Marketing working group meeting, Broken Hill City Library presentation notes

1. BrokenHill CityLibrary’sJourneyThroughSocial Media
The journeythatour libraryhas takenthroughsocial mediahasbeen interestingwithlotsof
challengesalongthe way. Like alotof governmentorganisations, ourCouncil wascautiousof
directlyengagingwithSocial Media. We dida lotof research intowhatotherlibrarieswere doing
and throughdiscussionswithCouncil andthe CommunicationsSpecialistatthe time,we were able
to establishapresence onsocial mediawith Facebook andTwitter. Thiswasbefore Business
Facebookwasavailable, assuchourpage wasmanagedinhouse,with minimal guidance from
Council until they appointedaDigital Officersome years later. We have stayedlargelyautonomous
overthe succeedingyears withincreasedguidance andsupportfromcouncil andthe transitionto
BusinessFacebook.
We were able toquickly gaintractiononFacebook due to the fact that we had beendiscussingwhat
and howwe wouldportrayour libraryto the our communityaswell as the widerworld.We hadalso
beenresearchingwhatotherlibraries were doingandourownexperiences onourpersonal social
media. We knewthat itwas importanttoinformpeople aboutwhatourlibrarywasdoing,programs
that we regularlyheld,special events,andtofosterthe love of reading,relaxingandlearning.
Facebookisour mainSocial Mediachannel forreachingouraudience withboththe Libraryand the
OutbackArchiveshavingastrong presence.We alsohave accountson Twitter,Instagramand
Pinterest, thatwe use more asa contentconsumerratherthana creator. We have foundusingthese
channels forresearchingwhatotherlibrariesare doingwell tobe invaluable,afterall librariesare all
aboutsharingideas.
We learntearlyonthat plaintextpostswere notengagingandwere oftenoverlooked andthat
postingsomethingvisual increasedourreach. The same message withapicture or evenbettera
photoof whatis happeningatthe library,orof ourpatrons usingthe library, helpedustogrow our
audience andengage withnewclients. Keepingthe wordingof ourpostssimple,shortandeasyto
follow hasbeen key tostayingrelatable toourfollowers. We learntthatitisn’tjustwhatyou do
online thatmakesorbreaksyour social mediapresence,italsotakesalot of hard work face to face.
We invested alotof time inthe firstcouple of yearslettingpeopleknow thatwe were onsocial
media, andreinforcingthe message by informingthemthatwe promote all of our programsthere as
well. Thisstrategyhasbeensosuccessful thatwe continue touse ittoday. When new members
joinour librarywe letthemknow thatwe are on Facebook andsuggestthattheyfollow ustofind
out what’shappeningand aboutany upcomingevents.
*Luke* So justto explainthe mechanicsof whythatworks.Facebook’salgorithmranksapostbased
on howrelevantthe algorithmthinksit’ll be toagivenuser. Imagesandvideosgarnerahigher
rankingthan textonlyposts.Howeveryouwillonlyeverreacha small portionof youraudience
organically.Industrysentimenthasthisataround6-8% of people whofollowyourpage.Todrive
your reachfurther,yourpostsneedto be engagingandattract likes, commentsandsharesfrom
your audience. We generallyconsideranythingwithareachof more than30% of ourfollowerstobe
a success,and a reach that’sequivalenttoournumberof followersiswhatwe’re aimingfor with
each post.
Our biggestsuccesswithsocial mediahasbeen withourannual TeddyBearsSleepover,whichhas
growntremendously overthe pastfouryears. Thissuccessis due to how we promote the event to
our community. We leadintothe event onFacebookusing photosof teddybearsinthe librarywith
short teasersabout “something’scoming”. We startthisleadup aboutsix to fourweeksoutfrom

