Revamping Your Online PresenceLACONI - Library Administrators Conference of Northern Illinois

October 11th, 2013Scott Fenstermaker

Agenda Marketing Strategy Discussion

Content Marketing Discussion

Social Media Discussion

Discussion on What You Can Do Immediately

Marketing Strategy Discussion

Creating Value for Your Community in the Age of Digital Media

Strategy comes first. Media choice comes last.

Strategy

• Value proposition• Product quality• Audience segmentation

Content

• Valuable information• Community engagement• Interesting, fascinating aspects of the enterprise

Tactics

• Social media• Blogs• Newsletters

What is the value of a modern library? What is the modern meaning of a library to its patrons?

In what value do libraries specialize? (e.g. family tree research) What is the current brand identity, and what should it be?

Examples: Community meeting space Childhood reading program provider Alternative professional work space Etc.

Explicit Marketing Goals What improvements would be a demonstrable success?

More physical patron traffic? Expanded membership? Expanded use of research databases and online resources? Community prominence?

Market Segments Which are your current best segments, that you’d like to grow?

Mothers of small children? Others?

Which segments would find you valuable if you could reach them?

What are the key demographics of your community?

Remember: Don’t forget about complete non-users! They are still potential customers They have key information on why you’re not valued as much as you should be

Finding New Patrons How do we expect that new patrons will find out about the library?

Are they finding your website? Did they stumble upon the publicizing of an event? Did they hear about you by word of mouth? Did they find you first through social media? Etc.

Content (Inbound) Marketing Discussion

Outbound vs Inbound Marketing

Content Marketing vs AdvertisingContent Marketing

Focused on increasing traffic and conversions while minimizing cost.

Interactive and collaborative

Examples: Blogs Video eNewsletters

Advertising Focused on leveraging large budgets

by purchasing traffic

Interruptive

Examples: Direct mail Cold calling Google PPC

Source:Andy CrestodinaOrbit Media

Core Content: Website and eNewsletter Conversion: Turning a casual visitor into a follower or patron

Your homepage must encourage conversion (it’s your “mousetrap”) eNewsletter subscription Follow on Facebook These must be prominent

Your eNewsletter is the heartbeat of your content Gets in front of patrons regularly Contains blurbs – must click through to website to read full content

Website Usability Site looks congruent with different browsers

Library address and contact information visible

Site is free of lingo

Multiple upcoming events are clearly visible

Site is easily searchable

Navigation is not overly complicated

Pages are generally uncluttered and make good use of space

Important info “above the fold”

More on eNewsletters eNewsletters have a dual purpose

To convert subscribers into patrons To increase traffic to your website (“blurbs”)

Use a professional eNewsletter vendor like ConstantContact

Your eNewsletter will help you establish community partnerships Offer to profile influential people Offer local businesses free publicity in exchange for services

Florist and caterers providing free displays/food for events Consultants who could instruct useful classes Community colleges to which you will conduct outreach

Survey! Use a free utility like SurveyMonkey to survey your email database

At least once every 6 months Well-crafted and well-tested survey Focus on factors that will encourage visits and word-of-mouth Think about using an incentive for completion Ask one or two open-ended questions

Remember to ask demographic questions, to see who gives certain answers

This documentation will help you get buy-in from The Powers That Be.

Also remember, you must commit to valuing and incorporating feedback!

A Word About Search Engine Optimization Are there search terms that make sense?

“[City Name] Summer Reading Programs” “[City Name] Visiting Authors” “[City Name] Resume Building Classes”

If you want to rank on search terms like these: You must have web content that uses these terms Authorities must link to your content This takes a looooooooong time.

Should we blog??? Yes, but start small (events only)

Blogs are you central repository for your “interesting content” Crucial for search engine optimization Tedious resource-hogs unless handled properly

You should use blog functionality to have a newsroll for events Searchers in your target market will be looking mostly for programs Tied if possible to the main content area of the home page If not on the homepage, then absolutely within the same domain Front page features headline, one or two sentences, then “Read More” Written using keyword research, with SEO in mind

Cardinal Rule: “Write like an 8th grader.”Understood

Books

Articles

Not Understood Database

Library catalog

Ejournals

Index

Interlibrary loan

Periodical or Serial

Reference

Source:The Accidental Library Marketer(citing jkup.net/terms.html)

Cardinal Rule: Suggest Action“Meh” Headlines

Catalog Informational Program

Program on Preserving Family Documents

August is Sign-up Month

Scott Fenstermaker’s Book Release

Better Headlines Find Your Research Faster

Learn to Preserve Your Family’s Treasures

This is the Month to Come Join Us!

