Thing #38: Use Things to Market Your Library

You've been promoting your library's services for years. And you've been doing it in many ways - displays, posters, newspaper stories, radio ads, newsletters.

Now, Web 2.0 has brought us even more tools to encourage people to use our libraries. But, working with these new tools can be different from working with the traditional tools that you have always used. No longer do you just push out the message you want and leave it at that. Today, with social media and networking, marketing and promotion has become a conversation, rather than a speech. Your users can, and will, respond to your outreach in ways you haven't encountered before. And that's something you need to be ready for.

A great introductory article to using these new Web 2.0 resources for marketing your library is Darlene Fichter's Seven Strategies for Marketing in a Web 2.0 World.

You can also find lots of information and resources on The M Word: Marketing tips and trends for libraries and non-profits. This blog is co-written by Nancy Dowd, Marketing Director for the New Jersey State Library, and Kathy Dempsey, Editor of Information Today's Marketing Library Services newsletter.

For this month's Thing, we'd like you to get creative with your marketing thinking and try something new. We'd like you to pick one of the services we've shown you in Nebraska Learns 2.0 that you haven't used before at your library. You can choose from our current program or our original program. Then, come up with an idea for how you could use that Web 2.0 service to promote one of your library programs or services.

Now, don't panic! You don't have to actually implement this plan. We just want you to think of a new way to promote your library, using one of the new tools we've shared with you. But who knows, you might actually end up with a great idea and want to try it out!

This is not an exhaustive list, but here are some of the services you could use:

• Flickr
• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Podcasting
• Screencasting
  

But, some of you may be wondering - what if we've already used one of these 2.0 services for marketing and promotion at our library? Well then, please share your story with us! We'd love to know:

• What was your strategy?
• Was it a success?
• Would you have done anything different?

Assignment

1. Read Seven Strategies for Marketing in a Web 2.0 World.
2. Pick a Web 2.0 service and come up with a new marketing idea. Or, share a Web 2.0 marketing plan that you've already used at your library.
   
3. Blog about your new marketing plan.
   

Some ideas for your blog post:

• How does marketing with Web 2.0 services compare with traditional marketing tools?
  
• Would a particular service work best for a particular library program?
• Can you think of a way to use multiple Web 2.0 services together to market a library program or service?