Algorithm changes are an inevitable part of library social media. Normally, those changes spell bad news for libraries. But…
LinkedIn just changed its algorithm and those changes are good news for libraries! (Yippee!) I’ll outline the three new and improved LinkedIn algorithm changes and how they will positively impact your library’s posts in this episode.
Plus, kudos go to a library that brought a bunch of libraries together to create a viral video for Read Across America.
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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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:
Managing social media for a library is hard enough without trolls commenting on your promotional posts. But it does happen! So…
How do you handle it when someone hijacks the comment section of your library’s social media posts? I have some advice for you in this Library Marketing Show episode.
Plus, kudos go to a library that’s been doing something fun and unusual for more than 20 years to promote their collection!
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:
There’s a specific library marketing task that I admit I personally struggle to make time to do. It’s complicated and tedious. But it is so important that I dedicate this episode to it. Note: scroll to the 2:00 mark for a special message for managers of library marketers.
Plus, kudos go to a library that got press coverage of a fun event that didn’t involve any “real” visitors to the library!
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:
I have a new trick that I use in my own workday for posting across multiple social media platforms. It helps me stay within best practices in terms of post length. And this is one of those instances in which the robots are very helpful!
I will show you exactly how I do this, in this episode.
Plus, kudos go to an academic library that uses Instagram Live to build excitement and engagement.
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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Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
I won’t bury the lede on this post. I will no longer be promoting Super Library Marketing on Twitter/X. And I hope that you and your library will stop promotions there too.
I’ve been debating this move for a while now. I am keenly aware of the challenges libraries face when reaching their community. Libraries need every single free resource at their disposal to effectively promote their library.
But you don’t need Twitter/X. Not anymore.
The number of libraries that use Twitter/X for promotion fell an astounding 17 percentage points this year, according to the 2023 Super Library Marketing Survey.
Only 38 percent of libraries are currently actively marketing on Twitter/X. I hope this post convinces them to stop.
The platform’s promotional effectiveness continues to plummet. It sincerely is no longer a beneficial use of your time.
And the man who runs it has made changes that allow hate speech, trolling, and abusive behavior on the platform. He’s reinstated numerous banned accounts and freely allows posts from climate deniers, anti-vaxxers, as well as antisemitic dog whistles.
In fact, on Friday, December 15, as I was writing this piece, he published this Tweet.
I don’t want to support that, and I don’t think your library should either.
Statistics to support a Twitter/X exit
If you want to see numbers, here are the latest statistics from What’s the Big Data.
Twitter is the 7th most popular social media platform worldwide and has far fewer users worldwide than any other social network we’ve covered in the recent Social Media Guide for Libraries.
10 percent of Twitter users account for about 92 percent of the Tweets shared on the platform. Most users aren’t active. They visit to consume content rather than interact with it.
Only 33 percent of Twitter users come to the platform to follow brands and companies.
Elon Musk, Twitter’s current owner, has imposed limits on the number of Tweets and direct messages your library can send in a day, as well as the number of accounts your library can follow.
Other library marketing experts agree: It’s time to leave Twitter/X.
Ned Potter splits his time between being Faculty Engagement Manager: Community + UX at the University of York and running freelance workshops on library marketing and social media. He’s worked in the academic library world since the mid-2000s. He was featured on this blog in 2022.
Ned recently published a piece laying out several reasons he believes libraries should leave Twitter. He echoed my concerns, including hate speech, misinformation, and Musk’s behavior.
Ned has worked with libraries across the world and says he does have mixed feelings about leaving Twitter/X.
“I have found the librarian community to be fantastically open, generous, and curious,” said Ned. “I really value my networks online too, which is why I’m so sad to have been driven to leave Twitter!”
Laura also wrote a recent post calling for libraries to leave Twitter. Her reasons include the platform’s focus on monetization and the fact that so many people have left the platform. Laura also believes libraries’ public perception may be damaged if they continue to post on Twitter/X.
She admits this is going to be a difficult move for some organizations.
“I have heard from some that they plan to address their libraries’ administration about it,” said Laura. “I suspect it will be an uphill climb.”
Ned says he can understand that pushback. But he has some good advice for staff members who want to make the case to their supervisors.
“I’d point to statistics,” advises Ned. “You absolutely see the reduced numbers of likes, impressions, and link clicks happening on the platform. So we’re not achieving the things we’re on social media to achieve, like driving behavior and influencing perceptions of the library.”
“I’d also point to the potential reputational harm of being on a platform run by someone so seemingly intent on causing harm and being so openly hostile to almost everyone.”
“But I’d also focus on the positive – leaving social media platforms can be incredibly liberating. If it frees up your creative energies to be spent on, for example, Instagram instead, that account is going to benefit hugely from that! You’ll see engagement levels skyrocket, and your impact increase.”
Laura says library staff who want to leave Twitter should share articles with their supervisors about how companies are reacting to the chaos and actions of Twitter and Elon Musk.
“Provide data about how much referral traffic the library (probably isn’t) getting at this point,” adds Laura. “Remind admins that they really don’t want their libraries associated with an international disinformation mechanism. Twitter isn’t what it was a year ago.”
