After doing brand monitoring research for the past few weeks, looking closely at Skokie Public Library (and not so closely at several other libraries), I decided to put together a list of “do’s [...]]]> This post was written by Kasia Grabowska for last semester’s LIS 768: Library 2.0 & Networking Technologies class. Kasia has allowed me to repost it here.

After doing brand monitoring research for the past few weeks, looking closely at Skokie Public Library (and not so closely at several other libraries), I decided to put together a list of “do’s and don’ts” for librarians on successfully utilizing social media.

This is what I learned from doing brand monitoring and what I personally would recommend to libraries that are getting started with social media.

Tip #1: Learn how to monitor your brand

Join the RIGHT conversations at the RIGHT time. In other words, stay on top of what people are saying about you and make sure to respond, to let people know that you are listening and willing to join the conversation.

Tools to utilize for brand monitoring include RSS feeds, Google Alerts, Technorati, and staying on top of your Twitter, Facebook and other social media accounts. This is definitely the number 1 lesson I learned from this assignment.

Tip #2: Learn from your brand community

You’re already engaging in conversations, why not ask people for some feedback? There are plenty of quick and easy ways to get good information that will help you keep learning from what you’re doing and improving the process as you go along. Just make sure not to overdo it; remember to always engage in conversations as a person.

Tip #3: Have a game plan

Set goals, measure and iterate your social media efforts in order to continue to grow and improve your efforts. Make sure everyone who is involved in your social media strategy clearly understands the role and goals of this initiative. There’s nothing worse than joining a social network with no purpose, plan or a way to measure what you’re doing.

By using trackable links (like bit.ly or su.pr) to help track what your users are responding to, you will be able to measure your efforts and make improvements.

Tip #4: Promote, promote, promote

I noticed a lot of libraries who do wonderful things on Facebook, Twitter or Flickr yet they don’t include links to their social networks on their websites. Or libraries that use Twitter often but don’t follow anyone; that’s not a good way to start a conversation.

A library website should be an entry point to social media; you need to create awareness. People should not have to search for you on Facebook, or Twitter, you should reach out to every member of your community first.

Tip #5: Allow open, yet governed access for your employees

This is where a social media policy comes in. By making sure everyone who is involved in your efforts understands what to do (what they’re allowed to say, how they should respond in different situations, etc) you won’t have to monitor what each person does. Instead, you will be able to focus on making improvements.

One tip about your social media policy — make sure it’s succinct and to the point, otherwise no one will want to read it.

Tip #6: Stay relevant and be helpful

Use social media to build trust, credibility and awareness in your community. Instead of broadcasting information, try creating conversations. Remember, speaking doesn’t always result in being heard.

Be helpful, stay relevant and focus on your community’s needs. It’s also important to humanize your efforts; don’t hide behind your library’s logo, allow your users to get to know you as a person.

Tip #7: Give your community room to grow

Focus on small, consistent and ongoing change. Let your members decide how they want to use “their” online community. Listen to what they have to say and change your goals and objectives based on how your community wants to utilize social media.

Tip #8: Remember, you’re not alone

By building relationships with key people within your community who also utilize social media you can leverage your efforts and obtain better reach. People who are influencers, those who are natural communicators or leaders in your community can help your social media efforts immensely. Identify these people and ask for help. Word of mouth can be very powerful.

Tip #9: Go where your users are

Remember, you don’t have to be an early adopter. It is much better to wait for your community to start utilizing the technology before adding it to your social media arsenal. In short, go where your users are. It’s much easier for someone to join you on Facebook or Twitter if the person actually uses the technology.

Tip #10: Lead change

This is important, especially for libraries that can be very resistant to change at times: if you want to lead change, find one thing you said no to in the past and give it a try.

This is actually something I heard at a digital marketing conference I got a chance to attend last month, but I think it applies great to libraries and social media.

Kasia Grabowska is currently working on her MLIS at Dominican University. She is a website manager for Train Signal, Inc and the editor in cheif of www.trainsignaltraining.com a blog focusing on IT training and certification.

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day 3.15: @mstephens7 auf dem bibliothekskongress #bibtag10, originally uploaded by fabi_k.

I was honored to participate in the opening day of the Leipziger Kongress für Information und Bibliothek. Thanks to all who attended!

Here are the slides:

Brandenburg Gate after my talk at the US Embassy, originally uploaded by mstephens7.

Guten Abend nach Berlin! The talk at the US Embassy went well – what a great group. Tomorrow: StammTisch. See you there.

From Ten Techie Things 2006:

Librarians & the Heart (the Emotional part of this post)

Putting the personal into what we do! I honestly believe the best libraries of the future will encourgae the [...]]]> Note from Michael – I just found this as a draft in the TTW dashboard from 2007. I must have forgotten to publish it…

From Ten Techie Things 2006:

Librarians & the Heart (the Emotional part of this post)

Putting the personal into what we do! I honestly believe the best libraries of the future will encourgae the heart and librarians will put humanity into the library’s virtual presence.

