Setting Yourself Up for
Social Media Success
Julie Theado, Social Media
Columbus Metropolitan Library
@columbuslibrary
April 30, 2016
Why social media
• Build relationships with customers and media
• Reputation brand management
• Create consistent message
• Immediate results
• Find what interests your customers
Why we did it
• Social media is one area of our overall plan.
It’s part of the bigger picture and works together
with other communications tools
• Our social media focus is based on CML’s
strategic plan
Strategic Plan
We are driven by our strategic plan, with customer-focused strategies
to meet our customers’ rapidly evolving needs.
Our Purpose
To
INSPIRE reading
SHARE resources, and
CONNECT people.
Our social media strategy
• 2010: Sharing our value message. Levy year
• 2011: Focusing on our collection and eReaders
• 2012: Reader’s advisory, exceeding customers
expectations, measurement and new website
• 2013: Reading, engaging customers, Robin Reads
• 2014: Young Minds, content calendar, images
• 2015/2016: New buildings, young minds, engaging and
responding to customers
Basic social media strategy
• What are you trying to accomplish?
• Social media policy
• Listen
• Engage if/when it makes sense
• Adjust – if it’s not working – stop
• Start by using a few tools really well – Facebook
and Twitter
• Consistent brand – one Facebook page
• Monitor and measure
Rules of engagement
• 70-20-10
• It’s about customers
• Always monitor and respond
• Know when to stop responding
• Not every comment deserves a response
• Keep your emotions in check
Creating your online personality
• Don’t differ from your brand – tie back to strategic
plan
• Share information that’s interesting to customers –
not self-serving
• Friendly, human interactions – yet professional
• Like other community pages or businesses.
Respond on their pages
What we do in social media
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Bloggers
• YouTube
• Pinterest
• Instagram
• Google+
• Periscope
Facebook
• Develop content
calendar
• Facebook Chats
• Historic Photo
Fridays
• What are you
reading Monday
• Fill in the blanks
• #TBT
Facebook
• Relevant/timely
• 225,500+ reach
• 383 Likes
• 8 Comments
• 2,700+ Shares
• Not our image
CML Reads
Twitter
• Part of
conversation
• CMLReads
• Positioning as
industry leader
• Know audience.
FB and Twitter
followers aren’t
always the same
Blogger relations
Pinterest
Instagram
• Photos and
short videos
• In the moment
posts
• Use hashtags
• Follow other
businesses and
engage
Results
40,000
25000
30,000
20000
20,000
15000
10,000
10000
0
5000
0
January-09
January-10
2011
2013
2014
2015
Today
Twi.erFollowers
FacebookLikes
What’s next
• New buildings and social media
• Always evolve – Periscope and Facebook Live
• Continue engagement with customers and community
• More measurement and analytics
Lessons learned
• We’re still learning. Try new things
• Audiences are different – what works for
Facebook, doesn’t work for all
• Tailor messages to audience not platform
• Quick, friendly and relevant works
Measurement – Free Tools
• Tweetreach.com
• Socialmention.com
• Search.twitter.com
• Klout.com
• Tweetbeep.com (Google alerts for Twitter)
QUESTIONS?
Julie Theado, Social Media
Columbus Metropolitan Library
@columbuslibrary
jtheado@columbuslibrary.org
614.849.1047
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