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The 2024 Guide to LinkedIn for Libraries: Updated Tips To Get the Most Organic Reach

Photo courtesy of the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

This is the fifth installment in the 2024 series of social media guides for libraries. It includes:

Next week, we’ll cover Twitter/X. Stay tuned!

LinkedIn for libraries

The number of libraries using LinkedIn for marketing remained steady this year. 21 percent of libraries say they post to the platform, according to the 2023 Super Library Marketing Survey.

LinkedIn is my favorite social media platform, personally and professionally. I know what you are thinking: LinkedIn is all about finding a new job, and nothing more.

But I am here to tell you that audiences on LinkedIn are engaged and active. They are positive. And organic reach is better than any other social media platform I’ve worked with. This is true for both for my personal profile and for my company’s page.

And LinkedIn reported record levels of use in 2023. They speculate that many Twitter/X users have moved over to their platform.

OWWL Library System posts regularly to LinkedIn, spreading awareness of its many services, especially its outreach events.

How are people using LinkedIn right now?

Here are some statistics to consider from Influencer Marketing Hub and Social Media Today.

  • LinkedIn has 728 million users worldwide, much more than Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram.
  • The United States has the most active LinkedIn users. About 31 percent of LinkedIn’s traffic comes from people in the States.
  • LinkedIn is more popular among men. Users are 56.3 percent male and 44.7 percent female.
  • 60 percent of LinkedIn users fall between the ages of 25 and 34 years, a prime target market for libraries.
  • LinkedIn users spend an average of 7 and a half minutes per visit on the platform.
Richland Library cleverly adds info about their resume and career help at the very top of their LinkedIn profile.

How much success can we see on LinkedIn?

These engagement statistics come from Social Insider. This website breaks down stats based on number of followers. Because most libraries on LinkedIn have less than 5,000 followers, these are the statistics I have listed below.

  • The average engagement rate is 1.53 percent. That’s a higher engagement rate than Facebook or Instagram!
  • Posts with multiple images get the highest engagement rate at 11 percent.
  • The average video view rate on LinkedIn is 26 percent, which is pretty darn high!

The LinkedIn Algorithm for 2024

Here are the ranking signals LinkedIn uses to decide who sees your posts.

  • Followers: According to Entrepreneur.com, LinkedIn changed its algorithm based on user feedback. Users said they wanted to see content from people they follow. (Makes sense!) So LinkedIn will show your posts to your followers first.
  • Post content: LinkedIn now prioritizes posts that share knowledge and advice. And they look to see whether your library’s posts speak to your specific LinkedIn audience. That means you need to carefully consider the target audience when posting. (More on that below!)
  • Your authority: LinkedIn not only evaluates your post content… it evaluates your library! It will try to determine if your library is the authority on the subject you are posting about. That means you’ll want to stress your library staff expertise, or the expertise of your presenters, authors, and partner organizations when you post.
  • Meaningful comments: LinkedIn specifically tells users in their new creator guide that they are looking for longer, thoughtful, more meaningful comments on posts. This means your library will need to think about how to start a real conversation about each post. For example, if your library posts a list of early literacy tips for busy working parents on LinkedIn, at the end of your post, ask your followers: “What advice do you have for other parents?”

Here are four ways to get the best organic reach for your library’s LinkedIn posts in 2024.

Target the LinkedIn audience with relevant promotions.

Your library will need to consider the promotions you post to LinkedIn because the audience has different expectations than they do for other platforms.  But as you can see, the list of promotions that will work on LinkedIn is long!

Library promotions to consider on LinkedIn

  • Patron stories
  • Renovation projects
  • Helpful resources for working people with children, like homework help, test prep,
  • Small business resources
  • Stories of your library’s outreach initiatives
  • Collection marketing of career or self-help titles
  • Big author visits
  • Book club resources
  • Maker Space promotions
  • How to suggest a purchase
  • Behind-the-scenes stories of library staff
  • Genealogy resources
  • Laptop kiosks
  • Holds lockers.
  • Special Collections
  • Grant writing resources

LinkedIn is a perfect place for you to talk about the impact of these programs on your community. LinkedIn is also a place where your library can build partnerships, fundraising, and legislative support.  

Newberry Library uses LinkedIn to promote its collection and more by sharing its blog posts.

Don’t share links in your posts.

Sharing external links in your LinkedIn posts can limit your reach.  According to Social Media Examiner, a post with links to content, including your library’s website or catalog, will barely get 50% of normal reach.

LinkedIn does this because it doesn’t want users to leave the platform to visit other websites. Also, LinkedIn claims that users “visit the platform to stay updated with their personal network. Leading them to other pages and sites isn’t the experience users want.”

