Just an FYI – my new Library Technology Report is out! It’s titled Managing your Library’s Social Media Channels. What’s it about? From the introduction:

“The process of implementing, managing, and measuring social media channels in a library setting will be discussed. Tips include:

• creating strategy and goals for social media channels
• creating teams to run the library’s social media channels
• connecting and communicating with customers using social media
• tracking usage and engagement levels using analytics and insights”

Here’s a brief summary of each chapter:

• Chapter 1 – why use social media. Yes, you still need to explain this to people.
• Chapter 2 – the “landscape” of social media in libraries. It outlines what social media tools are being used and why, with some examples of stellar social media use in libraries.
• Chapter 3 – How to connect & communicate with customers. I wrote a whole book on that, if you’re interested 🙂
• Chapter 4 – Social media teams. How to manage the work of a social media team. What they should post, how they should post, and how to deal with problems.
• Chapter 5 – Analytics, Goals, and Strategy for Social Media. What to track and why, and how to connect social media to those large, multi-year library strategic plans.
• Chapter 6 – What to do from start to finish. Pretend there’s a new, hot social media tool that appears next week. This chapter provides an organizational approach to incorporating that new tool into your library’s workflow.

There you have it! Get it at the ALA Store.