The “Social Media Outreach: Reels, TikToks, and More” e-Forum was held on January 16-17, 2024. It was moderated by Tristan Draper, MLIS (Beloit College) and Margaret Dawson, MLS, MA (Texas A&M University).
The e-forum had 30 attendees who contributed 122 posts with a mix of both academic and public libraries and one consultant. It also involved international participants! Participants used a wide range of platforms: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter/X, Threads, Spotify, and blogs. Instagram had good numbers for engagement. Facebook numbers varied and many libraries focused on Instagram since that’s where their audience engaged with them. A few libraries could not use TikTok or thought it to be too difficult. Threads was not very popular, and Twitter/X has been dropped by quite a few. Libraries used tools such as Canva, and Reelsaver to create posts and to manage audio. Meta Business Suite and Buffer were used to track engagement and schedule posts. Most posted once a day. Negative comments can be ignored, making them go to the bottom of the feed or passed on to the proper channels if it is a legitimate concern. Spam bots can be hidden and reported. Some libraries had a social media team, but many were solo and mentioned how easy it was to be burned out.
Librarians can look to other libraries for inspiration along with coworkers and marketing departments if that is available to them. Photos are good for engagement and can promote programs and the library in general. A social media plan is something many libraries do not have but would like to develop. The libraries that have a plan included such things as topics to avoid or include and target audiences. In conclusion, do not be afraid to experiment with social media and know that some content might not work for your library.
Further reading: Catherine Fonseca, “The Insta-Story: A New Frontier for Marking and Engagement at the Sonoma State University Library,” Reference and User Services Quarterly 58, no. 4 (2019), https://doi.org/10.5860/rusq.58.4.
Suggested resources: Canva, Reelsaver, Meta Business Suite, Buffer