However, I am calling baloney on this. This is not my personal experience, and it doesn’t appear to be the wishes of my personal and professional followers.

So here’s how I approach links.

  • I do share links to my blog in my personal posts.
  • My company also shares links to our blog in our company posts.
  • If I recognize outside organizations and partners or share links to websites other than my own in my posts, I share those links in the comments of the post.

There is an obvious downside to sharing links in the comments. If you are using a scheduling app or LinkedIn’s native scheduler for your posts, you must remember to go back in and add the links to the comments after the post is published. But, in my experience, this method works for boosting organic reach.

Create posts of varying lengths and types.

Try mixing up the length and type of posts this year, to see which ones work well with your audience. Does your audience prefer a few lines or longer text? Do they like one, bold graphic or a carousel of photos? Are they excited by videos? Do they go wild for polls? Have some fun with your content.

LinkedIn will also boost your posts when it sees that you are offering your followers a variety of content types and lengths. The platform views that strategy as fresh and relevant. 

A successful post from Omaha Public Library featuring a carousel of high-quality images.

Keep your publishing schedule consistent.

LinkedIn doesn’t require a round-the-clock publishing schedule like Instagram or Twitter/X. But it does value consistent posting.

So, whether your library decides to publish every day, every other day, or even once a week, your followers will come to expect your content regularly. That consistency builds trust, which boosts the organic reach of your posts.

Choose a schedule that makes sense for your library and stick to it for a month. (Scroll down for recommendations on how often and when to post). Watch your insights to see what days and times give your library the best engagement results. Then, make those parts of your publishing schedule.

Orange County Library System posted its Library Card Sign-up Month promotional video natively to LinkedIn and got great results.

Maybe also try…

Republishing specific portions of your library newsletters to LinkedIn Newsletters: LinkedIn Newsletters readership tripled in 2023, with more than 500 million total subscriptions. That’s a huge number.

And your library can take advantage of this trend while not putting too much of your content on the rented land of LinkedIn.

So, here’s what I recommend. Take your regular library email newsletters and pull out the content that is relevant to your LinkedIn audience. If you end up having a longer list of relevant content in one month, whittle your choices down to the 2-3 pieces that you think would be most interesting to your LinkedIn followers. Then publish that on LinkedIn Newsletters.

But… use the newsletter as a tool to gather new subscribers to your library emails. Add a call to action to the end of your LinkedIn newsletter, like, “Want more great library news like this? Subscribe here.” Add a link to your opt-in page, and voila, you’re building your email subscriber list–which your library owns and is not subject to any algorithm.

When to post on LinkedIn

Influencer Marketing Hub recommends posting three days a week on LinkedIn in the mornings, at the start of the workday, roughly 8-10 a.m. That’s a great schedule for smaller libraries with limited staff.

If you have more time, try posting every day in the morning, including weekends. Spend your weekday posts on more serious topics and use the weekends to engage, entertain, and inform your LinkedIn audience. Watch your audience grow to anticipate each day’s post from your library!

P.S. Want more help?

How to Analyze Your Library Marketing: A Primer AND a Deep-Dive into Data to Ensure Promotional Success This 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:

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The 2024 Guide to TikTok for Libraries: Updated Tips To Get the Most Organic Reach

Three men working to sort books brought via conveyor belt in the 1960s.
Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

This is part of the 2024 series of social media guides for libraries. It includes:

We’ll cover Twitter/X on Dec. 18. Stay tuned!

TikTok for libraries

The number of libraries who say they post on TikTok actually declined in 2023, according to the annual Super Library Marketing Survey. 16 percent of libraries say they use the platform to promote their library. That’s down three percentage points from the previous year.

Many libraries are prohibited from downloading the app to their library-owned devices due to concerns about privacy and reports that the app’s owners share data that could pose a national security risk.

However, a quick Google search of “Libraries on TikTok” returns 12.5 million results as of this writing. Those include news stories by NBC’s Today Show, The New York Times, and Mashable about how libraries are turning to the app to reach new audiences. That narrative is driven by recent viral TikToks from Milwaukee Library and the Cincinnati Public Library. And of course, BookTok is incredibly popular with young readers.

So, I think if your library has permission to use the app AND if your library has the time and staff to post to TikTok, it can be an effective way to market your library and particularly your collection.

@mpl_nj

#papergirls #millvillenj #millvillelibrary #graphicnovel #sogood #papergirlstv #amazonprime

♬ Bicycle – CHUNG HA

How are people using TikTok right now?

Here are some stats to consider from Demandsage and SocialPilot.

