Geri Bodeker and I are students at San Jose State University's School of Library and Information Science. This is a presentation we gave on March 26, 2011 on Word of Mouth Marketing Trends in Libraries.
Oppenheimer Film Discussion for Philosophy and Film
Word of-mouth Marketing in Libraries
1. Trends in Marketing the Library…the Next Three Years Word-of-Mouth Marketing Geri Bodeker and Amy Bradley LIBR 283-01 – Marketing of Information Products and Services
2. Introduction – Team WOMM Geri Bodeker San Bruno, California Amy Bradley Gresham, Oregon
3. What Ignites Word-of-Mouth Marketing? “I told two friends… and they told two friends… and so on and so on”… SPEED! “Wow! Thanks! Amazingly fast 8 minute turnaround! This helps us in Urgent Care since we treat a lot of MRSA cellulitis. With service like this, you are going to get really popular around here!” - Physician Source: Barber, P., & Wallace, L. K. (2010). Building a buzz: libraries & word-of-mouth marketing. Chicago: American Library Association.
17. BlackboardSource: Germano, M. (2010). Narrative-based library marketing: Selling your library's value during tough economic times. The Bottom Line V. 23 No. 1 (2010) P. 5-17, 23(1), 5-17. Source: Dowd, N., Evangeliste, M., & Silberman, J. (2010). Bite-sized marketing: realistic solutions for the overworked librarian. Chicago: American Library Association.
18. Discover Your Personal Brand “The Donald” “Winning” “The Information Sherpa” “Geri, You WIN so hard” – ABSN student Source: Barber, P., & Wallace, L. K. (2010). Building a buzz: libraries & word-of-mouth marketing. Chicago: American Library Association. “The Nomad”
19. Be a Friend to Your Patrons Create passionate users of the Library “Hey, what’s up Geri?” - Pharmacist Technology Events Patrons First “Every time I want to get out, they PULL me back in!” – Al Pacino
20. Opportunities for Marketing Value-Added Content, Service, Quality, and Access Building a Solid Reputation for Saving Patrons Time and Money Click on the pictures – OCLC report and NLM promotional materials Source: Circle, A. (2009). Marketing trends to watch. Library Journal, 134(16), 26-29. Source: De Rosa, C., Cantrell, J., Carlson, M, et al. (2011). Perceptions of Libraries, 2010: Context and Community. Dublin, Ohio: OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.oclc.org/reports/2010perceptions.htm
21. Marketing Predictions – Libraries - 2015 Medical Libraries the “Library as Place” will still be highly valued Academic Libraries the “Embedded Librarian” will become valued Source: Lindberg, D., & Humphreys, B. (2005). 2015--the future of medical libraries. The New England Journal Of Medicine, 352(11), 1067-1070. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Source: News: Embedded Librarians - Inside Higher Ed. (2010, June 9). Home - Inside Higher Ed . Retrieved March 5, 2011, from http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/06/09/hopkins
22. Word of Mouth Marketing in a Digital Environment Libraries are engaging in many strategies and tactics designed to encourage word of mouth among both library users and non-users: Strategies: Transparency Emotion Positioning Services at digital points of need Tactics: Social Networking Blogs Mobile Marketing “Digital service to information is no longer a novelty, it's an expectation” -L. Carlucci Thomas, 2011 (2011). Carlucci Thomas, L. Libraryjournal.com. “2010 Movers and Shakers.” Retrieved from http://www.libraryjournal.com/csp/cms/sites/LJ/LJInPrint/MoversAndShakers/profiles2010/moversandshakersthomas.csp
23. Transparency “Don't hide behind “happy talk” PR when an honest voice is much stronger and more memorable.” -Michael Casey & Michael Stephens, 2008. Be honest with users about where the library is, where it is going, and how it will get there. Engage users in online discussions about important library issues.
24. Emotional Connection Initiating an emotional connection with users will go a long way toward interesting them in what they library has to offer. “A handshake is one widely recognized form of greeting in many cultures. It's meant to be a warm, friendly gesture, asking for nothing more than welcome and acceptance.” -DeFino, 2009
25. Position services at Digital Points of Need Market the library’s programs and services at across a range of platforms, and at online points of need—including outside the library -Michael Casey & Michael Stephens, 2008. Slam the Boards!
26. Social Networking Sites “It's no longer possible to control a solitary message from one central location... if you don't participate in the story, it will be told without you.” -Michael Casey & Michael Stephens, 2008 Facebook offers libraries an opportunity to advertise new programs and services, interact with users in a virtual space, and get instant and individualized feedback. Twitter offers an opportunity to speak directly to users, generate instant polls, and bring patrons to the library website.
