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Risks and rough edges: Building Genuine Relationships Through Library Social Media
The document discusses the evolution and current state of library social media strategies, highlighting the significant increase in engagement during the pandemic across platforms like Twitter and YouTube. It emphasizes the importance of genuine communication, community-building, and adaptability in social media outreach, while acknowledging the varying success of different platforms. Key principles include maintaining an informal tone, prioritizing user engagement, and valuing creative expression over strict consistency.
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Risks and rough edges: Building Genuine Relationships Through Library Social Media
- 1. ROUGH EDGES ANDRISKS BUILDING GENUINE RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH LIBRARY SOCIAL MEDIA @ned_potter | #LibSocMed
- 2. TWITTER The mouthpiece of thelibrary. 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
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- 4. 0 2000 40006000 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 THENUMBERS 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
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- 8. WE ARE AS INFORMAL, FRIENDLY, ANDHUMAN AS POSSIBLE
- 9. WE ARE AS INFORMAL, FRIENDLY, ANDHUMAN AS POSSIBLE
- 10. WE ARE HEREBECAUSE WE WANT TO ENGAGE.
- 11. WE ARE HEREBECAUSE WE WANT TO ENGAGE.
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- 14. WE COMMUNICATE EARLYAND OPENLY.
- 15. WE COMMUNICATE EARLYAND OPENLY.
- 16. OUR USERS ARETHE CAKE; EVERYONE ELSE IS THE ICING.
- 17. WE USE THE PLATFORMS TOGETHER, BUTNOT THE SAME
- 18. WE USE THE PLATFORMS TOGETHER, BUTNOT THE SAME
- 19. WE ARE NOT TRYINGTO PLEASE EVERYONE
- 20. WE ARE NOT TRYINGTO 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 TIMEON FB: JUST REINFORCE KEY MESSAGES
- 24. WHAT MATTERS ABOVEALL IS THE SUBJECT OF THE IMAGE PROMOTE WITH STORIES; CULTIVATE COMMUNITY WITH THE MAIN PROFILE
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- 26. THE LIBRARY COMMSGROUP
- 27. THE LIBRARY COMMSGROUP 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 COMMSGROUP 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 COMMSGROUP 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
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- 31. Generally speaking, ourTwitter 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.
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- 33. EDUCATIONAL We’ve promoted thisso hard! But it lacks a shareable hook…
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- 36. POP CULTURE The Twitterpart 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!).
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- 40. SASS Staff on theground expressed worries, so we canned the campaign.
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- 42. These are cherry-pickedexamples 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 lessonwe’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