  • TikTok has 1.2 billion monthly active users. That’s twice as many active monthly users as Instagram. 🤔
  • The United States boasts the most TikTok users, with more than 150 million active users.
  • Globally, the average TikTok user spends 55 minutes a day on the platform.
  • The average U.S. TikTok user opens the app 9 times a day.
  • TikTok use is split evenly along gender lines.
  • 70 percent of TikTok users are between the ages of 18 and 34 years old.
  • TikTok is the search engine of choice for 74 percent of Gen Z respondents according to a survey done by Her Campus Media, a media and college marketing company. They prefer it over Google because of the video format and relevant, relatable answers.
@franklinlakeslibrary

Always surprised to learn when an author writes under a pseudonym! Are we missing any of your favorites? #pennames #fyp #booktok #librariesoftiktok

♬ That’s Not My Name – The Ting Tings

How much success can we see on TikTok?

These engagement stats come from SocialPilot and Influencer Marketing Hub.

  • The average engagement rate on TikTok is a whopping 4.25 percent, much higher than Instagram or Facebook.
  • 92 percent of users take some kind of action after watching a TikTok, such as liking a video, commenting on it, or sharing it with others. That’s the nexus behind that giant engagement rate.
  • More than a million videos are viewed every day on the platform.
  • 63 percent of users follow someone new on TikTok at least once each month.

The TikTok algorithm for 2024

TikTok users have two ways to view their feeds. The Following view shows them content from the accounts they follow. The For You option shows content based on an algorithm. So, here are the ranking signals TikTok uses to decide who sees your videos under the For You option.

  • Video quality: High-quality videos are more likely to be recommended by the TikTok algorithm.
  • Video completeness: TikTok will place more value on your videos if people watch them from start to finish.   
  • Engagement metrics: Likes, shares, comments, and saves of your library videos all play a big role in the algorithm.
  • Video information: The captions, hashtags, and descriptions you use for your library TikTok videos play a vital role in helping the algorithm understand the context and content of your video.  

Here are four ways to get the best organic reach for your library’s TikTok videos in 2024.

Try to keep your videos around 60 seconds in length–but also experiment with video length😊.

According to Statista, the sweet spot for TikTok video length appears to be around 54 seconds. Videos that are shorter than that get marginally lower engagement rates. However, this is not a hard and fast rule. If you have the time and energy, experiment!

As of this writing, it appears that TikTok may soon expand the allowed video upload length to 15 minutes. Currently, users can upload a video that is 10 minutes long, so the jump is significant.

The increase in video upload length makes sense for the platform, because longer videos will, in theory, increase the amount of time people spend on TikTok. So, if you see the option in your feed, experiment with it to see if your followers respond to that long video format.

I’ll add a little personal story here: My 23-year-old daughter loves longer TikTok videos. She told me longer videos mean she doesn’t have to scroll, so she can listen while she’s doing her makeup. That bolded word is important. If you do longer videos, you may want to consider using spoken word audio instead of music to improve the odds that someone will engage with your long-form videos.

Always add your location to your videos, hashtags, and captions.

One of the downsides of TikTok (and all social media platforms, if we’re being honest) is that it is programmed to boost the reach of videos by showing them to the largest audience possible. That’s great for global brands. And terrible for our hyper-localized libraries.

You can either aim for lots of video views, or you can aim for views of people in your service area who could use your library. I prefer the latter.

So, for videos that are about localized services, add a location to your video. You’ll do that in the final stages of uploading, right after you add your caption. Be as specific as possible. TikTok will take that information and target people on the For You page by geography. By adding location, you’re more likely to get your videos in front of people in your service area.

If you post an entertaining video that doesn’t refer to one of your services directly, then you may omit the location. Just remember you may get more views of that video, but many of those viewers won’t ever be able to visit your library. Great for your stats (and ego), but not so great for your library’s overall goals.    

@somervillepubliclibrary

Spinners & knitters at the library. Sit n Stitch starts back next month! 🧶 #somervillealabama #publiclibrary #somervillepubliclibrary #somervilleal #knitting #spinning #sitnstitch

♬ September – Earth, Wind & Fire

Spend time on hashtags and key phrases for your captions.

Hashtags play a significant role in your library’s engagement success on TikTok. Users who watch or create a video with a specific hashtag will be more likely to see videos that use that hashtag in the future. So if someone talks about books and uses the #BookTok hashtag, and then your library also uses #BookTok, that person will be more likely to see your video.

This is particularly important because TikTok just launched a new “Customize Feed” option within your For You page settings. This new feature allows a follower to specifically tell the app what content they want to see. TikTok uses that input to customize the user’s feed.

