Managing Your Library's Social Media Channels
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Library Technology R E P O R T S Expert Guides to Library Systems and Services Managing Your Library’s Social Media Channels David Lee King alatechsource.org American Library Association About the Author David Lee King is the digital services director at the Library Technology Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library where he REPORTS plans for, implements, and experiments with emerg- ing technology trends. He speaks internationally about ALA TechSource purchases fund advocacy, awareness, and emerging trends, website usability and management, dig- accreditation programs for library professionals worldwide. ital experience planning, and management of techie staff, Volume 51, Number 1 and has been published in many library-related journals. Managing Your Library’s Social Media Channels Named a Library Journal Mover and Shaker in 2008, King ISBNs: (print) 978-0-8389-5949-7 is author of Face2Face: Using Facebook, Twitter, and Other (PDF) 978-0-8389-5950-3 Social Media Tools to Create Great Customer Connections (ePub) 978-0-8389-5951-0 (Kindle) 978-0-8389-5952-7 and maintains a blog at www.davidleeking.com. American Library Association 50 East Huron St. Chicago, IL 60611-2795 USA alatechsource.org 800-545-2433, ext. 4299 Abstract 312-944-6780 312-280-5275 (fax) This issue of Library Technology Reports addresses the Advertising Representative management of social media channels: setting goals, Patrick Hogan assigning roles for staff, and using analytical tools to [email protected] 312-280-3240 measure effectiveness. Editor Patrick Hogan [email protected] 312-280-3240 Copy Editor Judith Lauber Production Tim Clifford and Alison Elms Cover Design Alejandra Diaz Library Technology Reports (ISSN 0024-2586) is published eight times a year (January, March, April, June, July, September, October, and Decem- ber) by American Library Association, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. It is managed by ALA TechSource, a unit of the publishing department of ALA. Periodical postage paid at Chicago, Illinois, and at additional mail- ing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Library Technology Reports, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. Get Your Library Technology Reports Trademarked names appear in the text of this journal. 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Subscriptions alatechsource.org/subscribe Contents Introduction 5 Chapter 1—Why Use Social Media? 6 Social Media Trends 6 How Many People Use Social Media? 6 Why Do People Use Social Media? 7 Why Use Social Media in Libraries? 7 Be in That Space! 8 Notes 9 Chapter 2—Landscape of Social Media for Libraries 10 Facebook 10 Twitter 10 YouTube 11 LinkedIn 11 Tumblr 12 Pinterest 12 Instagram 12 Snapchat 12 Vine 12 Google Plus 13 Flickr 13 How Should a Library Post to Social Media? 13 Some Examples 13 Notes 15 Chapter 3—How to Connect with and Communicate with Customers 16 Personal Accounts versus Library Accounts—There’s a Difference! 16 Content Really IS King 16 Quirks and Tips for Each Channel 19 Note 21 Chapter 4—Social Media Teams 22 What Does It Take? 22 Creating a Social Media Team 24 Too Small for Teams? 24 What Do You Post About? 24 How Do You Post? 24 Dealing with Problems 25 Contents, continued Chapter 5—Analytics, Goals, and Strategy for Social Media 26 Social Media Analytics 26 Analytics for Social Media—What Should You Track? 29 Using Analytics to Track Goals 31 Strategy for the Large Goals 32 Note 32 Chapter 6—What to Do from Start to Finish 33 Step 1. Set Up the Channel 33 Step 2. Create Goals 33 Step 3. Listen 34 Step 4. Create a Team 34 Step 5. Create Content 34 Step 6. Use Analytics to Measure Success 34 Again, It’s Conversation 35 Introduction n the last few years, many people have written channel is easy, but connecting with customers about setting up social media channels and using using that channel can be tricky. This chapter Ithem to market and promote an organization, provides tips and tricks on how to connect and a business, or a brand. There are even books, arti- communicate with customers using social media. cles, and blog posts about how to use social media Included is information on how to create connec- for libraries. However, there has not been much writ- tions, how to start and continue conversations, ten about the process of managing social media chan- and how to effectively share library news using nels for libraries, setting goals and strategy for those social media. channels, and measuring the success of efforts using • Chapter 4: Social Media Teams. This chapter social media in a library setting. discusses a great way for a busy library to create That is the focus of this issue of Library Technology social media content—by creating social media Reports. The process of implementing, managing, and teams. Discussions include why a team-based measuring social media channels in a library setting approach is a good idea, who should be included will be discussed. Tips include: on a social media team, and effective ways for a social media team to function. • creating strategy and goals for social media channels • Chapter 5: Analytics, Goals, and Strategy for ReportsLibrary Technology • creating teams to run the library’s social media Social Media. An effective social media channel channels needs to have goals and strategies to meet those • connecting and communicating with customers goals. Two types of goals are discussed: goals for using social media the social media channel itself, and ways to use a • tracking usage and engagement levels using ana- social media channel to meet the larger strategic lytics and insights plans of the library. This chapter also provides an in-depth look Here’s a summary of each chapter: at social media analytics: the types of analytics available for each social media channel and ideas alatechsource.org • Chapter 1: Why Use Social Media? This chapter on how best to use those analytics to provide provides reasons why a library should use social insights. media to communicate with customers. Current • Chapter 6: What to Do from Start to Finish. social media trends are discussed. The final chapter details the steps of setting up • Chapter 2: Landscape of Social Media for a new social media channel. Included are how to Libraries. This chapter provides an overview of initially set up the social media channel, how to January 2015 current popular social media channels, suggests create goals for the channel, who to friend, how activities that can be done with each of them, and to create content, and what to measure using includes examples of libraries successfully using analytics. each type. • Chapter 3: How to Connect with and Commu- So roll up your sleeves, grab a mug of your favorite nicate with Customers. Setting up a social media drink, and let’s begin! 5 Managing Your Library’s Social Media Channels David Lee King Chapter 1 Why Use Social Media? ocial media is not new. MySpace, an early social In about twenty-three years (1991 being the begin- media channel, was created in 2003. Classmates. ning of the publicly available web2), web usage has Scom (figure 1.1) was started in the early days of morphed from a handful of academics and researchers the web in 1995. Based on those two sites, social media to most of the United States. is somewhere between eleven and nineteen years old. The other important fact to note in the above sta- Based on the older date, social media appeared around tistics is the devices people use to connect to the web. the same time as DVD technology. The numbers show that a majority of Americans con- Even though DVDs are an important part of many nect using mobile devices. Smartphones (58 percent libraries’ collection plans, social media channels often ownership) make up the majority of those devices. are not. Either they’re an afterthought or they are con- Mobile device use is important in a discussion sidered a secondary service the library uses to com- about social media. Why? Because that’s how most municate with customers. Some library administrators of us connect to our favorite social media channels. still question the need for social media; they don’t see Mobile technology has provided us with a way to con- the importance of it. nect to the web and to social media pretty much any- Before we get too far into ways to successfully use where, instead of only connecting via a desktop com- and manage social media channels in a library, we puter with a wired Internet connection. January 2015 should answer that important question, Why use social media? The answer will provide a foundation for the rest of your library’s social media operations. How Many People Use Social Media? As you might have guessed, there are also a lot of Social Media Trends people using social media.