Innovative™, part of Clarivate™, hosted a webinar with library marketing expert Cordelia Anderson on the topic of getting the most out of your library’s social media presence. How can libraries build meaningful connections with their communities on social media? In our recent webinar, Anderson shared actionable strategies to elevate your library’s social media presence and engage your audience more effectively. Cordelia Anderson is a seasoned marketing and communications executive with 20+ years of experience.
Building Relationships Through Social Media
Anderson emphasizes the importance of building connections over just promoting programs. By listening to your audience and tailoring your messaging to their needs, you can create content that resonates and drives engagement. This enables you to invest more time in activities that yield better results. For example – if you have a post that got a lot of attention, analyze it and produce more of the same type of content.
The Promotion Fallacy
More platforms don’t equal more engagement. Instead, Anderson advises focusing on a few well-managed channels. Active listening and thoughtful content creation will get you greater results than spreading resources too thin.
DOs and DON’Ts for Engagement
DOs
- Use engaging images that reflect your community.
- Reshare relevant patron content to build connection.
- Showcase staff expertise while keeping it relatable.
DON’Ts
- Focus solely on promoting programs; balance program posts with other posts that use engaging visuals.
- Overuse Canva templates; aim for originality.
- Post content that appeals only to staff interests.
The webinar includes a detailed explanation of each of the above takeaways and examples showing how these tips can help your library. If you want to know your audience and their needs, make sure your messaging answers the question “what’s in it for me?”. Think about what you can do to make it easy for people to find information and communicate their needs and wants with you. This approach encourages patrons to feel included, share your message, and provide valuable feedback to refine your strategy.
Quick tips to get started on social media:
- Center your messaging on audience needs to ensure your story resonates.
- Post 1-3 times a week with fresh, engaging visuals.
- Use Instagram Live for book recommendations or behind-the-scenes stories.
- Tag relevant events and initiatives and use hashtags to broaden reach.
Ready to transform your library’s social media strategy? Watch the full webinar to dive deeper into Cordelia Anderson’s expert advice.
Social media efforts should support your overall marketing plan and represent one channel for promoting your library and connecting with your community. If you’re looking for other ways to connect with your community, consider exploring Vega™ Promote email automation for your monthly newsletters, event promotions, targeted community messages, and more. Vega Promote, part of the Vega Library Experience (LX) suite, is a cloud-based marketing automation tool designed to help library staff spread the word about library materials, programs, and services. By delivering targeted and relevant messaging, Vega Promote ensures community members and patrons stay informed, while making sure that patron data is kept safe in one secure ecosystem.
Learn how Vega Promote can transform your community connections – contact us today.