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28. Mobile Marketing QR Codes Bridge the Gap between Physical and Digital Collections Virtual Reference: text 66746 85% of Americans own a cell phone—and people are texting now more than ever. Mobile Library Apps
30. References American Library Association. (2011). 2010 top ten trends in academic libraries: A review of the current literature. ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee. Retrieved on February 18, 2011 from http://crln.acrl.org/content/71/6/286.short American Library Association. (April 2010). The State of America’s Libraries. Retrieved on February 18, 2011 from http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/mediapresscenter/americaslibraries/ALA_Report_2010-ATI001-NEW1.pdf. Barber, P., & Wallace, L. K. (2010). Building a buzz: Libraries & word-of-mouth marketing. Chicago: American Library Association. Brookes, A. J. (February 8, 2011). New Hootsuite case study: New York Public Library success. Retrieved from http://blog.hootsuite.com/hootsuite-case-study-new-york-public-library/ Circle, A. (2009). Marketing trends to watch. Library Journal, 134(16), 26-29. Defino, F. (2009). Emotional marketing triggers right response. B to B, 94(6), 7. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/209378050?accountid=10361 De Rosa, C., Cantrell, J., Carlson, M, et al. (2011). Perceptions of Libraries, 2010: Context and Community. Dublin, Ohio: OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.oclc.org/reports/2010perceptions.htm Dowd, N., Evangeliste, M., & Silberman, J. (2010). Bite-sized marketing: realistic solutions for the overworked librarian. Chicago: American Library Association.
31. References Carlucci Thomas, L. (2011) Libraryjournal.com. “2010 Movers and Shakers.” Retrieved on March 14, 2011 from http://www.libraryjournal.com/csp/cms/sites/LJ/LJInPrint/MoversAndShakers/profiles2010/moversandshaker sthomas.csp Casey, M. & Stephens, M. (November 15, 2008)."The Transparent Library: Six Signposts on the Way." Libraryjournal.com. Retrieved on February 1, 2011 from http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6611609.html?industryid=47356 Casey, M. & Stephens, M. (October 15, 2008). "Library PR 2.0." Libraryjournal.com. Retrieved on February 1, 2011 from http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6602856.html De Rosa, C., Cantrell, J., Carlson, M, et al. (2011). Perceptions of Libraries, 2010: Context and Community. Dublin, Ohio: OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.oclc.org/reports/2010perceptions.htm Dowd, N., Evangeliste, M., & Silberman, J. (2010). Bite-sized marketing: realistic solutions for the overworked librarian. Chicago: American Library Association. Germano, M. (2010). Narrative-based library marketing: Selling your library's value during tough economic times. The Bottom Line V. 23 No. 1 (2010) P. 5-17, 23(1), 5-17.
32. References Hadro, J. (February 25, 2011). HarperCollins Puts 26 Loan Cap on Ebook Circulation. Libraryjournal.com Retrieved from http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/889452- 264/harpercollins_caps_loans_on_ebook.html.csp Hadro, J. and Flakoff, F. (March 1, 2011). HarperCollins, OverDrive Respond as 26 Loan Cap on Ebook Debate Heats Up. Libraryjournal.com. Retrieved from http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/889500- 264/harpercollins_overdrive_respond_as_26.html.csp Hendrix, D. et al. (2009). Use of Facebook in academic health sciences libraries. Journal of the Medical Library Association, January 97(1): 44–47. doi: 10.3163/1536-5050.97.1.008. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2605034/ Lindberg, D., & Humphreys, B. (2005). 2015--the future of medical libraries. The New England Journal Of Medicine, 352(11), 1067-1070. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. News: Embedded Librarians - Inside Higher Ed. (2010, June 9). Home - Inside Higher Ed . Retrieved March 5, 2011, from http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/06/09/hopkins Stephens, M. “Trends Tech 2010 for Librarians.” Retrieved on February 18, 2011 from http://www.slideshare.net/mstephens7/trends-tech-2010-for-librarians Word of Mouth Marketing Association. (2010). Word of Mouth Marketing 101. Retrieved on March 19, 2011 from http://womma.org/wom101
Notas del editor
The expansion of virtual space & the continuing presence of technology are creating a sea change in the services libraries offer and in how they offer these services. Many library patrons now visit the library from a shared “virtual branch,” where they can search the catalog, place holds, and find information about programs and services. For many users, the web site IS the library! In response, libraries have begun to enhance their online presence and market themselves on the web. Talk of new tech trends can often seem like so much noise, but using them well can make us better librarians by being responsive to changes in the way users access information. By consciously building relationships in an online environment, libraries will be creating ripple effects that spread to others when patrons share their experiences with family, friends, and the online world. Today we will look at a few library marketing trends designed to stimulate word of mouth online. They include transparency, emotion, positioning services at digital points of need, social networking (Facebook & Twitter), and blogging.
