An introductory overview to using social media in libraries, presented at a workshop for Next Generation Libraries study group, Melbourne 2012. © Nathan Turner, Parramatta City Library 2012.

1. Using Social Networking Tools
for Libraries
Nathan Turner
e-Resources Librarian
Parramatta City Library

2. What is 'Social Media'?
Social media essentially is a category of online media
where people are talking, participating, sharing,
networking, and bookmarking online... It's more of a
two-way conversation, rather than a one-way
broadcast like traditional media.
~Ron Jones

3. Possible uses of social media

Raise patron awareness

Boost public engagement with the library

Educate or inform patrons

Increase the library’s reputation

Interact with industry colleagues
Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted;
the trouble is I don't know which half.
~John Wanamaker

4. Where to begin?
What are your goals or objectives?

5. Before you begin…
Choose simple, defined goals for a limited set of
social media tools for your first experience:
don’t try to do everything on every platform!

6. What to consider?
Twitter followers Customer complaints
Website visitors
Emails
Visits to a physical branch
Positive press
Facebook friends
Online mentions
Negative press YouTube views
Retweets
Online signups Blog comments
Online loans/renewals
Social mentions
Program participation

7. Strategic Planning Cycle
Goals
Analysis Target
Tools Uniqueness

8. Goals
What do you want to achieve with social media?
Goals for a strategic plan need to be S.M.A.R.T.
Sound strategy starts with having the right goal.
~Michael Porter

9. Target
Who is your target audience, & how do they use
social media?
Infographic © Forrester Research

10. Uniqueness
Why should someone go to your library instead of
another, or even Google?
How can you differentiate your library service?

11. Tools
Which social media tools/platforms are you going
to establish a presence on & send your
message?
Remember it can be better to be really good at a
couple of platforms rather than being mediocre
at half-a-dozen.

12. Analysis
Ask yourself:
How are we doing? How can we do it better?
Are we meeting our goals?
Ask your patrons:
How are we doing? What do you like? What do
you dislike? What do you want more of?

13. Ingredients of a Strategic Plan (1)
1. Your Baseline Metrics
2. Comparable Library Benchmarks
3. Goals and Objectives
4. Naming Strategy
5. Staffing Plan

14. Ingredients of a Strategic Plan (2)
6. Content Calendar
7. Partner Integration
8. Your Creative Ideas!
9. Examples
10. Reporting and Analysis

15. Social Media Policy

Also called “Acceptable Use Policy”

Corporate code of conduct providing guidelines

Sets expectations for appropriate behaviour

Can be 30 pages or just “Be real and use your
best judgement”

Internal, external or both.
http://www.youtube.com/v/8iQLkt5CG8I&

16. Identifying popular social media tools

Wikipedia 'List of social networking websites'
regularly updates registered user numbers

Google 'most popular social media sites in
Australia'

www.ebizmba.com
/articles/social-networking-websites – Top 15
based on monthly traffic

17. Finding new social platforms
(2010)

18. Top 15 sites, July 2012

19. An embarrassment of riches...
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
Technorati
Reddit
MySpace
LinkedIn
Webonews
Delicious
Digg
Flickr
StumbleUpon
Newsvine
YouTube

20. Some popular platforms

Facebook
Younger average users. Minimal maintenance
but must be updated frequently to retain user
interest

LinkedIn
Professional collaboration tool

Twitter
Older average users: micro-messaging. Use
Seesmic to schedule messages

21. Pinterest

'Virtual pinboard'

Bookmark internet ephemera to share, store or
classify

Graphics-based

22. QR Codes

Quick Response Codes

URLs and 'Augmented Reality' interfaces

Need an app to scan

23. Assessing new platforms

Is my target audience part of its demographic?

Does the take-up rate make it look like it will be
around for a while?

Can I port content to this platform easily, or
easily create new content for it?

How much time will I need to spend learning,
creating & updating for this platform?

24. Service planning
What can I do with which?

Is my content & message style appropriate to
the platform's demographic?

Is my content appropriate to the platform itself?

25. Variety Matters

No one communication channel will reach
everyone in your audience

No single tool will cover every channel

No tool is perfect!

26. Final thoughts

Libraries that were early adopters of social
media have more visits, more loans, and more
program attendance.

It's not enough to pick one and go with it; we
need to be ready to abandon one tool/site as it
becomes less popular, & move to another.

Success comes through rapidly fixing our
mistakes rather than getting it right first time.

Create a space where people can share, co-
create & collaborate.

27. Questions?
nturner@parracity.nsw.gov.au
@parralibrary