What to do if your library decides to leave Twitter/X
If your library decides to stop promoting on Twitter, don’t delete your account. Things may change in the future, and you don’t want someone else claiming your handle. Instead:
Pin a post to the top of your profile, letting your followers know that you no longer will be posting on the platform.
Give Twitter/X users an alternative way to find information about the library (ideally, a link to your email opt-in page!).
Remove the Twitter logo from your emails and website.
I’m curious: what are your library’s thoughts about Twitter? Let me know in the comments.
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For the past six years, she’s been the outreach, engagement, and marketing consultant at the Southern Adirondack Library System. Erica works with 34 member libraries in four counties, as well as two correctional facilities and four county jails.
Like many of you, she is responsible for providing high-quality library services.
“My position allows me to do a wide range of things, from onboarding new directors to working with community partners to install Narcan Emergency Kits for public use in our libraries to curating a personal history of the pandemic through our Leaving Our Fingerprints on History Project,” explained Erica.
So, it’s a wonder that she has any time at all left for library marketing. But Erica is responsible for the system’s monthly newsletter and social media promotion.
And her work on social is drawing praise from fellow library marketers. On the Libraries and Social Media Facebook page, one fellow marketer said, “I am here for the brilliance of the social media team/individual at Southern Adirondack. Amazing curation and writing and quantity. It’s been fun watching their reach and followers grow over the year.”
“My philosophy in all things, not just social media, is to build relationships and community,” explained Erica. “Social media is where people go to be entertained and learn something.”
“But the focus can’t be just pushing out content. We must give people a reason to visit our page, so they check in regularly.”
“One of the things that makes me happiest is when I see our followers interacting with each other – finding common interests or challenging someone’s take on things. There’s a conversation that we’re convening.”
As you can imagine, Erica has a limited about of time to dedicate to social media. So, she chooses to post to the platform with her library system’s most prominent established audience: Facebook.
“When I was a library director, I found out how long it took to develop a robust social media presence,” said Erica. “When you lead small, rural public libraries, you do all the things and don’t have much time to focus on something like social media.”
“Since most of our libraries are small and rural, I use our Facebook account to aggregate content they can use on their social media accounts as filler – in between the posts about their programs and services.”
“We don’t want to push content but invite people in to build community. I focus on finding a library or literary memes, or what I consider library-adjacent posts (cats and dogs!), or things that are nerdy and fun. It’s about creating a community of people who enjoy our page, so when we post advocacy messages, we’re reaching a much bigger audience that trusts us.”
Erica says social media is a vital part of the formula for success for libraries.
“We live in a chaotic, information-saturated world,” said Erica. “It can take a lot of work to get your message out, and part of any advocacy strategy has to include social media.”
“I think libraries are getting better at marketing, but we tend to hide our light under a bushel rather than share the great work we’re doing. And in our neck of the woods, local newspapers are few and far between, so the best way to reach people is where they’re already spending time, which tends to be social media.”
Even with her expertise in social media, Erica continues to look for ways to improve her reach and drive more connections for her member libraries. “I would love more time to strategize and devise an evil plan to dominate social media,” shared Erica. “In the best of all possible worlds, I’d create a social media calendar and be more intentional in our content and posting.”
For Erica, it’s easy to find libraries that inspire her. “There are a ton of libraries doing great stuff,” said Erica. “I love what the Stillwater Library does – they take historical items from their collection or community and ask people to respond to what it is with wrong answers only. And they do a lot of great puns.”
And Erica wants to share a piece of advice for anyone working in social media library marketing. It’s something she learned from a presentation by a marketing librarian from the Portsmouth Public Library in New Hampshire, “Be the social media you want to see in the world. That’s what I live by. Be silly, have fun, and help spread the word about the vital work public libraries do each day.”
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:
The #LibraryMarketing Show, Episode 175: Is this the end of social media marketing for libraries?? I know that’s a scary thought. (But, is it really?) There are signs that social media, in general, is not holding the audience’s attention as it once did. And that’s bad news for your library marketing.
In this episode, I’ll share my predictions and the four things you can do right now to move away from dependence on social media to promote your library.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know in the comments.
Thanks for watching!
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address and click on the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page.
The Library Marketing Show, Episode 168: This episode is another must-watch for any library that posts on Twitter.
Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media platform has thrown Twitter into chaos. And many libraries are seriously thinking about deactivating their accounts.
I’ll share three things to consider before you make that decision. PLUS: I’ll share an alternative to deactivating your Twitter account.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know in the comments.
And subscribe to this series to get a new weekly video tip for libraries.
Thanks for watching!
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address and click on the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page.
Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion 
Hijacked! 2 Tips for Responding When Trolls Comment On Your Library Social Media Accounts
Watch this video now
#LibraryMarketing Show, episode 234
Managing social media for a library is hard enough without trolls commenting on your promotional posts. But it does happen! So…
How do you handle it when someone hijacks the comment section of your library’s social media posts? I have some advice for you in this Library Marketing Show episode.
Plus, kudos go to a library that’s been doing something fun and unusual for more than 20 years to promote their collection!
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!
Miss the last episode? No worries!
Will I see you soon?
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