I haven’t seen this option in my TikTok app yet, but it could be good for your library—allowing followers who love books or libraries to see your content without having to search for you. The hashtags you use for your content will be important because TikTok will use them to connect your videos to the people who really want to see them.

Likewise, including key phrases like “find something to read in Cincinnati” or “free things to do with kids in Cincinnati” in your captions will increase the chance your library’s videos will be seen by people in your area looking for your services. TikTok has increased the caption length to 4000 characters. Use that extra space to create more detailed and optimized captions for search, as Lake County Public Library does in the video below.

@lakeco.publiclibrary

Which one are you? #publiclibrary #librariesoftiktok #libraries #booktok #colorado #librarytok #bookish #librarycard

♬ Otra Vez – ProdMarvin

Respond to comments

Replying to comments may not boost the reach of your library videos in the short term. But it will incentivize people to interact with your library.

Replying to comments, even if that’s just liking a comment, builds a personal relationship with your viewers. And that relationship can lead to long-term benefits for the performance of your library’s TikTok account.

As mentioned above, the TikTok algorithm rewards content that has a lot of engagement and comments. High comment volume indicates to the algorithm that many people are interested in the content. Your replies to comments count in that volume calculation.

So, make an effort to respond and acknowledge each video comment you receive. See the example below from Palm Harbor Library.

@palm_harbor_library

hot tea on #jamespatterson 🫖 #booktok #redflags #librariansoftiktok #floridalibrary

♬ original sound – Palm Harbor Library

Maybe also try…

Pinning videos to the top of your profile: TikTok may be one of the rare social media platforms where users visit a profile page. So, pin videos that showcase the overall theme of your TikTok account. Doing so often boosts views. Orion Township Public Library has pinned videos, including the one below.

@orionlibrary

It’s a bummer about WeWork, but the library has all the things remote workers need to be their most productive FOR FREE! Stop in and get some work done today. #fyp #librarytiktok #workfromhome #wfh #remotework

♬ Work from Home (feat. Ty Dolla $ign) – Fifth Harmony

Responding to videos with a video: Replies are one of the best ways to increase your engagement on TikTok. They amplify your library’s reach by getting your video in front of a whole new audience of followers.

Video replies also let your followers know that you are reading their comments and are actively interacting with them. They’re more likely to continue to comment, like, and share your videos when they know someone is paying attention.

You can also use video replies to answer questions about your library or library-related topics like Freedom to Read and library stereotypes.

How often and when to post on TikTok

TikTok recommends you post at least once a day, including weekends, for optimum performance. They will give your library more reach if you are supplying the platform with fresh, daily content.

Research by various marketing firms and experts suggests posting in the morning is best for engagement.

P.S. Want more help?

It’s Never too Early! Get Ready to Promote Your Library on TikTok This Holiday Season

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:

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The 2024 Guide to Instagram for Libraries: Updated Tips To Get the Most Organic Reach

Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

This is the second in the 2024 series of social media guides for libraries. It includes:

We’ll cover Twitter/X on Dec. 18. Stay tuned!

Instagram for libraries

Instagram is the second most popular social media platform for library marketing. 92 percent of libraries responding to the 2023 Super Library Marketing survey said they post to Instagram. That’s two positions higher than in 2022.

Instagram has 500 million daily active users, much fewer than Facebook. But use is growing worldwide.

As I mentioned last week, I believe the new focus on Instagram is due in part to the turmoil at Twitter/X.

How are people using Instagram right now?

Here are some statistics to consider as you plan your library’s Instagram use for 2024 according to SocialPilot.

  • About 20 percent of all the active internet use in a day is spent on Instagram.
  • The average Instagram user spends 30 minutes a day on the platform.
  • 38 percent of users log onto Instagram multiple times per day.
  • 70 percent of Instagram users watch Stories every day.
  • Instagram users remain evenly split down gender lines.
  • Instagram says they’ve seen an 80 percent increase in the time users watch videos on the platform over the last year.
A very successful Feed post by Washoe County Library. Also please note how they add alt text to their caption for accessibility.

How much success can we see on Instagram?

These engagement stats come from SocialPilot.

  • The average engagement rate for all Instagram posts is 0.71 percent, significantly higher than Facebook.
  • Carousel posts get the highest engagement rate at 1.26 percent.
  • Instagram Reels posts get an average 1.23 percent engagement rate.
  • Instagram Feed posts with just one photo get the lowest engagement rate at 0.59 percent.
  • Engagement rates continue to be higher for Instagram accounts with fewer than 10,000 followers. So, once again, don’t worry AT ALL about your follower count.
An engaging carousel post from Glen Carbon Centennial Library, which has just over 1,000 followers as of this writing.

