#TRENDING: Using TikTok Trends to Promote Your Library!
By Madeline Feehan
What if I told you that you could spin the addictive nature of TikTok into a good thing? We like TikTok because it makes us laugh. We enjoy how it has trends that are easy to follow, and anyone can be a creator. We've all heard of hear me out cakes, having your parents read brainrot words, coordinated dances, and even throwbacks like the ice bucket challenge. It's this same line of thinking that makes me confident that TikTok is a great asset that can enrich your library's social media. I know this because it's changed the game for my library's social media.
I work as a children's librarian trainee at the Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library. Due to our library's demographic, the main places we post are Instagram and Facebook. As far as I know, my library doesn't have a TikTok. However, we go on TikTok for inspiration and post videos inspired by TikTok trends to our Instagram and Facebook. If you're not familiar with TikTok or are thinking, "I'm too old for this $h!t," trust me, I can help change your attitude. I work at the children's department at HWPL, and we all vary in age. I'm the youngest in the department at 24, but the coworker who first had this idea is in her 40s, and we even got our 80-year-old employee (who has since retired) involved in our videos. This shows that it's never too late to get started, and you can be totally new to TikTok and catch on quick.
My department is truly carrying our library's social media on its back. We stand out from the other departments because of our whimsy, our ability to be able to make fools out of ourselves and not be embarrassed, and because of our creativity. We post weekly videos and use TikTok trends as a way to familiarize our patrons with the staff and show them that we're savvy, funny, and know what's up. Our goal is to come off as approachable, fun, and to show the kids who come here that we understand their interests and want to serve them as best as possible. We want to show them that we're down to earth and down to clown, and also give good book recommendations. We also want to shed any stereotypes that librarians are rude, antiquated, or intimidating.
My advice to get started is to spend some time exploring TikTok. Particularly, go to LibraryTok and BookTok. Find other librarians and library pages and see what they're posting. See what trends they're doing and how many interactions they're receiving. Also, feel free to explore your for you page and look out for trends or popular audios you could put a unique library spin on. Instead of just having your staff recommend books, connect it with a theme or make it relevant to something that's popular among kids and appeal to their interests. For example, make your book recommendation video more exciting by finding readalikes for popular shows on streaming sites. For example: "If you like Wednesday, read this!" "If you like The Summer I Turned Pretty, check this out!"
Just to give you some inspiration, I'm sharing my favorite trends we've done with you.
If you've worked with kids recently, you've probably heard them saying all kinds of strange words such as "besties," "brain rot," "goated," and "slay queen." It often feels like Gen Z has its very own language. Have no fear, Denise is here! The teens have taught her well and will give you a tour of the library using Gen Z slang: HWPL How to Speak Gen Z
I hope you find this as funny as I did. I personally shared it with everyone I know. Agree to disagree, but I think my coworkers (and myself) are some of the funniest people in the library world.
Have you ever seen a candy salad trauma dump video? Basically, it's when friends sit around a circle, share a traumatic tidbit from their life, and pour the candy of their choice into a bowl. We did our very own spin on it by pretending to be fictional characters and sharing the trauma we endured in our books. I starred as Harry Potter!: HWPL Candy Salad Trauma Dump
I try to be in these TikTok trend-inspired videos as often as possible so the kids know me and see that I've got a sense of humor.
If you want to learn more about how to incorporate TikTok (and its hundreds of trends) into your library's social media, check out this insightful blog post from a fellow librarian, Angela Hursh: The 2025 Guide to TikTok for Libraries: Latest Tips To Get More Organic Reach
Similar to how I've done, Angela walks you through why librarians are using TikTok, how to make videos that will gain traction, and how to be noticed.
I hope you leave this article inspired to look into TikTok trends. Feel free to stalk my library's Instagram or go on LibraryTok, wherever you end up, I hope you feel eager to put yourself out there and make some iconic videos!
Can I just say that I loved Denise's Gen Z slang video? (I understood every term, which I suppose dates me.)
ReplyDeleteI imagine that some libraries are reluctant to adopt technologies like TikTok due to the lingering image of libraries as sacred havens of knowledge staffed by equally learned keepers. While our mission is and will continue to be sacred, there's nothing with us being a little "unserious", as my fellow Zoomers might say. Libraries are evolving with the times, and the longer we hold off on taking advantage of "new-fangled" social media, the more obscure we render ourselves.
Can I also say that I love your use of "whimsy?" We need to retain our whimsy, no matter what! Adopting TikTok trends is a great way to show younger audiences that libraries are no longer the stuffy dens of old. Lots of fun and wacky stuff happens in libraries, and I wonder if we could use TikTok to take advantage of that. I can totally see a "when you're trying to figure out if that kid's book is checked out or got lost behind the shelves" type meme.
Semi-related: I don't remember if I saw this one on TikTok or not, but I remember a video in which Gen Z staff got to name the carts in their library. One of them was named "The Cart of Monte Cristo", which I got a kick out of!
Hi Kristen, I'm so glad you enjoyed the video! I understood every term too and helped come up with many of them, so I'm coming out as a Gen Z librarian (lol).
DeleteI couldn't agree more that libraries should use all the newest technology and keep up with the times. My library used to be the most active on Facebook, but to keep up, we've done more and more on Instagram because that's where the demographics have shifted. I wouldn't be surprised if we made a TikTok account next! We've done a ton of other trends that I didn't include here: a Wicked TikTok where we showed off green and pink books, a video introducing us by our "brands" aka "the Swiftie librarian," "the crafty librarian," and I was the spooky librarian.
I'm also happy that you picked up on the importance of whimsy- when people ask what qualities make up a good librarian, I always include it because that's something I always try to embody. I've found that because I'm not afraid to give in to whimsy and have a fun attitude, more patrons want to approach me and routinely come to me.
That video with the carts sounds like so much fun, I'm glad you saw so many connections between trends and my post :)
What a great candy salad dump post on Instagram! I might just have to steal that idea. Personally, I'm obsessed with TikTok and use it to get my world news (I know, but I also read the NYT). Thought I also use FB and Insta, I prefer TT because it's faster paced, has so many less ads, and seems more engaging. Angela Hursh is the best - thanks for that link to her guidelines!
ReplyDeleteHi Maude, feel free to steal away! I'm so glad you enjoyed the video :) and I can't blame you at all! I've used TikTok for news too and I love the fast pace of it- I tend to absorb the information I see on there faster than elsewhere.
DeleteHey Madeline, thanks for such an entertaining and significant share! I feel like I was only really introduced to booktok when I started this masters program, and ever since, I have been obsessed; its such an important, and relatively easy tool to bring a captive audience to your library's doorsteps! I absolutley love your library's posts, and I can't wait to look through more of your hilarious staff members contributions! Thanks for the share
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