1. Capstone
Project:
Social Media Marketing Campaign,
University of Pittsburgh Library
System
ONSOC062013:
Social Media Marketing
Heidi Card

2. Social Media Marketing Plan:
University of Pittsburgh Library System
Description of Organization
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Challenge
Social Media Goals
Overall Strategy
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Target Customers
Digital Tools
The Plan

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Tactics
Measurable Outcomes

3. Organization Description &
Mission

University Library System (ULS) at the University of
Pittsburgh

University Size: Undergraduates – 24,990;
Graduate Students - 10,340

Library System’s Mission: to provide and promote
access to information resources necessary for the
achievement of the University's leadership objectives
in teaching, learning, research, creativity, and
community service, and to collaborate in the
development of effective information, teaching, and
learning systems

4. Organization’s Challenge
Current state of academic libraries:
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Lower usage of reference desk
More collections moving to digital
Outdated systems not meeting current needs of patrons
To remain relevant as the main university information resource will require:
 Creating heightened awareness of library services
 Discovering patron needs and making necessary changes to meet
them
 Keeping pace with current technology used by patrons
Challenge:
Create a marketing strategy that utilizes current technology in order to be
where our patrons are – moving from the library stereotype of a
bespectacled matron behind a reference desk to an engaging,
technologically-enhanced information source prepared to meet the
information-seeking needs of our patrons and maintain our mission

5. Social Media Goals

Move away from traditional role of library as a reference
desk to come ask questions and create a more
informal, approachable presence to invite engagement
from students

Engage with students on their own “turf,” providing
proactive librarians who do no just sit behind a desk, but
rather go out into classrooms, campus, and via social
media to raise awareness of library services and resources

Introduce the modern library -- an active, engaging
organization with modern technology to assist with new
avenues of information navigation

6. Overall Strategy:
Build general awareness of library services and
resources with social media presence

Reboot Facebook site and start new sites for
archives and special collections

Discover social media interests of target audience

Create marketing campaign to promote the
library’s social media presence to meet target
audience “where they are”

Define and report on measurable ROI plan for
administration

7. Library Audience
The traditional academic library has a
broad audience with varied information
resource needs:
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Undergraduate students
Graduate students
Faculty
Researchers

8. Target Audience
Undergraduate students:

Unaware of most library services and
resources, according to general library survey

Rely on internet searching such as Google to do
academic research, rather than learning about
library services and resources and how to use
them

9. Digital Tools to Employ
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Blogs
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
HootSuite
Traacker
YouTube
LinkedIn

10. The Plan
Tactics, Measurable Outcomes

11. General Tactics

Meet monthly with team to discuss/report on
listening assignments, engagement activity on
current platforms and any engagement with
conversations on external platforms

Schedule monthly post ideas based on Pitt
events, holidays, or other connections we can
make with our resources or services

Collaborate with Web Services Librarian to analyze
requests from teams/departments to start blogs for
department pages on main library website

12. Listening tactics

Assign listening assignments for social media team in order to maintain timely monitoring

Set up Google alerts & monitor Google Trends
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Perform general/consistent searches for academic library social media influencers using:
 HootSuite (Twitter & LinkedIn)
 Research peer library social media use
 Build relationships

Research & follow relevant LinkedIn & Facebook groups

Reach out to other campus social media groups to gain perspective on campus
trends, student interests, and collaboration to increase visibility of library brand

Continually research student social media interests (via other platforms/casual
surveys/conversations with other campus groups) to learn new channels/platforms to listen &
engage

13. Marketing our Social Media
Because we need to let our patrons know we are on social
media, we have to get them to subscribe to our platforms by:
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Placing buttons to our social media sites on our website
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Showing our videos on our tv screens in front lobby, noting that
more can be found on our YouTube page, Facebook, and more
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Creating signage advertising our social media sites
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Creating postcards and bookmarks
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Organize contests/games that utilize social media (i.e.
scavenger hunt where clues are posted on Facebook or Twitter)

14. Facebook Tactics

Create calendar for Facebook posts structured
around library events and creating connections with
library collections, services, and other library
resources
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Coordinate with blog posts
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2-3 posts per week
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Collaborate with archives and special collections
departments to highlight their services and resources
(who will soon break away with their own sites and
we can overlap content)

15. Twitter Tactics
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Perform timely tweets for library special events
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Tweet information tips on library services &
resources
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Retweet follower tweets mentioning library
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Use HootSuite to monitor Twitter conversations
mentioning library

16. Blog Tactics
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Join academic library LinkedIn groups to join other
library groups to manage reputation, find, engage
and begin conversations with influencers, pointing
them all back to our blogs
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Build blogger relationships
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Include links to library collections, resources and
posts in other library departments to further reach

Use YouTube videos and other social media
sharing links to highlight library

17. Media Sharing
Our website
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Flickr
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Create social media central page with buttons connecting to all our platforms
and blogs; offer “share this” buttons throughout website to allow patrons to
share images from our collections, available books, and also training workshops
to further our reach
Upload library photos of services and resources and subscribe to other libraries
to check out their tactics for new ideas and opportunities to collaborate
YouTube

Create and share videos with library staff highlighting services and resources to
use in blog content, sharing on Facebook & Twitter
Pinterest
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Create boards for archives & special collections departments to allow for patron
engagement by suggesting/encouraging patrons to create their own boards
(“curate”) using library collections that we can share with other libraries and
influencers as examples of patron engagement

18. Considering ROI

Measuring ROI has always been a challenge
for libraries in general, as our mission is not
about generating tangible transactions
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Equally challenging is that social media ROI
can also be intangible
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So, the measures we look for are increased
awareness of services and resources

19. Raising Awareness = ROI
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Obtain higher percentage of awareness of library services & resources when
comparing most recent annual library survey with previous annual surveys
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Also use surveys for specific platforms
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Actual data from social media stats for unique page
views, bounces, sharing, (i.e. Insights for Facebook, Google Analytics)
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Keep count of influencer recognition – how often are we mentioned in library
social media sharing sites
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Higher attendance counts at library events, training workshops, and gatecounts
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Participation counts in social media-related contests, surveys, and other forms
of engagement, using tracking tools like countable codes on materials turned
in (surveys, contest entries)

20. Continuing the Plan
Social Media team will continue:
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Monitoring, listening, and tracking new
trends, influencers, and conversations on different
platforms
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Building relationships with influencers
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Reporting out to stakeholders on campaign results
and ROI
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Providing recommendations for new social media
initiatives in yearly strategic planning for library