The Instagram algorithm for 2024

According to Social Media Examiner, there are three separate but similar Instagram algorithms, depending on the type of content.

Instagram Feed ranking signals

  • Past activity: Instagram will show your content to followers who have engaged with your posts in the past, especially in the recent past. It will also show your posts to people who have interacted with feed posts that are similar to yours. DMs, comments, likes, and shares all count toward the activity measure.
  • The popularity of your library’s content on Instagram: If people have engaged with your recent posts, Instagram will show more of your content to more people.

Instagram Stories ranking signals

  • Past activity overall: Instagram will offer your Stories to people who have viewed your Stories in the past or who have interacted with your Feed and Reels in the past.
  • Engagement: Instagram will offer your Stories to a wide audience if your Stories tend to get lots of likes, comments, and shares.

Instagram Reels ranking signals

  • Past user activity: Instagram pays attention to the topics a user loves on Reels. It will show your library’s Reels to people who have shown an interest in the topics you are posting.
  • Reel statistics: Instagram likes new, popular videos. So, the older your Reel is, the lower the reach will be. If your videos are getting a lot of interaction soon after you post, your Reels will get more reach. Instagram also boosts videos that have a long watch time and reach more non-followers.

Here are four ways to boost the reach of your library’s Instagram account in 2024.

Think carefully about whether to post on the Feed, Stories, or Reels.

Because the ranking signals are different for these different sections of Instagram, libraries need to do a little more strategic thinking about which Instagram area will give them the best return on their investment of time and money. How do you know which to choose?

If your overarching goal for using Instagram is to reach more people and build brand awareness for your library, focus on posting to Reels. Instagram will randomly show Reels to users for days or weeks after they’ve been created. Also, Reels published on Instagram can pop up in the Reels feed on Facebook. So, for long-tail goals, Reels are worth your time.

If you are talking about specific library services, promoting an event or class, or sharing partner content or user-generated content, post to Stories. Stories disappear after 24 hours, so they’re not the best method for spreading the word about evergreen library offerings. They are great, however, because you can add a link to a story, and, as mentioned above, most Instagram users look at Stories every day. That makes Stories the best real estate for things you absolutely need people to know.

If you are sharing information about evergreen content, like your collection, your Library of Things, cool things you can make in the Makerspace, and big programs like Winter and Summer Reading, post to the Feed. Engagement statistics show that the best Feed posts are carousel posts of aesthetically pleasing photos—not graphics with text. If you have information to share, put it into the captain rather than on a graphic. And share as many photos as you can in the post—you can add up to 10 for a carousel.

A carousel post from Harrison Public Library garnered engagement from their followers.

Concentrate on interaction to boost engagement.

The algorithm will give you more reach if you can get your followers to comment, like, and share your posts on Stories, the Feed, and Reels. Building engagement takes time but the easiest way to do it is to start conversations and respond to comments.

To start conversations, you can ask questions, including trivia questions, of your followers. Or create quizzes or polls about the library. It’s fun, and it gets followers to stop scrolling and interact with your content.

Also, try responding to every comment for a month. I know this will be a lot for small libraries, but the effort is worth the time. Responding to comments is one of the best ways to boost engagement stats. And your followers will love the attention.    

Check out the comment responses from Salt Lake County Library on this post.

Experiment with different types of content.

The Instagram algorithm is ever-changing. So, the formula you used for success in 2023 likely won’t work in 2024.

You should view your Instagram as one, ongoing experiment. Remember, you’re trying to boost engagement because that’s a strong ranking signal. So, spend 2024 testing new formats. Use Instagram’s in-app creative tools to help make your creation easy and fun, and to show Instagram you care about the platform.

This fun Reel from Angleton Library looks easy to reproduce and has lots of views!

Test out different topics, like history or new books in your collection to see how your audience responds. You can also test new ways to present the topics your followers already love.

Be checking your insights as often as possible to give you clues about what you should post next.

Get super strategic about hashtags.

Hashtags help the algorithm to understand what your content is about. So, choosing the right hashtags will improve your ranking and visibility on the platform. Here are three tips for managing Instagram hashtags for your library.

  • Create ONE library-specific hashtag: Create a unique hashtag for your library and encourage your followers to use it when sharing or commenting on your content. This helps to build recognition of your library’s brand and makes it easier for others to discover your content.
  • Use a mix of hashtags: Mix and match your hashtags, using a combination of popular (#SummerReading, #LibraryLove) and niche hashtags (#BestLibraryBooks, #MakerSpaceCreations). But…
  • Limit the number of hashtags: Instagram allows you to use up to 30 hashtags per post, but I honestly believe that’s too many. It looks spammy and it could make your posts seem lower quality. Try to limit yourself to 2-5 hashtags per Feed post and Reel, and one hashtag per Story.   