Part of building and maintaining a relationship with users is transparency. Be real. While library news should always be carefully crafted to place the library in a positive light, spin that lacks a human feel will not go as far as an honest announcement. If you've tried something and it hasn't gone well, tell your users. If you've had great success, do the same (Casey & Stephens, 2008). Good librarians and front-line staff know toshare the library’s successes and failures with familiar patrons, building honest relationships them.Why not extend these conversations to online users by creating online forums or blogs where users can talk, react, and suggest solutions? Position the blog where users will find it, near press releases on the library web page, and share it on Facebook and Twitter. In any economy, libraries need to share the good and the bad in order to build relationships and trust among users. The director of Allen County Public Library, Indiana, did just this, extending the intimacy of a conversation to thousands of library patrons by posting a Youtube video about how a property tax reform had reduce library budgets across the state. The video was designed to inform patrons about changes in services, and how the library planned to handle them.
Establish an emotional connection before focusing on programs or services.Recent published findings in neuroscience indicate that it's emotion, not reason, that primarily drives customers' purchasing decisions (Defino, 2009). How your library makes users feel, and how well they believe your values align with theirs isintegral to creating motivated and loyal library supporters. Libraries are finding out which emotions motivate their users, and constructing marketing strategies around these emotions with a look and message that resonates with them. Multnomah County Library’s Campaign for a Lifetime of Literacy involved creating a body of warm, evocative images and text designed to resonate with the young families, the general public, community stakeholders, and wealthy foundations its early literacy program targeted. Jr, F. D. (2009). Emotional marketing triggers right response. B to B, 94(6), 7. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/209378050?accountid=10361
According to Michael Stephens, author of the library technology blog Tame the Web, libraries should communicate across multiple platforms to maximize visibility and accessiblity. These communication channels include video chat, videos posted online (such as the Allen County Library PSA we mentioned earlier), IM, text, email, blog, and social networking sites. We have multiple access points within the catalog, and we should embrace this service principle when marketing the library online.Stephens, M. Trends Tech 2010 for Librarians. Retrieved on February 18, 2011 fromhttp://www.slideshare.net/mstephens7/trends-tech-2010-for-librariansThese communication forms require active participation, and busylibrary staff may not have the time or energy to engage in all of them. Select a few manageable communication forms, and devote x hours of staff time to using them well. Choosing carefully, and committing to actively participating, will be more successful than spreading the library too thin. Failing to position the library on the Web is just as bad.Ask-a-librarian services haven’t taken off, but four out of ten Americans use ask-an-expert sites like Ask.com. And use of these sites has shown triple-digit growth in the last five years (De Rosa, 2011). In response, librarians are proactively positioning themselves as information sources on these sites. "Slam the Boards” is an attempt to get reference librarians to provide answers on popular "Answer Board" sites like Yahoo Answers, WikiAnswers, and Ask.comAnother way libraries are responding to user needs is by marketing library services and programs on the social network sites users spend so much time at. Another way to communicate is to create a library blog, or multiple blogs. We’ll take a look at these next. Sources:De Rosa, C., et al. (2011). Perceptions of Libraries, 2010: Context and Community. Dublin, Ohio: OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.oclc.org/reports/2010perceptions.htmStephens, M. Trends Tech 2010 for Librarians. Retrieved on February 18, 2011 fromhttp://www.slideshare.net/mstephens7/trends-tech-2010-for-librarians
Engaging in conversations with users is an opportunity to build trust with them, and trust is the foundation of word-of-mouth marketing. Sites like Facebook and Twitter provide opportunities to make connections with users, keep them tuned in to the library, and to engage them in discussion. Depending on your experience, social media tools can seem like a lot of noise, or old hat. The reality is, only 11% of major libraries FB as a marketing tactic. Compare this with the fact that two-thirds of Americans use social networking sites. And it isn’t just younger users—52% of Boomers and 40% of seniors use social networking sites (De Rose, 2010). The OCLC study Geri mentioned earlier found that economically impacted Americans are even greater users of online resources, especially social networking and media sites (De Rosa, 2010). This is a low-cost way to increase library visibility and generate word of mouth, and libraries should follow this trend and take advantage of its opportunities.The University of California at San Francisco’s Medical Library posts links to its digital