This is a very special episode of The Library Marketing Show.
That’s because you are going to get marketing advice from not one… not two… not three… but four of the top professionals in the library marketing industry.
And I’m bringing it to you as my gift because this, my friends is… the 200th episode of The Library Marketing Show!
Plus we’ll give kudos to someone doing great work in library marketing. Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos?
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter youremail address and click on the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page. You can also follow me on the following social media platforms:
Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
I must be honest. I’ve never seen survey results like this one.
My library marketing friends are ALWAYS trying to figure out which social media platform will give them the best results for their goals.
And if your library is trying to drive circulation, it turns out there is a definitive answer.
TikTok.
The platform now boosts a million posts every two months JUST ABOUT BOOKS. And those posts are having a measurable impact on reading habits.
In May of 2023, Casino.org surveyed 10,000 TikTok users between the ages of 18 and 45 (the Gen Z and Millennial generations) who live in the United States and Canada.
Yes, an organization dedicated to gaming did a survey on reading. 🤷
They asked three reading-related questions.
Are you reading more because of the BookTok community?
If the answer is yes, how much more?
Have you ever read a book as a direct result of a BookTok recommendation?
Hang on to your hat, my friends.
48 percent of the survey respondentsin the United States and 53 percent of Canadian respondents said they are actively reading more books because of their exposure to BookTok.
Americans said the platform resulted in a 60 percent increase in their reading activity, with Canadians reporting an increase of 58 percent.
That means that a member of Gen Z or the Millennial generation who previously read 10 books a year is now reading as many as 16 books a year because they watch #BookTok videos.
Holy Kansas.
Casino.org also collected location data and used that to compare the impact that BookTok had on reading by location.
Here’s another stunning result: every state or province reported an uplift in reading among TikTok users.
In the United States, the impact on reading was the most profound in Maine, Nebraska, Idaho, Utah, and Kentucky. Other states where readers reported reading more because of BookTok were California, Nevada, Texas, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Illinois.
In Canada, Saskatchewan saw the biggest increase in reading due to BookTok. But 57 percent of TikTok users in Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta also stated they are reading more because of BookTok.
If your library is posting on TikTok, you should 100 percent be creating videos that promote books. Here are five tips on how to drive circulation and promote your collection using this specific social media platform.
Ask a question of your staff.
Troy Public Library asked staff members to name a BookTok book that they think is overrated. The video is short, and it’s shot in a way that builds suspense. That’s the perfect way to get people to watch the entire video.
Use trending audio.
Scranton Public Library used this very popular piece of audio from a popular #BookTokker in this video. Chambers County Library System used audio from the Creepy Book Club account on TikTok to share reading recommendations from two of its library staff.
Using popular audio will boost the organic reach of the video by increasing the chances it will show up on a reader’s For You page. And if you’re running low on ideas about what to post on TikTok, just check out the trending pieces of audio as a place to start.
Use humor.
Vaughn Public Libraries used a short snippet of a popular movie soundtrack to create this hilarious clip. At just under 10 seconds, it perfectly introduces the library to a trigger-happy TikTok scroller.
It also subtly promotes the fact that the library’s BookTok recommendations are popular and nudges readers to follow the library account for great book recommendations.
Do something unexpected.
Most people think a library would only promote books with great reviews. But McHenry Public Library turns that notion on its head to highlight a one-star review of a book that most people would consider a classic. And they used a Taylor Swift song, capitalizing on her popularity to boost their organic reach.
Take advantage of staff creativity.
Perhaps it’s no surprise that the script for this hilarious and creative TikTok came from staff at the Los Angeles Public Library. We’d expect nothing less from a city just seven miles from Hollywood.
I bet there is someone at your library who is brimming over with creative ideas for BookTok videos. Put out a call for the best script or concept from staff and fill your content calendar while getting buy-in for the impact of BookTok from your co-workers. They’ll be more likely to share your videos on their personal accounts when they’re personally invested in the process.
For more tips on how to market your library using BookTok, here’s a great article by my co-worker Yaika Sabat. I must give her credit: she called out the impact of BookTok long before Casino.org did!
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Your library’s website is more than a website. It’s actually a digital branch. And it’s an incredibly important way to drive people to your library and to help them find out about your services and items.
I have three big tips for you that you can implement to make your website more discoverable out there on the fast internet. And you do not have to be a fancy website developer to put these tips into practice!
Plus we’ll give kudos to someone doing great work in library marketing.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here.
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter youremail address and click on the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page. You can also follow me on the following social media platforms:
Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
When Mary Short was little, the local public library was just a block from her school and regular childhood destination.
“My favorite memory is going to the library with my best friend, Nancy, and being able to pick out whatever books I wanted. I felt so grown up,” recalled Mary.