Maybe also try…

Sharing comments from your posts to your Stories: Instagram now allows you to share comments from any public post or Reel to your Instagram Story.

When you swipe left on a comment, you’ll see a new option to share it in your story, indicated by a plus sign. The comment will then be featured in a new sticker type, which you can place anywhere within the story frame. It’s a great way to highlight patrons and demonstrate social proof.

When to post on Instagram

Post on Instagram Stories every day.

Post to the Instagram Feed and Instagram Reels two to three times a week.

The experts agree that engagement is highest on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Take a break on Saturday: that’s the day with the lowest engagement. If you wish to post on Sunday, wait until the evening, after 7 p.m.

But as always, check the insights on your library’s account. Post when you notice your followers are engaging most often with your content. And remember that being consistent is key. Pick a schedule that your library staff can stick to.

Special message for Indiana libraries

P.S. Want more help?

Instagram Reels Is Wildly Different From TikTok! How To Decide Which Platform Is Best for Your Library

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The 2024 Guide to Facebook for Libraries: Updated Tips To Get the Most Organic Reach

Two women in pantsuits sitting at a table outdoors on Fountain Square in Cincinnati in the 1970s, selling books.
Photo courtesy of the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

This is part of the 2024 series of social media guides for libraries. It includes posts on:

We’ll cover Twitter/X on Dec. 18. Stay tuned!

Facebook for libraries

Once again, Facebook remains the single most popular social media platform for libraries. In fact, the percentage of library staff who use Facebook for library marketing rose by 7 percentage points this year, to a whopping 97 percent, according to the annual Super Library Marketing Survey.

I believe part of that rise can be traced to the turmoil at X, formerly known as Twitter. I’ve talked with libraries who shifted their focus back to Facebook this year because they could no longer rely on Twitter/X for reach.

And overall Facebook organic engagement rose this year for the first time in a while. It appears that Meta took advantage of the chaos at Twitter/X by adjusting their algorithm to boost organic reach, and that’s good news for all of us.

According to Statista, Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world, with 2.9 billion monthly active users. 70 percent of Americans log on each day, and 74 percent of Canadians log on daily. Canada, by the way, has the highest daily log-on percentage for Facebook in the world!

How are people using Facebook right now?

Here are some statistics to consider from SocialPilot.

  • Facebook users spend an average of 19.42 hours a month on the platform.
  • Most Facebook users (nearly 82 percent) use the mobile version of the platform. But that percentage has dropped from last year. Interesting, right?
  • 31 percent of Americans use Facebook to get their news. 🙁
  • And here’s the whopper stat: Facebook use among teens in the US has dropped significantly this year, by 39 percentage points, to just 32 percent. So… don’t use Facebook to try to reach teens.
  • However, people between the ages of 25 and 34 make up the largest audience on Facebook. That one took me by surprise!

How much success can we see on Facebook?

These engagement statistics come from Hubspot and SocialPilot.

  • The median engagement rate for Facebook is 0.060 percent. Ouch.
  • Facebook photo posts get the highest engagement rate, at 0.12 percent.
  • The average Facebook user likes 11 posts every month.
  • Live videos on Facebook get 26 percent higher engagement than live videos on other platforms.
  • Almost 50 percent of the time people spend on Facebook is spent watching videos.
The Margaret E. Heggan Library received high engagement from this post introducing a new staff member.

The Facebook algorithm for 2024

Here are the ranking signals Facebook uses to decide who sees your posts.

  • Facebook prioritizes content from friends and family members over content from business pages. For libraries, this means that it’s important to get people to comment or share your posts. When they do that, the friends and family members of your engaged users are more likely to see your content. And those engaged followers will see more of your library’s content.
  • Facebook prioritizes posts based on both the number and length of comments.
  • Facebook prioritizes posts that have a higher number of reactions and a variety of reactions.
  • Facebook prioritizes the type of content that people like. So for example, if your Facebook videos are the most popular type of content posted from your library’s page, Facebook will show people more of your videos and less of your other types of content like photo posts or plain text posts.

Here are four ways to get the best organic reach for your library’s Facebook posts in 2024.

Create a formula that emphasizes entertaining posts and encourages meaningful interaction.

People are coming to social media to connect with friends and for entertainment, according to data released by Oberlo earlier this year.

I heard this at the Library Marketing and Communications Conference too. Facebook users are increasingly using the platform to fill time and fight boredom. (That’s why video is such a big deal on Facebook–it’s fun to watch!)