2. the event, andincrease the frequency of posts asthe eventgetscloser. We encourage familiesto
gettogetherto see what the teddiesare upto on Facebook duringthe day/nightaswe postregular
updates throughoutthe event. Thishelpstointroduce familiesandyoungchildrenintosocial media
ina safe andfun way, as well as gettingparentsandchildrentogetherandtalking abouthow to
safely use social media.We’ve alsofoundoutthroughparentfeedbackthatithelps torelieve
anxietyforchildrenwhohave lefttheirteddiesatthe library. We are also able toshow the
communityhowthe role of the libraryischanging,how we are engagingwiththemandprovidinga
safe and funspace to relax,learn, play andmeetnew peoplein. Thishasbeenone of our most
successful Social Mediastrategies, andhasdrivenanincrease in participation of nearly100% since
our firstsleepover. The reachand engagementon ourFacebookpage has spikeseachyearwith
people of all ageslookingforwardtoandaskingaboutour nextTeddyBearsSleepover.
The Outback Archivespage hasalsobeena success. The strategyfor the Archivespage wasfairly
simple withthe mainfocus onsharingourregionshistory. Postsforthe Archivesfocusonphotosin
the Outback Archives collectionandaparagraphof informationrelatedtothe photoor the area.
Occasionally whenthere isphotothathascaptured our interestbutwe hadno information
available,we would postthe photoand ask the publicforinformation. Thispage has seengreat
engagement,withlongconversationsanddebatesaboutphotosandinformationfreelysharedby
people whowere there orknewaboutthe photosthemselves. Some of the commentswere simply
reminiscingabouttheirmemoriesof locationsorpeople inthe photos.
To helpusgage howour Facebookpagesare doingwe use Facebook’sInsightswhichwe integrate
intoour monthlystatistics. Ourkeyindicatorsinclude Page Likesaswell asourdailyreach. Using
the dailyreachallowsusto see a quicksnapshotof exactlyhow our pagesare doingfromday to day
and easilyallowingusnotice whenspikesof interesthasbeenshownonourpages. This enablesus
to refine ourapproachto what,whenandhow we post. Both of our Library andOutback Archives
pagescurrentlyhave over1,000 page likesandour Librarypage hasan organic 28 day reach of
roughly7,500 while the Archivespage fluctuatesdue to the numberof posts.
*Luke* The trackingand reporting of analyticsiskeyto the continuedsuccessof anysocial media
channel. Whilstwe trackand reportmonthly,manyagenciesandorganisationsare doingitmore
frequently.Atahighlevel,audience size,average reachandaverage engagementare the three stats
that we are mostinterestedin.Itisimportanthowevertokeepupto date withchangestothe
Facebookalgorithm,ashistoryhasshownhow these changescanaffectthe contextof analytics.At
one pointintime,audience size wasthe mostimportantnumber,followedreach. Now apost’s
reach islargelydependentonusersengagingwithit. It’salsoimportanttoKeep aneye onindividual
postperformance.Ioftenwatchpoststhat I thoughtwouldflop,gaintraction,andpoststhat I
thoughtwouldbe successful fail toachieveanynetworkingeffect.Keepinganeye onthese trends
on a dailybasishelpsustoshape our future messagingandinformsusof whatcontentour audience
wants.
While ourFacebook page has beenasuccess,our Twitter presence hasstruggled eventhoughwe
joinedthembotharoundthe same time. Thisiscomparable withthe Council’sexperience online,
and indicative of boththe markedlydifferentaudiencesthatuse eachplatform, andthe lowerthan
average uptake of social mediaamongstourlocal demographic. We tendtouse Twittermore asa
consumerthanpublisher,usingitforresearch,lookingatwhatotherlibrariesare doingandfinding
out whatis happeningin the publishingworld. We have foundthatwhenwe are participatingin
eventssuchas live streamsfromSydneywe engage more with Twitterandjoininwiththe
discussion.

3. *Luke* There’salowtech literacyinBrokenHill,withFacebookonlybeingusedby44% of residents
comparedto a national rate of 77%. The library’scomputerclubishelpingtocombatthisthrough
holdingregularsessiononSocial Media,andenablingresidents togoout intothe communityand
informtheirfriendsandfamilyaboutitsbenefits.
Council has oftenstruggled toeffectively getitsmessagesoutthroughTwitter. Recently however,
we’ve seenourmonthlyreachontwittergrow from an average of 1,450 usersto 4,050. We’ve
attributedthistothe implementationof Social Mediapublishingsoftware.If you’re managinga
social mediaportfolio,havingone place whereyoucaneasilypostacrossmultiple accountsand
platformsimprovesthe efficiencyof your workflow, andcanalsoincrease the quantityof the
contentthat you’re publishing. We’ve foundadirectcorrelationontwitterwiththe numberof
tweetspermonthandthe numberof impressionpermonth. Justlike Facebook,the goldenruleof
alwayspostingsomethingvisual applieshere too.
Instagramis newforus and wassparkedbythe purchase of an iPadfor our library. We are currently
usingInstagramto capture and share momentsastheyhappen inthe library withevents suchas the
SummerReadingClubandLibraryLoversDay provingpopular. Byconcentratingonthe fun that
happensinourlibrary we have managedto attract 84 followerswith 24posts. Our use of this
platformwill growas bothour staff and clientsbecome more comfortable withthe platformand
promotionof it.
So far our hardwork has paidoff with ourstandinginthe community, andthe appreciationthatwe
receive beingreflectedin oursocial media. We consistentlyreceivepositivefeedbackfromour
usersand theyensure ouronline presence remains asafe place tointeractwith staff and community
members. Toensure thatwe are makingthe most of our Facebookpagesandothersocial media,
we continue todo researchintotrends,social mediadevelopmentsandchangesandfollowingwhat
otherlibrariesare doingsothat we can continue togrow oursocial mediapresence.
*Luke* Movingforward,we are lookingto take a more plannedapproachtoSocial Media acrossthe
organization,includingthe library,thatensures aregularschedule of highquality content.We will
alsobe extendingthe use of publishingsoftware tothe librarystaff tohelpimprove the efficiency of
managingmultipleaccounts.One areawhere the librarystrugglesisinsocial referrals tothe
website.It’sthroughdataanalysisthatwe’ve beenable toidentifythis,andwe’re workingon
strategiestoimprove these numbers.
If you have any questions,orwouldlike toreachoutto chat about anything,please adduson
LinkedInorsendus an email.