Now Mary is grown up, and working for that same organization, the Grosse Pointe Public Library, as Marketing and Programming Coordinator. She landed the job five years ago after working in communications for a large, international company.
“Before joining I had no idea all of the fabulous services the library provides,” said Mary. “I’m still learning about them. And I love sharing all the great programs and services we offer.”
Mary’s initial lack of knowledge of the full breadth and depth of the library is not uncommon. But here is a vital fact to keep in mind whenever you land yourself a new cardholder.
It costs 5-7 times more to get people to sign up for a library card than it does to get people who already have a card to use it more.
Harvard Business Review
So, it makes good sense for libraries to get their new cardholders to use their cards and keep using them! And the way to do that is through intentional, strategic library marketing. An onboarding email series works, as Mary will tell you.
“When I first started working at the library, I made my brother get a library card,” explained Mary. “He hadn’t had one in years. And he mentioned to me that he didn’t know what the library offered besides checking out books. And I realized we had no way of introducing the library to new cardholders. So, that was one of the primary goals I had was to develop an onboarding series of emails.”
Mary’s email onboarding series consists of six emails in total. The first email is sent 14 days after the patron has received their library card. It’s a welcome to the library from the library director, personalized with the recipient’s first name.
That first email includes an overview of the library’s services. The language drives home the message that the new cardholder is now a member of the library, an idea she borrowed from another library.
“Being a member is so much more meaningful than just being a cardholder,” suggested Mary. “Membership has benefits and you feel more a part of a team, more invested when you’re a member.”
After that, new cardholders get an email every two weeks until the series is complete.
“Each following email focuses on one service,” explained Mary. “Like downloading or streaming music with your library card for free, getting magazines for free, using our special collections such as the tool library, seed library, Wi-Fi hotspots, and book discussion kits. The final email is 10 totally free things you can do with your library card.”
Using this strategy, Mary’s library now has a new cardholder retention rate of 70 percent, a phenomenal success. Even with that great rate, Mary occasionally tweaks her messages.
“After a few months, I check to make sure the messages are still relevant and update some of the images or add a new service,” explains Mary. “It’s important to keep the messages current.”
When Mary isn’t celebrating her onboarding email campaign success or doing the other library promotions, she is looking for inspiration… from you!
“I signed up for a ton of email newsletters from a variety of libraries including the New York Public Library and the Oak Park Public Library in Chicago,” shared Mary. “I also visit libraries whenever I travel, and I take their materials and see how they position their signage.”
“One of the first ideas I borrowed from a library was from the New York Public Library. They did a promotion as a take-off on Black Friday. They created great graphics around that theme and said everything is 100 percent free at the library. I loved it. I contacted them to make sure it was ok for me to steal the idea and they said, of course, you can use that. That was before I knew libraries are wonderful about sharing ideas.”
And Mary considers herself fortunate to do this library promotional work for Grosse Pointe.
“I never would have dreamed I’d be working for my local library,” said Mary. “I feel so honored to have this job. I learn something every day and am so proud of all that our library does for the community.”
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I would like to issue a challenge to my library marketing friends. I have three phrases that I want to hear you say more often: to each other, to your coworkers, and to the world in general.
I’m going to explain why these three phrases are so important to the success of your work in this episode.
Plus we’ll give kudos to someone doing great work in library marketing.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here.
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter youremail 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 new social media platform in the world. It’s called Threads and the release has been unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed in my career in communications.
It’s become the most rapidly downloaded app EVER. And you’re probably wondering what this means for your library promotions.
I decided to record an emergency episode today instead of a regular blog post. This episode will break down what your library needs to know about Threads and help you figure out the first steps to managing an account.
Plus we’ll give kudos to someone doing great work in Library Marketing.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here.
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter youremail 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 an easy trick that your library can use to get attention in the email inbox.
What is it? I’m going to share with you in this episode!
Plus we’ll give kudos to someone (or perhaps a group of someones?!) doing great work in Library Marketing.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? 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, enteryouremail addressand 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:
A few weeks ago, as part of a post about exhaustion in marketing, I asked you to share your experience with burnout on the job.
To be honest, I didn’t want to get any responses.
I was hoping my fears about the prevalence of burnout were totally unwarranted and off base.
But….
I received more than a dozen anonymous messages. All were thoughtful. And incredibly heartbreaking.
My readers love their job. They love the library. They are trying their best.
But…
They are freaking tired. They are overworked. They feel disrespected and unappreciated.
There was a common denominator in all the responses. Many of my readers are dealing with unrealistic deadlines and results expectations.
Here is a sampling of responses.