To keep our Facebook audience engaged with our posts, we need to make them entertaining. Experiment to create a formula to balance posts that build your library’s brand and raise awareness of your library offerings. That might look like this:

  • Entertaining posts including memes, GIFs, fun library-centric videos, and conversation starters: 70 percent
  • Sharing other people’s content, including library users and partners: 20 percent
  • Promotional posts: 10 percent

Create a formula based on your audience and your library’s overall goals. Then experiment with it for a month. Check your insights. If your audience engagement is steady, or growing, you know you’ve hit on the right combination! If you haven’t seen any growth in engagement, you can try adjusting your formula.

Each library’s audience is unique, so your formula will be different than the formula used by the library in the neighboring town.

This purely entertaining post from Dickinson County Library has high engagement numbers.

Share links in the comments, not in the post.

The reach of link posts continues to decline. According to Social Media Today, views of Facebook posts that include links have declined by as much as 50 percent in the past two years. This is because Meta is turning away from news and informative content. Now it’s more focused on entertainment.

Click on the post below to see how Champaign Public Library uses this technique.

If you are trying to drive awareness of an event or promote an item in your collection, share the link to your event calendar or catalog in the first comment after you publish the post. For those of you who use scheduling apps to manage your posts, that means you will have to go to Facebook after the post schedules and add the link. Yes, I know it’s a pain.

The alternative option is to use visual elements or video to explain the action you wish the public to take, rather than adding the link to the comments. In other words, create a graphic carousel with words that convey the action you wish your followers to take. Just be sure to add alt text to your images so viewers with visual impairments can also interact with your posts.

Try simple text-only posts in the feed.

Katie Bulloff of the Indianapolis Public Library uses this method to great results. She usually asks a question or posts a prompt to get the conversation going.

Just be careful with the backgrounds and text provided by Facebook. They’re not always accessible. Use a color contrast checker to make sure you’re in compliance with accessibility standards.

Clermont County Public Library also uses this technique.

Post videos to Facebook, including Reels and Stories.

The ability to cross-post your Instagram Reels to Facebook makes it a no-brainer to use this feature. Meta is highly focused on video content and continues to add more features including A/B testing, creating Reels from existing clips, and more.

And it doesn’t have to be complicated. Here is a Reel that Plainville Public Library created from a series of static photos. As of this writing, it’s gotten more than 300 views. Their service population is less than 17,000 residents!

Facebook (and other platforms) are focused on video because that’s the kind of content that increasingly gets attention from followers. It’s entertaining. So, here’s the plan.

  • Post to Reels.
  • Share your Reel to your Stories.
  • Share your regular Facebook Feed posts to Stories.
  • Post original content directly to Stories.

Stories are extremely popular with users. My Gen Z daughters never look at the Feed. They only look at Stories. So it makes sense to devote library marketing energy to that feature.

Maybe also try…

Facebook Groups: I’ve heard libraries talk about the varying degrees of success using the Groups feature. I really think it depends on your specific community. But certainly, if you haven’t experimented with Groups, now might be a good time to do that!

Groups are not for promotion: rather, they’re a community-building tool. However, if you can build an engaged Facebook Group, it goes to reason that the members of that group will see more of your regular Feed, Story, and Reel posts!

Messaging your followers: Social Media Today says many Facebook pages are switching to private messaging groups to share their latest updates, as opposed to posting publicly. Your messages would be outside the influence of the algorithm. It’s worth experimenting with!

When to post on Facebook

  • Post once a day on the Facebook feed, either early in the morning, around lunchtime, or around 8 p.m.
  • Post at least one slide to Facebook Stories every day.
  • Post a Facebook Reel once a week.

P.S. Want more help?

It’s Okay To Take A Break From Social Media! Here Are the Benefits of a Pause for Your Library

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Is This the Beginning of the End for Social Media Marketing at Your Library? 4 Ways To Prepare Now!

Watch the video

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.

Kudos in this episode go to the Cobb County Public 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.

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Instagram Adds LIKES to Stories! The Top Social Media Headlines for Libraries [VIDEO]

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The Library Marketing​​​​​​​​ Show, Episode 132: It’s time to share the top headlines in social media, including updates for Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. We’ll discuss what these changes mean for library marketing.

Kudos in this episode go to the Clayton County Library System. Watch the video to see why they’re being recognized.

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 video tip for libraries each week.

Thanks for watching!

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, enter your email address and click on the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page.

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Instagram and Facebook Add Features, Twitter Talks Gen Z Use: Social Media Updates for Libraries!

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The Library Marketing​​​​​​​​ Show, Episode 117

In this episode, we’ll share the latest social media platform headlines and break down what they mean for libraries. That includes a new scheduling feature for Instagram, a new, easy way for your Facebook followers to find your content, and new data on the use of Twitter by Gen Z.