Come meet Scott Fenstermaker on October 13th!

For Further Reading:Copyblogger.com

Testing with Google Analytics

Social Media Discussion

What does social media mean for you? “Know you better, so they can like you better” – David Avrin

Instant, actionable dialog and feedback

Avenue to grow your constituency

If mismanaged, a complete and total waste of time Committed to too many media – running out of time and resources Content is uninteresting to audience Advertising instead of conversing (speaking at me rather than to me)

Which social media should I care about? I should definitely care about:

Yelp – reviews can destroy you YouTube/Facebook – FB has heaviest penetration, and videos help us like you

I should probably care about: Pinterest – some creative possibilities, if you have time

I shouldn’t care as much about: Twitter – libraries don’t require constant trend analysis or instant feedback LinkedIn – libraries aren’t directly linked to professional advancement Flickr – unless you have tons of unbeatable photography

Using Social Media Effectively Use a dashboard like Hootsuite to manage publication

Does not work without interaction! The ultimate goal is sharing (or retweeting, etc.) If people don’t like or comment, your content dies

Don’t try to game demographic splits with different SM networks Biggest demo difference is the Male/Female split on LinkedIn vs Pinterest Everyone is on FB, watches YouTube, etc.

Where does the best content come from? Start with events

Take a video camera to events and talk to people Post an announcement, a last-chance, and then content from the event Break-up video into very short snippets for FB, longer for YouTube Give the impression of a welcoming, inviting group of friends

Gather content involving staff members, regular patrons, community, etc.

Also talk about current most popular items, new services, etc.

Fill with news, cartoons, fun stuff, etc, but don’t let that overwhelm!

“Atomize” your content to make it go a long way

Final Thoughts on Social Media You have to be prepared to act on feedback

Your content must be valuable or interesting to your patrons i.e. must be “remarkable” (as per Seth Godin) Goal is to maximize user likes, comments and especially shares

Your content must be voiced with authenticity and be jargon-free

What You Can Do Immediately

The Two Best Metrics for Success1. Email list growth

2. Web traffic growth

Immediate Digital Marketing Goals1. Make it easy and obvious for a visitor to immediately:

1. Browse, find and sign-up for events2. Sign up for your eNewsletter3. Follow you on Facebook and preview other SM content4. Bookmark your page as a research reference

2. Establish Regular Communication1. Send an eNewsletter at least once a month2. Survey at least once every 6 months3. Test effectiveness with Google Analytics

Checklist Deploy Google Analytics on your website Clean up website and make it more usable Make your homepage a mousetrap (sign-up, follow, events, etc.) Begin creating content from events, staff ideas, profiles, regular patrons, etc. Research more content ideas based on keywords, listening, and Q&A sites Establish a vendor and an editorial calendar for your eNewsletter Send an eNewsletter at least once /mo. through a vendor like ConstantContact Begin gathering feedback, and surveying once every 6 months Choose events based on segmentation and feedback Start recording video from events / learn video editing Form a mastermind group that meets at least every 6 months

Resources – Books and Blogs Books:

Content Chemistry by Andy Crestodina The Accidental Library Marketer by Kathy Dempsey

Blogs: “Walking Paper” - http://www.walkingpaper.org/ “Librarian in Black” - http://librarianinblack.net “Orbit Media” - http://www.orbitmedia.com/blog/

Resources – Web Utilities Domain Authority: Alexa Rankings – alexa.com Web Usability: Nielsen Norman Group – nngroup.com/topic/web-usability/ Headlines: "52 Headline Hacks” – boostblogtraffic.com/headlinehacks/ Copywriting: Copyblogger – copyblogger.com SM Publishing: HootSuite – hootsuite.com Inbound Links: Moz Open Site Explorer – opensiteexplorer.com Others’ Keywords: Spyfu – spyfu.com Keyword Ideas: Google suggest Keyword Ideas: Ubersuggest – ubersuggest.org Site Optimization: Google Analytics webmaster link – google.com/webmasters/

Resources - Vendors Vendors:

eNewsletter Marketing: ConstantContact Online Surveys: Survey Monkey (free) Web Analytics: Google Analytics (free) Social Media Publication Management: Hootsuite Basic (free)

Questions?Thank you very much!