collection, among other items, on its Facebook page. Libraries can also share media, like short tutorials, or search thecatalog through FB. (University of Texa Libraries has an app you can add to your FB account through which fans can search the catalog.)NYPL is the leading online public library on Twitter. In 2010 the library engaged in a Twitter campaign that increased the library’s Twitter following from 7,000 to 90,000 in just one year. The library also increased the number of visits to nylp.org coming from Twitter by almost 400%. Sources:American Library Association (ALA). April 2010. The State of America’s Libraries.http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/mediapresscenter/americaslibraries/ALA_Report_2010-ATI001-NEW1.pdf.De Rosa, C., Cantrell, J., Carlson, M, et al. (2011). Perceptions of Libraries, 2010: Context and Community. Dublin, Ohio: OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.oclc.org/reports/2010perceptions.htmHendrix, D. et al. (2009). Use of Facebook in academic health sciences libraries. Journal of the Medical Library Association, January 97(1): 44–47. doi: 10.3163/1536-5050.97.1.008. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2605034/According to a 2008 article in the Journal of the Medical Library Association, medical libraries are using Facebook mainly to market the library, push out announcements to library users, post photos, provide chat reference, and have a presence in the social network. Brookes, A. J. (February 8, 2011). New Hootsuite Case Study: New York Public Library Success. Retrieved from http://blog.hootsuite.com/hootsuite-case-study-new-york-public-library/
Blogging offers another opportunity for librarians to connect with users and increase word of mouth. 28% of Americans use blogs (De Rosa, 2011) and many large libraries, like the Library of Congress, are using them to create personal relationships, inform users about programs and services, and increase word of mouth. Some libraries are using them as platforms for services traditionally offered in person—such as Multnomah County Library’s reader’s advisory blogs.Librarians are also using blogs to share information and build camaraderie within the profession. When Harper Collins attempted to limit its eBooks to 26 uses per copy, library bloggers like Libraianinblack.net spread the word within 24 hours ignited discussion well before ALA issued a statement (http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=5749). These conversations impacted ALA’s official statement, as well as OverDrive’s decision to suspend the publisher’s eBooks until a decision can be reached between libraries and Harper Collins. 1:09Sources: De Rosa, C., Cantrell, J., Carlson, M, et al. (2011). Perceptions of Libraries, 2010: Context and Community. Dublin, Ohio: OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.oclc.org/reports/2010perceptions.htmHadro, J. (February 25, 2011). �HarperCollins Puts 26 Loan Cap on EbookCirculation.�Libraryjournal.com Retrieved from http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/889452-264/harpercollins_caps_loans_on_ebook.html.cspHadro, J. and Flakoff, F. (March 1, 2011). �HarperCollins, OverDrive Respond as 26 Loan Cap on Ebook Debate Heats Up.� Libraryjournal.com Retrieved from http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/889500-264/harpercollins_overdrive_respond_as_26.html.csp
Of course, exceptionalservices and products are at the heart of any word of mouth campaign. If library services fail to meet user need, people won’t be inclined to tell others about the library’s offerings—or worse, they’ll share negative information. We want to touch briefly on how mobile services designed to meet users at their point of need are driving library services in a digital environment.QR codes are 2d barcodes made up of black modules arranged in a checker-board pattern on a white background. They offer users a way to save time and effort, and can be used to bridge the gap between the bricks-and-mortar library and its digital services and collection. Libraries are placing QR codes on books to link to the catalog and digital collections, on copy machines to link to how-to videos, and on study room doors to link to online room reservation forms (ILI-L listserv). In this way, libraries are using QR codes to save the time of the user and library staff. My Info Quest is a text-messaging reference servicedeveloped in part by SJSU SLIS. One problem with this program is that only patrons of participating libraries can use it, and they must identify their local library in their text. This needs work, but the idea is one that many libraries can get behind. Creating mobile apps from which users can access the catalog is another trend libraries are beginning to embrace. In 2010 the San Jose Public Library released its mobile app for use on multiple platforms. (Apple/iPhone, Android, Blackberry, etc. Download the app at http://sjpl.boopsie.com/.)
In conclusion, the definition of the library will change as physical space is repurposed and virtual space expands. We’ve covered several strategies and tactics libraries are using to make this transition, and to generate word of mouth marketing as they do so.American Library Association. (2011). 2010 top ten trends in academic libraries: A review of the current literature.ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee.Retrieved on February 18, 2011 from http://crln.acrl.org/content/71/6/286.short