The Fox River Grove Public Library District has created two videos to promote the Library and the Fox River Grove community. The videos were funded by the My Library Is… Grant from the Reaching Across Illinois Libraries System (RAILS). The videos are available on the Library’s YouTube channel, social media, and website, as well as the RAILS My Library Is... website.
At the 2020 ILA Annual Conference, I had the privilege of co-presenting a program, Effective Library Marketing Campaigns, with two colleagues, Burgundy Hill from Quincy Public Library and Ann Reeves from Eureka Public Library District. Our presentation focused on how libraries can promote themselves through stronger coordination of communication channels, better brand building, and campaign planning tools that are easily available through the My Library Is... website. Here's a description:
Libraries are the gems of their communities. In no other place are people from all walks of life and socioeconomic backgrounds welcomed and serve as a space for us to encounter the “other,” no questions asked. We respect your privacy; encourage you to participate in our programs, use the computers; help you research, look for materials and much more.
So you’ve been tasked with writing a marketing plan, and I’m guessing walking on hot coals sounds more enjoyable right about now. There is just something so terrifying about having to put all of the ideas and plans floating around in your head on paper that causes the words “marketing plan” to make you want to jump out of your skin. Luckily, I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be this way. You are capable of writing a marketing plan, and it won’t even cost you your sanity! So sit back, relax and discover the secrets to writing a marketing plan.
Sometimes the boss tells you to do something and you really don’t want to. That was the situation I found myself in when our Executive Director suggested that we enter our Communications Team for the Library Journal Marketer of the Year Award based on the successful referendum campaign we accomplished, and I grudgingly agreed.
We wanted to start the year on a good foot. So we thought, why not have a little fun and do some sharing!?
Earlier in January 2020, RAILS hosted a seven-day celebration of libraries promoting themselves. We called it the My Library Is… Facebook Challenge! Each day, we posted a prompt with a different challenge. For example, we asked to hear more about the plans and tools libraries use to tell their story. Thank you to everyone who participated! Here are some things that we learned:
How many times have you registered for a webinar and sunk into your office chair when the Outlook alert comes up and you totally forgot about it?
I’ve been there many times.
How many times have you received an email after the webinar with a link to watch later, but that never happens because you get busy and the email becomes buried in your inbox?
I’ve been there many times, too.
Is there one place to access free tutorials on my own time?
Yes, and you can access them right now on the My Library Is…website!
When I work on a video, it generally starts with a theme or style. I want to find a template in which I can fit my ideas and message, because it will make the rest of the process easier. I’ve done something like an infomercial, something in the style of an old educational film, and the most recent was kind of a corny car commercial, influenced by a show I love (Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!). The idea with this approach is drawing on something that most people know and can identify with. Who hasn’t seen a bad infomercial? I try to capture that tone
Social media is a great way to promote your library. So how do you keep things engaging, but also relatable to your library?
Knowing your core audience, or who you want to promote certain things to, is the first step. What do you want the post to convey?
At Lewis, we use the three main social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We like to play to their strengths: