Webinar given to the Maryland Library Association on May 30, 2013. See full webinar with audio here: https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2013-05-30.1010.M.3E151848D9F8FF2DA6932CEF3E69AA.vcr&sid=2012176

1. Twitter for Libraries
From Basics to Best Practices

2. Introduction
Jessica Keyes
Digital Content Manager
@prairieskygal
Enoch Pratt Free Library
@prattlibrary

3. What we'll cover today:
● My Twitter philosophy
● What is Twitter and why choose it
● How to tweet
● Intro to best practices & strategy

4. Twitter can connect us.
Why you should care:
My Twitter Philosophy

5. My Twitter Philosophy
@Toure & @MichaelEDyson
"Who’s Afraid Of Post Blackness"
#racetalk
Dec 5, 2011

6. http://twitter.com
What is Twitter?

7. What is Twitter?
● Online social networking platform
● Users send and read text-based messages of up
to 140 characters
● Launched: 2006
● Active Users: 200+ million
● Tweets: 340+ million daily
● Search: 1.6+ billion queries daily

8. A "tweet" looks like this:
What is Twitter?

9. What is Twitter good for?
● Stay up-to-date with library industry trends
● Learn about current events and engage with
patrons about them
● Connect with patrons individually
● Respond to reference questions
● Establish your brand online

10. What is Twitter good for?
Call your patrons to the
following actions:
● Join a conversation
● Click a link
● Engage offline

11. First things first.
1. Open an account at http://twitter.com
2. Choose a handle that is not-too-long and
accurately represents your library
3. Do some searches on keywords that matter to
you, i.e. "library" or "Maryland" and start following
people tweeting about those subjects

12. How do I tweet?
5 Kinds of Tweets:
1. Commentary
2. Articles
3. Response
4. News
5. Events

13. How do I tweet?
1. Commentary

14. How do I tweet?
2. Articles

15. How do I tweet?
3. Response

16. How do I tweet?
4. News

17. How do I tweet?
4. News cont.

18. How do I tweet?
5. Events
● Key Takeaway
● Question
● Conversational
= Live Tweeting

19. How do I tweet?
Technical
RT = retweet
MT = modified tweet
HT (h/t) = hat tip
via = attribution
DM = direct message
Conversational
FB = Facebook
BTW = By the way
w/ = with
FF = Follow Friday
OH = Overheard
Common Abbreviations:

20. How do I tweet?
#
(Hashtags) = Joining or starting conversations on
particular subjects
● Work into the sentence where possible
● Keep them relevant
● Use a combination of your generated hashtags
and trending hashtags to expand your reach

21. ● Link to your Twitter account from your website
and email newsletter
● Mention it at in-person programs and events,
particularly if you are using a hashtag
● Include it in print materials
● Follow influencers and engage with them
How do I get followers?

22. Strategy
Why approach Twitter strategically?
● Focus your efforts
● Increase efficiency
● Maintain voice
● Measure effectiveness
● Improve response times

23. Strategy
Strike a balance between:
● Advertisements or Announcements
● Tweets that demonstrate your personality
However you choose to define it—
but make sure you define it.

24. Strategy
Keep the social
in social media.
Engage
with your
community.

25. Strategy
How can you create value in your tweets?
Create opportunities for followers to:
● Join a conversation
● Click an interesting link
● Engage with you offline

26. Example 1: Applebee's #Fail

27. Example 2: Oreo #Win

28. Example 3: Jello #huh

29. Recap
1. Share
2. Engage
3. Inform
4. Be Intentional
5. Don't Be Boring

30. TY BFN
(Thank you! Bye for now.)
Jessica Keyes
Digital Content Manager
jkeyes@prattlibrary.org
@prairieskygal