Has your public library fully embraced the use of social media? I know mine is trying, but there is no point person or marketing department for librarians to consult. It seems like department members are creating posts without much planning or foresight. Therefore, the platforms that we use and the content posted need deep thought and analysis.
As Kietzmann et al. (2011) explain, libraries should follow a social
media framework that includes “seven functional building blocks: identity,
conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputations, and groups” (p. 241). We need to start meeting together and questioning whether or not our
library adheres to, or even considers, any of the aforementioned building
blocks.
Scrolling through the East Hampton Library’s Instagram feed
one can quickly notice that the majority of the content is about the children
and young adult departments. There is no sense of identity that is obvious, no
logos present, and no consistent tone of language used. Conversations and sharing
is limited, while presence is not applicable to the platform. Relationships of
followers is not apparent; reputation seems insignificant; and groups are not available
within the Instagram platform.
The East Hampton Library would benefit from following
Kietzmann et al.’s (2011) four guidelines: “cognize, congruity, curate, and chase”
(p. 249). To cognize, the library needs to take stock of metrics and
reporting provided by both Instagram and Facebook. Questions to ask include:
are we reaching who we want to market to, is the number of followers and shares
increasing? One thing we can do better is to include more interactive content
and reduce the number of repeated posts across both platforms.
Congruity refers to the requirement for the East Hampton
Library to “develop strategies that are congruent with, or suited to, different
social media functionalities and the goals” of the library (Kietzmann et al., 2011, p. 249). Unfortunately,
the East Hampton Library has no strategy or marketing plan and no one is
discussing which platform we should use for which audience and type of content.
Hence, we need to curate our social media content and consider when and if the
library should respond to viewer’s comments. Analyzing social media platform
reports and metrics can lead the library to evaluate the chase for upcoming
messages and posts. See? It’s not all fun and games when it comes to social
media. A lot of planning and thought needs to go into it.
References
Kietzmann, J. H., Hermkens, K., McCarthy, I. P., & Silvestre, B. S. (2011). Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media. Business Horizons, 54(3), 241–251.
Hi Maude, thank you for a very intentional and relevant post this week! So much to agree with here - without a formalized social media strategy, there is no "four guidelines: “cognize, congruity, curate, and chase” (p. 249). I wonder if libraries could create more formal social media policies that focused on not just which platforms to use and not use and privacy, but the intentionality and "business" strategy or formal evaluation and/or assessment as it pertains to the experience of both posting on behalf of a library, and interacting with the reponse of those posts. Very helpful post this week, thanks for the share!
ReplyDeleteI think a great place for libraries to start is to look at the American Library Association's Social Media Guidelines https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/socialmediaguidelines. But all library staff need to be given time to read this, learn, develop policy, create a marketing calendar, and appoint someone to post social media content.
DeleteHi Maude, thanks for this post! I couldn't agree more that finding a brand, being consistent, and posting with intention are all key to running a successful social media page. If some of those ingredients are missing, that can make the social media presence suffer. A big one you point out is the lack of logos or consistent language. That can hurt your library, so I'd suggest using resources like Canva to try to revive the account and come up with a more consistent theme. For example, since Instagram's format is typically that you see three posts in a row, maybe you could group some things together by topic- have a row about children's programming with a video to the left, an infographic with text in the middle, a picture on the right and then alternate and switch to another department with the same format for the next row. It could be very difficult to start this process, but luckily this class will help us and I'm sure you'll find valuable resources :)
ReplyDeleteHi Maude!
ReplyDeleteTotally agree; without a strategy or consistent tone, library social media can feel like the Wild West. Looking at metrics would be a good first step to see what’s actually working and provide a concrete plan to move forward with.
I love your point about interactive content; that would make the library’s social media feel more like a conversation instead of just a one-way announcement. Having someone to coordinate posts (or at least planning meetings) would probably help a lot. It's more work than it looks!