A presentation about University of York Library Social Media, delivered at the #LibSocMed online event organised by Royal Holloway University Library. Images are either CC0 pics or pictures by the library photographer Paul Shields.

1. ROUGH EDGES AND RISKS
BUILDING GENUINE RELATIONSHIPS
THROUGH LIBRARY SOCIAL MEDIA
@ned_potter | #LibSocMed

2. TWITTER
The mouthpiece
of the library.
Mainly PGs and
Academics, some
public, some UGs
INSTAGRAM
Increasingly
important, huge
percentage of
UGs are there.
Most time-
consuming
platform
YOUTUBE
Much more
interest in video
across the
pandemic – great
for updates and
explainers
FACEBOOK
Abandon hope all
ye who enter here

3. 2010
2011
2012
2016
2018
2019
2020
2021

4. 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000
Link Clicks
ReTweets
Likes
Replies
Link Clicks ReTweets Likes Replies
15 months of the pandemic 9600 2867 17300 1482
15 months prior to the pandemic 1756 1215 6046 146
TWITTER COMPARISON
Percentage increase 447% 135% 186% 349% 160%
Impressions
1628900
4232500
+349%

5. WHY ARE THE NUMBERS UP?
People are online more
during the pandemic.
We’ve prioritised communication –
time and resource has been put into it
and we’ve tried
really hard to do it well!
The Services we’re talking about are
really good. It’s the work of the staff
on the ground that we’re celebrating.
People love the library – that makes
our comms job immeasurably easier.
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
Views Watchtime
PERCENTAGE
INCREASE
OVER
PREVIOUS
15
MNONTHS
YOUTUBE PRE-PANDEMIC /
PANDEMIC COMPARISON

6. 1. Core principles
2. Logistics
3. Hits and misses

7. CORE
PRINCIPLES:
UOYLIBRARY
VOICE AND
APPROACH

8. WE ARE AS
INFORMAL,
FRIENDLY,
AND HUMAN
AS POSSIBLE

9. WE ARE AS
INFORMAL,
FRIENDLY,
AND HUMAN
AS POSSIBLE

10. WE ARE HERE BECAUSE
WE WANT TO ENGAGE.

11. WE ARE HERE BECAUSE
WE WANT TO ENGAGE.

12. WE ARE INCLUSIVE.

13. WE ARE INCLUSIVE.

14. WE COMMUNICATE EARLY AND OPENLY.

15. WE COMMUNICATE EARLY AND OPENLY.

16. OUR USERS ARE THE
CAKE; EVERYONE
ELSE IS THE ICING.

17. WE USE THE
PLATFORMS
TOGETHER,
BUT NOT
THE SAME

18. WE USE THE
PLATFORMS
TOGETHER,
BUT NOT
THE SAME

19. WE ARE NOT
TRYING TO
PLEASE
EVERYONE

20. WE ARE NOT
TRYING TO
PLEASE
EVERYONE

21. CONSISTENCY
IS OVERRATED
(To clarify, it’s
not that
consistency
isn’t desirable
– it’s that it
isn’t essential.
Better to have
more than
one
personality
than no
personality.
If consistency
is preventing
risk, it’s too
high a price
to pay.)

22. IF IN DOUBT, SAY IT LIKE YOU
WOULD OUT LOUD, ONE TO ONE
JOIN IN WITH CONVERSATIONS

23. DON’T WASTE TIME ON FB: JUST
REINFORCE KEY MESSAGES

24. WHAT MATTERS ABOVE ALL IS
THE SUBJECT OF THE IMAGE
PROMOTE WITH STORIES;
CULTIVATE COMMUNITY WITH
THE MAIN PROFILE

25. LOGISTICS:
UOYLIBRARY
TOOLS AND
PEOPLE

26. THE LIBRARY COMMS GROUP

27. THE LIBRARY COMMS GROUP
Three of us to do most social media.
(Plus the Library photographer also posts to Instagram.)
Two more involved in planning and
other work (e.g. website).
Senior managers for sense-checking, feeding
in key messages, and keeping
us in the loop.
Constant communication via Slack,
rather than meetings or emails.

28. THE LIBRARY COMMS GROUP
Written guidance on using Instagram, Twitter and Facebook
which everyone reads before they start posting.
Peer to peer support always available.
Aim for empowerment rather than control!
No targets or quotas. No formal rota.
Annual analytics and Report to track progress.

29. THE LIBRARY COMMS GROUP
We also use lots of tools within the platforms themselves
Pinned Tweets, Threads, Tagging useful accounts in
images, Alt-Text, Twitter Video, Gifs, Twitter Analytics,
Stories, Reels, IGTV, Split-Panoramics, Alt-Text, Insights
Playlists, Custom Thumbnails, Timing-Links in Description,
Thumbnail Links at the end of the video, Featured Video /
Channel Trailer, Embedding in relevant webpages

30. UOYLIBRARY
HITS AND
MISSES

31. Generally speaking, our Twitter profile
works very well. Risk of over-prioritising.
Our YouTube channel works well, but
takes a lot of time for variable return.
Our Instagram profile is in a new phase
where we’re trying to make it a much
bigger focus of our communication – it’s
a work in progress.
Our FaceBook account barely works at
all. eBook SOS example sums it up.
Our TikTok account… doesn’t exist.

32. WHIMSY

33. EDUCATIONAL
We’ve promoted this so hard!
But it lacks a shareable hook…

34. THREADS

35. POP CULTURE

36. POP CULTURE
The Twitter part of the study etiquette worked
brilliantly, but it was harder to translate to
Instagram where the UGs are (all of whom are
too young to get that particular reference!).

37. NICHE CONTENT

38. NICHE CONTENT

39. SASS

40. SASS
Staff on the ground expressed worries, so we canned the campaign.

41. WHOLESOMENESS

42. These are cherry-picked examples of
things which have worked well.
Ultimately we have a fair amount of
social media output that falls slightly flat
– we’re not Orkney! But this doesn’t
matter too much. We don’t mind the
rough edges, we don’t ever try to go
viral, and we don’t post if we don’t have
anything to say.
We don’t aim for a uniformity of tone –
just a uniformity of helpfulness and
friendliness, and genuine empathy.

43. The abiding lesson we’ve learned from the pandemic is that
prioritising communication is worth it, and we’ll continue to do this
going forward even in (fingers crossed!) more normal times…

44. QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? HAPPY TO ANSWER THEM IN THE PANEL!

45. THANKS FOR LISTENING!
@UOYLIBRARY
#LibSocMed | @ned_potter