Kudos go to the Invermere Public Library. Watch the video to find out why they were nominated by author Elinor Florence.

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 video tip for libraries each week.

Thanks for watching!

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, enter your email address and click on the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page.

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Three Design Tips For Creating Beautiful Social Media Graphics for Your Library

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The Library Marketing​​​​​​​​ Show, Episode 108

In this episode, I’ll share three easy design tips for your library’s social media graphics.

Kudos in this episode go to the Carmel Clay Public Library for turning a vacant supermarket into a super cool library space.

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 video tip for libraries each week.

Thanks for watching!

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Listen To This! How To Use Social Listening To Gain New Insight and Catch Promotional Opportunities for Your Library

Photo courtesy The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. Main library, 1920.

In 2016, the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County caught wind of a fantastic promotional opportunity.

I don’t remember the exact quote, but this is a paraphrase of a Tweet our library saw that revealed a local man’s big plan.

“My son and I are planning a big adventure. We’re going to try to visit all 41 Cincinnati library branches in one day.  We’ll take a picture at each branch. Wish us luck!”

The father didn’t tag our library. Still, our social media manager found out about the plan by practicing social listening.

What is social listening?

Your library already tracks mentions, shares, comments, and hashtags related to your library. They record and analyze those engagement metrics to figure out the effectiveness of your library’s promotions on social media.

Social listening is a step beyond that.

Social listening is the purposeful search for conversations about your library on social media platforms, both the ones you are using to promote your library and the ones you are not using.

It’s not looking to see how your library’s marketing is landing. Rather, it’s looking to see the conversations that happen about your library between people who may or may not use your library or who may or may not see any marketing from your library.

Imagine if you could eavesdrop on the conversations people are having about your library when you’re not around. What do you think your community would say?

“That children’s librarian is a hoot. His storytimes are fun, even for the adults.”

“I cannot believe I have to create a separate login and password to use some of the library’s free stuff. It’s so frustrating and time-consuming.”

“Big interview on Monday. I could really use some help figuring out what kinds of questions they’ll ask and practicing my answers. There ought to be a service like that at the library.”

These three made-up examples illustrate the valuable information your library can uncover when it practices social listening.  

Social listening will give you a clearer picture of how people feel about your library. You may be able to spot problems before they happen. And you will certainly spot promotional opportunities which you can amplify to connect to more users.

In the case of the father and son Cincinnati Library branch adventure, our marketing staff reached out to the dad. We told him we loved his plan and wanted to follow along. We ended up turning their marathon day-long quest to visit all our branches into a memorable cover story for our quarterly content marketing magazine, Library Links.

Read the story about the Grand Library Adventure

Free social media listening tools

If your library uses a social media scheduling platform, it will have the ability to integrate social listening into your dashboard in some form. Check the help section of the platform for instructions.

There are also free tools to help you with social listening.

Boardreader: This site searches forums, websites, blogs, and messaging boards. Type the name of your library into the search bar to find all the posts mentioning your library.

TweetDeck.com: This tool is run by Twitter and lets you monitor live feeds across the platform.

Also, read this post to see how to use Google alerts for social listening as well as catch media mentions of your library. If your library gets media coverage, you may find conversations about your library in the comment section of the story and on the social media pages of the media outlet.

What to monitor with social listening

You’ll want to set up your social listening tools to monitor:

  • Your library’s name and social media handle
  • Common misspellings of your library’s name and social media handle
  • Names of your services, especially branded names, like the name of your bookmobile, your Library of Things, your summer reading program, your storytimes, etc.
  • Common terms associated with libraries like reading, librarian, book drop, etc.
  • The names of senior leaders like your director and board members
  • The names of your branches and locations

Opportunities to gain from social listening

Social listening means you can interact more with your community. Cardholders (and non-cardholders) may talk about your library but not directly tag you. If you are doing social listening, you will still spot those interactions.

You might consider responding. This can create those surprise and delight moments that show that your library cares about its users.

You can also spot problems and trends. If you notice that a lot of community members are posting negative comments about a service, you can elevate that to senior leadership.

Social listening also means you’ll know more about your competitors. If you are “competing” with other organizations in your community or with for-profit companies that provide services similar to your library, you can use social listening to look for opportunities to position your library as a free and better alternative to those competitors.

Finally, social listening can also help you identify library advocates. They might be vocal about their support of the library. You want to connect with these people who already love your library and ask them to speak out for you.

You May Also Want to Read These Posts

New Research on Social Media Use Plus Updates on YouTube and Facebook for Libraries!

How Far in Advance Can I Schedule My Library’s Social Media Posts??

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