An example of the promotional flyers I create on Canva for HWPL's social media. This one is meant to be posted as an Instagram story.
Blog Post #6- HWPL's Social Media Guidelines
By Madeline Feehan
This week's discussion on social media policy has made me take a better look at my library's social media guidelines. I was curious to see the specifics of how our social media is managed and how this applies to the good models we have seen. The first thing I noticed is that all of it should be managed through Hootsuite. I think that's a smart decision, so everything is in one place, and the librarians' posting will notice patterns and establish a routine. Hootsuite also allows librarians to track statistics such as the "number of followers, posts, comments, shares, and reactions for each Social Media Platform for that month." The librarians in charge of social media are supposed to keep track of this, so the plan can be adapted. For example, if certain posts are getting more engagement than others, like a reel getting more interactions than a carousel of pictures, it might inspire the librarian to steer their future posting in that direction.
As far as frequency goes, the policy specifies that our content should be posted daily during business hours and that original promotional content should be posted every 7–10 days. There are also instructions on what should/shouldn't be posted where. It states that "all promotional materials for a program/event should be completed at least one month before the registration date to allow for scheduling and coordination," which makes a lot of sense. What's the point of posting a flyer once registration closes? However, I didn't see a disclaimer about content that's not permitted such as private/personal information, hate speech, etc. The only things specified were that promotional flyers should be posted on Instagram and not Facebook. I found it very odd that this was so particular, but there were no warnings about handling patron data. I also noticed that our social media policy is not public. The one I've been referencing throughout this post is a PDF I've been sent. According to the ALA guidelines: "The library should make its social media policy publicly available on its website and link to the policy from social media platforms whenever possible," yet I found this transparency wasn't the case with my library's current system. Patrons and the public, as far as I know, do not have access to this information.
Something particularly noteworthy in the ALA guidelines was the importance of consistency. All staff who post on social media should be trained in the same way so that it functions as a well-oiled machine. Social media is the "face" of the library in a way, so all staff should be trained not only on how to best use social media but on the library's online mission and presence. I also thought it was interesting that the guide stressed posts should be written in the "we" perspective so the library stands as a united front and it's not singling any individual librarian out. I noticed my library constantly used "we" and talked about the library as a unit, which was a relief. I also noticed that specific librarians would be referenced if they went to an event/did something particular, but they'd be referred to as "our youth services librarians ___ and ___" which reinforced the fact that all the captions were written in the collective voice from the POV of the library.
My library practices this because two of us mainly do the actual posting. Those librarians have access to all the social media accounts and Hootsuite and have created a consistent branding. Myself and a few others work behind the scenes and create slides and graphics to be posted. The three of us are all trained on Canva and follow the dimensions, need to put the necessary info (event date, time, age group, day you can sign up, info on how to sign up), but have freedom when it comes to the graphic design. My library doesn't have requirements of design such as a specific color scheme, logo, etc., and I wonder if we're doing ourselves a disservice or a favor. The only thing that's required is that our infographics must be made in Canva and must be the proper size requirements.
Overall, I found my library's social media policy digestible and understandable. None of it surprised me too much, and I've been able to make effective graphics that meet the requirements. I thought the consistent tone of our captions and the variety of things posted: pcitures from programs, flyers, reels was a nice balance. However, I think something that can be improved upon is transparency and laying out more groundwork for how to handle the privacy and personal information of patrons. In order to ensure everyone's pictures are being posted with the proper consent, our social media should make that info available, or programs should have a disclaimer about photography when you sign up. Either way, this will help bridge a barrier and keep people in the know.
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