[Michlib-l] Social Media & Communication

[Katie Rothley]

Hi Stephanie,

A recommendation I have for you is to survey your community about the
social media they are using, their communication preferences, and how they
prefer to receive information from you. Some people still prefer print
materials, some just visit the physical building for information or call,
and some will happily and comfortably go to your website. If you also
provide regular correspondence via library emails, many people like to
receive info that way. You can try segmenting your emails based on primary
usage of your library: Families, Teens, Heavy Readers, etc...

Another thing you can do is conduct some market research to better
understand your demographics and their behaviors. One way to do this is
through US Census data. MeL has the Gale database Demographics Now that you
can use (that also uses Census Data). If you did your strategic plan
recently and hired a firm, they probably did market research for you and
used a super awesome but expensive database that can break it all down for
you... Alas, I forget the name of some of the better-known ones and the
one that did our market research for our updated strategic plan. Another
way would be to connect with your local municipality, as they probably have
some stats you can use (if you feel comfortable making the ask). You can
also use your website and circulation data to help you better understand
the makeup of your community but that only captures the population that
uses your library already. And all social media provides insights, such as
popular or busiest days/times of the week when you can strategically
schedule posts to capture the most eyes.

All libraries have different demographics, although we share some common
groups like families, teens and retirees. But different age groups will
most likely be using different social media for whatever purposes suit
their needs.

Disclaimer, I'm about to be overly general and use generations to discuss
groups of people and their behaviors (so no offense intended for anyone):
Our library uses Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (now X), TikTok, and we just
joined Threads. The schools around here are more active on Twitter (X)
(along with boomers somewhat) and now more on Facebook, authors are more
active on Twitter (x) or they used to be, while millennials tend to be more
active on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Our events are easy to share in
Facebook groups that are local to us and there are a handful of those local
groups. TikTok helps us engage in BookTok, reader's advisory, and
hopefully, we are connecting to the younger generations because they're
also on TikTok (for now). There are other social media popping up that I
think younger generations are using more and more.

Also, you want to consider your staff size and who is going to be
responsible for maintaining a presence on any or all of these channels,
because it is quite an undertaking. And if you don't have someone
designated as your marketing/social media person, then you may want to
consider putting into place some guidelines for branding, tone of voice,
consistent messaging, frequency in posting, social media policy for staff,
and one for the public, and how many people are you going to provide access
to these accounts, which brings its own problems.

As far as ads go in local publications, I think that's always a great idea
if the publication circulates widely (the publisher has stats on this),
people seek it out, and is heavily used. Sometimes, print materials end up
in the recycling bin/trash though, so that's something to consider when
you're weighing the cost vs benefits.

Northville has two printed magazine publications, one of which regularly
invites us to contribute to it and I always think it's advantageous to get
the library out there; our community LOVES print. We do a quarterly printed
and mailed newsletter. We get feedback in the shape of higher registrations
at programs or circulation depending on what we featured after a
publication.

You may also consider doing an annual mail campaign, maybe a postcard or a
larger letter to invite people into the library or to tell you where they
like to spend their time online as a survey.

The main thing is to do what you can within reason to get the library out
to where people are, whether physically or digitally. But if you're just
one person, then you have to be careful about what you can feasibly and
reasonably accomplish because it's hard to do everything by yourself. And
your community may have different habits with regard to social media or
information consumption in general as compared to other libraries'
communities.

Hope this was helpful!

Katie

On Fri, Aug 4, 2023 at 2:27 PM EMAIL TEAM via Michlib-l <michlib-l at mcls.org>
wrote:

> Dear Librarians,
>
> I saw the discussion about Twitter. My question is what has been the most
> effective social media for your library? Instagram, Twitter, Facebook? We
> want to find ways to better communicate with our community through social
> media. In our area Facebook seems to be the older age group. Do you use
> TikTok? Do any of you use ads in local free papers or Hispanic language
> newspapers?
>
> Have your summer reading programs returned to pre-COVID numbers? Are you
> doing anything different?
> I appreciate your input and would be willing to share with other libraries.
> Thanks.
>
> Stephanie Daniels, Directors
> Vanderlyn Community Center & Hartford Public Library
> 12 Church Street
> Hartford, MI 49057
> (269)588-5103
> http://www.hartfordpl.michlibrary.org/
> _______________________________________________
> Michlib-l mailing list
> Michlib-l at mcls.org
> https://mail3.mcls.org/mailman/listinfo/michlib-l
>
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