Public and academic libraries use social media to connect to patrons. Special libraries (medical, business, law, etc.) can do the same. However, they are sometimes beholden to institutional regulations that public and academic librarians are not. These slides are from a presentation done 4/23/2014 on how librarians in special libraries might start to use social media and how their brand is more than just their library it reflects on the institution as a whole.

1. Michelle Kraft MLS, AHIP
Senior Medical Librarian
Cleveland Clinic Alumni Library

2. Create a Plan
 Goals
 Why blog, tweet, Facebook, etc.
 Metrics and measure success
 Logistics
 Updates
 Who?
 Know your institution/audience

3. Institution & Audience
 Special libraries are
different
 Institutional rules
 Platforms, standards
 Access issues
 Patrons are different
 Usage
 Professional hesitancy
 Work/life balance

4. Branding
 A brand is a promise delivered. It is your reputation and
your legacy. Branding is the practice of producing trust
and is at the heart of all marketing endeavors. When we
market our services or organization, we do so with a
promise to meet or exceed the expectations of the
audience who must find us relevant.
-Linda Citroen, LIDA360

5. Online Presence
 Your online presence impacts your brand
 How do you want to be known
 Control the message
 Monitor “your” feeds
 Tweetdeck/Hootsuite, Googling, Analytics
 Lockdown, Avoid, or Alter Ego
 Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

6. Choosing a Persona
 Are you the library
 Official voice
 Others can participate
 Are you the librarian
 Official voice
 Just you
 Are you a librarian
 Not the official voice
 Disclaimers?

7. What’s in a Name
 What do you want to convey
 Memorable
 Shortish
 Keep it consistent
 http://namechk.com
“What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”
― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

8. Specials in Social Media

9. Specials in Social Media

10. Specials in Social Media

11. Social Capital
 Similar to having credibility
 Provide value, promote other content
 Earned over time
 Reputation does not equal social capital
 May gain followers based on reputation but they won’t
stay
 What’s in it for them? -Engagement
 Follow, RT, share, or like items of interest to your
patrons

12. Engagement in Specials
 Subscribe to feeds important to your patrons and share
them
 CEO’s state of the company
 Trade journals, organizations, associations
 Legal issues, trade news/trends, grants
 Encourage Feedback
 Solicit comments on feeds
 Tamiflu new snake oil?
 Have policy, try for anonymous

13. Evaluate & Adjust
 Monitor your brand
 RTs, Likes, Shares, Google Analytics, etc.
 Feedback
 Analyze successful posts, duplicate?
 Posting strategies
 Shedule, topics, popular feeds
 Remain on top of institutional issues
 Different from PR/Marketing arm
 Changes in IntRAnet to IntERnet or private/public
Evaluate

14. Final Thoughts
 Ask other librarians
 Your discipline
 Outside librarians helpful too
 Librarian’s Nitty Gritty Guide to Social Media
 KNOW THY PATRON
Questions?
Contact me @krafty