“I have observed a lack of comprehension among management regarding the substantial time investment necessary to fulfill their expectations. It is crucial that we cultivate a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by library marketing professionals and foster a supportive environment that prioritizes their well-being.”
“If a program or event is a success it’s the people who ran the program that made it a success. If it’s a flop it is because it wasn’t marketed well.”
Libraries in general do not respect marketing. They look at us as glorified flyer makers. If you aren’t a librarian, then your opinions and recommendations on how to best promote something are not as valid as theirs. Regardless of how many years of professional experience you have, it doesn’t matter.”
Oof.
I know you are not a miracle worker. You know you are not a miracle worker.
But…
You are expected to be a miracle worker.
And while I cannot promise you that I can completely fix this issue, I can relate. I faced these same issues in my time at a library.
I do have a 5-step guide, created from my experience.
This will not erase your burnout. But it can make your work environment more tolerable. It will do that by building respect and understanding of your library marketing position.
“I feel like I work on an island,” she told me. “Everyone just thinks I sit around playing on social media.”
Your co-workers, supervisors, and library administrators don’t understand your job, just as you might not fully grasp what it means to work in collection development or cataloging.
So, the first step in managing their expectations is to give them an idea of what it is you do every day. Create an internal communications plan to explain, in simple terms, how promotions work to make their job easier.
You can do this by writing a post for your internal staff website, sending an email to staff, in casual conversations with your co-workers, and requesting time at the next staff meeting, as Chris Boivin of the Jacksonville Public Library did.
I’d also suggest you consider allowing co-workers to shadow you for a day, I did that during my time at the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library and it was incredibly effective.
In each of these interactions, explain to your co-workers the timeframe a good library marketer needs to:
Research a target audience for a library program or service.
Create promotions, including writing creative, impactful copy, making graphics, creating an email newsletter, etc.
Tell them about the Marketing Rule of 7 and how you compete with all the other content in the world.
Show them how you set success measures for your promotions.
You might also think about creating an infographic or a timeline chart to visualize the process for them. And then, invite them to collaborate with you. As one of my readers said,
“Marketing is not a solitary endeavor but rather a collective effort that benefits from the ability to bounce ideas and thoughts off one another. Encouraging teamwork not only enhances the quality of marketing initiatives but also fosters a sense of camaraderie and support among library professionals.”
In your conversations with co-workers or supervisors, ask for their ideas. Can they picture a certain graphic? Do they think the audience on a certain social media channel will align with the promotion? What would they write about it if they oversaw the copy?
Step #2: Consider their needs and fears.
Let your staff members and supervisors tell you what they need from promotions.
Much of the criticism of library marketing comes from a place of fear.
Is your co-worker worried about losing funding? Is program attendance tied to their job performance-rated problems? Is the director worried about losing a ranking or their job due to low circulation numbers? Are they worried about being embarrassed when no one shows up for their promotions?
In all your conversations with your fellow staff members, make certain you ask them what a successful promotion would look like to them. That gives you a chance to understand how to explain how doing library marketing right will help them to avoid bad outcomes.
Step #3: Set promotional guidelines.
Now that you and your staff have a clear understanding of each other, it’s time to set expectations.
As you do this, be sure to explain that these guidelines are in the best interest of both you and your fellow library staff members. You are all on the same team and working for the same goals.
Set a clear timeline for when information needs to be submitted to create effective promotions. If your library allows your co-workers to review work related to their department, let them know when they can expect those drafts and what the timeline is.
In every back and forth with co-workers, repeat these expectations and make sure your deadlines are clear. In my job, I use email to ask for review and feedback and I set a day and time, which I highlight in bold lettering.
Step #4: Share your successes AND failures with context.
Reporting is one of the clearest ways to demonstrate to your co-workers why a promotion does or does not work.
You don’t have to share the results of every promotion you do for your library. Pick two each month to highlight: one that was successful, and one that didn’t do as well as you hoped.
“Wait, you want us to talk about our failures?”
Yes. I do.
Share the basics of the promotion. Where did you release it? Was there any positive or negative feedback from the community? How effective was it? What would you do differently next time?
Step #5: Repeat.
The Marketing Rule of 7 also applies to your internal audience. And turnover is heavy at libraries. You’ll need to keep working on erasing the mystery of your work, talking with your staff about their needs and fears, explaining your guidelines, and sharing your successes and failures, every month.
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Your library’s digital signage is every bit as important as the print signs and posters you put up. But how can you maximize the effectiveness of your digital signs?
I have five tips to help you get the most out of that incredibly valuable space, all learned during my time with the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library.
Plus we’ll give away kudos to a library doing outstanding work in library marketing. Watch the video to find out who is being recognized.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? 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, enteryouremail addressand 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 