Twitter and Snapchat–it’s where I talk about library marketing! I’m @Webmastergirl. I’m also on LinkedIn, Slideshare, Instagram and Pinterest. Views in this post are my own and do not represent those of my employer.

January 25, 2016 12

Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion

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