Stephen Abram noted that libraries are innovating yes but many are not yet moving in a new direction: “However, too many haven’t moved into the next generation strategies. Many fail to recognize that the majority of their use is often coming in virtually and they haven’t rebalanced their strategic efforts. Too many haven’t put the librarian and personal services into their virtual environments.”

Think of your favorite blogs? Don’t they have a bit of that human, emotional element? Do your favorite library authors inspire you with feeling as well as biblio-hotness? This should carry to conferences as well. What presentations really got you going at the last conference you attended? Was there an emotional component?

Ponder this: “The Sound of One Room Napping” : Conference speakers need to appeal to the rational side of their audience, of course. Humans are rational beings after all. But our evidence, proof and “facts” need to be placed in context and need to connect and appeal to the emotional too. Some argue that emotion is not necessarily irrational, that intelligence and emotion go hand in hand. And that may be. My point is that facts alone are rarely a sufficient condition for change or impact (though they are a necessary condition).

I am loving this! Great stuff from Down Under. I’ll be adding this to my Intro to LIS course.

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Murder in the Mysteries Aisle, originally uploaded by scampion.

Steve Campion writes: All that’s left of this ill-fated mystery reader is the chalk outline in the library’s stacks.

Actually it’s a tape outline, and it’s been drawing the public’s attention to the library’s mysteries section for several months. The librarian decided to try it after rearranging the shelves housing the fiction genres. A staff member created the outline with the help of a (living) high school student volunteer.

March 8, 2010: Geneva: Program with AILIS librarians and tour of CERN

March 9, 2010: Geneva: Tour of UN Library & program with senior librarians, followed by program at US Mission.

March 10, 2010: Hamburg: The Hyperlinked Community Library at the Hamburg State and University [...]]]> The plans for the March trip to Germany and Switzerland are shaping up:

March 8, 2010: Geneva: Program with AILIS librarians and tour of CERN

March 9, 2010: Geneva: Tour of UN Library & program with senior librarians, followed by program at US Mission.

March 10, 2010: Hamburg: The Hyperlinked Community Library at the Hamburg State and University Library

March 11, 2010:  Berlin: Ten Trends & Technologies for 2010 at the US Embassy

March 12, 2010: Tour and meetup with librarians from http://zukunftswerkstatt.wordpress.com/ followed by an evening event: “a get-together with other librarians, social media specialist and cultural manager to exchange and discuss ideas at a nice location in a relaxed atmosphere.” FUN!

March 15, 2010: “The Hyperlinked Community Library – Trends, Tools & Transparency ,” 4th Leipziger Kongress für Information und Bibliothek, Leipzig, Germany.

http://caslnetwork.ning.com/video/lis-768-privacy-presentation

while I follow your eloquent points.., originally uploaded by leeleblanc.

Congrats to TTW Contributor Lee LeBlanc on his graduation! WooHoo!

http://www.alatechsource.org/blog/2010/01/finding-my-tribe-at-educause.html

Keynoter John Palfrey, co-author of Born Digital, gave a thoughtful presentation on his work studying Digital Natives. The revelation that the room should have been filled with librarians as well as faculty and IT staff came when Palfrey acknowledged the issue [...]]]> I have a new post at ALA Techsource about attending EDUCAUSE Learning Initiatives last month:

http://www.alatechsource.org/blog/2010/01/finding-my-tribe-at-educause.html

Keynoter John Palfrey, co-author of Born Digital, gave a thoughtful presentation on his work studying Digital Natives. The revelation that the room should have been filled with librarians as well as faculty and IT staff came when Palfrey acknowledged the issue of information overload facing the natives as well as all of us and noted that the wealth of information out there now available to young people via mobile device presents a key challenge for librarians: “In a world of information overload, who are your guides? Who are the people who help you find the most credible information when you need it?” Palfrey went on to say that librarians are in a perfect position to curate, collect resources and develop spaces for young people to find information and interact. I was the one who shouted “Amen” from the back by the power outlets.

Beyond session content, this conference was one of the most connected and open events that I have ever attended. All of the keynotes and featured sessions were streamed live on the Web as they happened via Silverlight and then archived for free viewing at the EDUCAUSE site. The combination of speaker and slides in a Web browser window has made going back to view sessions I couldn’t attend most enjoyable. This content is free and readily accessible on the web. I’d like to see more of this in our library conferences–more streaming and recording and more FREE access. Go watch Palfrey’s session or one of the others listed below. It’s probably the closest to “being there” I’ve ever seen for capturing a conference.

I’m still mining the presentations and slides at the EDUCAUSE site – my brain filled with what we could – and should – be doing for LIS students.