social media | emerging trends | libraries
I recently wrote an article titled TikTok and Your Library for the Princh blog.
In the article, I cover these things:
So – click through and read the article! Check out the other articles there, too. Good stuff!
My library has been experimenting with YouTube Video Ads. They are pretty cool!
So awhile ago, we were talking to Koios, who runs our Google Ad Grant program. They mentioned YouTube video ads in passing, which we had never done before. After talking about it, we decided to make some video ads and do some experimenting.
We created a 15-second video for the ad, and Koios helped us set the first one up in Google Ads. That went pretty well, so we made four more video ads. I set the rest of them up (I don’t think Koios is doing this anymore – but don’t take my word for it!).
Why make YouTube video ads? It’s a way to easily share about new services and other important library news with our customers.
We have been getting lots of people asking “are you open again?” (we are in the midst of a phased reopening plan). Because of that, our Marketing department launched a re-opening campaign. The video ads are part of that campaign. We also are doing some direct mailing, adding “we are open” stories to e-news and social media, and even have billboards up around town with that message (yes, I’m on a billboard!).
Our other video ads share how the library is clean and safe (i.e., pandemic stuff), and then about three new library services – Curbside Pickup, Book Bundles, (3-4 books bundled together that you can check out), and our new Browsing Just for You service (you fill out a form, we’ll pick books for you).
We think the video ads are doing pretty well!
Here’s what we have done:
Performance so far:
Are they working? Yes, I think so. I know they are being watched – I’ve had people tell me they saw me on YouTube 🙂 I’ve even had one person tell me they saw me on a TV commercial! Either they watch YouTube via their TV (apparently lots of people do that?), or it’s quite possible that Google Ads has some partner sites (Netflix? Hulu? Not sure).
So – people in Shawnee County are getting served the videos, and therefore are getting our message that the library has opened back up. We are also getting more people visiting the library again. There are lots of reasons for that – not just the video ads or our re-opening campaign. But I’m sure it has helped!
If you haven’t yet experimented with social media ads, this is a great time to try them out, because there are still lots of people working from home, staying safe at home, etc.
You can create ads for YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram – I know that YouTube and Facebook will narrow down to people in your community (not sure about Twitter or Instagram).
So – spend a little money, learn a new skill or two, and see if YouTube ads help meet your library’s goals!
TikTok is currently all the rage. It’s currently the #1 iPhone app. Your kids are probably on it. If you watched the Superbowl, you probably saw some “TikTok famous” people in some of the ads (but you might not have known it).
All because people (especially young people) think short-form video is really fun! What’s short-form video? It’s really short video clips (15 seconds on TikTok).
Short video is quick and easy to watch, and you can easily make a point, or a joke, or share one thing … in 15 seconds or less. And it’s all done on your mobile device, within an app, so these short videos are also really easy to create.
TikTok is getting a lot of press lately, but making short-form video is NOT a new idea. Here’s a really short history on short-form video on the web.
Let’s go back 12 years ago to 2008. 2008 was a big year for short-form online video tools:
Jump to 2011, when Snapchat appeared. With Snapchat, you can create 10-second video clips, pics, filters, etc. Snapchat was also one of the first social media channels that created what I call ephemeral content – content that disappears after 24 hours. But it’s still short-form video (and a precursor to Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube Stories).
Fast forward to 2013, when Vine.tv appeared. Vine launched in 2013, and let people post 6 second videos! Who wants to make those? Apparently a lot of people. By 2015 they had 200 million active users. Then Twitter bought Vine, and discontinued the service in fall 2016. Vine actually kickstarted some people’s online careers. (Think Lele Pons, Jake and Logan Paul, etc).
Vine had competition, including Instagram, who added 15-second video sharing in June 2013. Now you can share videos up to 1-minute long on Instagram, and video is HUGE there.
2017 – That’s how we get to TikTok. TikTok launched in September 2017. Two months later, TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, bought Musical.ly (yet another short-form video app) and merged that app and user base into their TikTok app to create what we have now.
All that to say – short-form video is easy and fun to create, can actually convey a message … and it seems like it’s here to stay.
Combine that with ephemeral video content from Snapchat, Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories … or even just quick video clips on Facebook posts.
What’s it mean? You might not need to dip your toes into TikTok just yet (though that’s where all your teens are at the moment). But should you be experimenting with and creating casual, short-form video?
Yes, probably so.
You can read tons of blog posts, articles, and books (including mine!) about what to post on social media.
But sometimes, tried-and-true – and simple – works great.
What do I mean? Here’s an example from my library. We regularly post a simple question on our Facebook Page: “What are you reading?”
That’s all we ask. No image with it. Just 4 simple words.
Guess what? Those posts get a TON of interaction! Look at the screenshot included in this post. Our “what are you reading” post from June 5 received:
What’s going on here? I think it’s pretty simple, and involves two things:
On brand: This post is definitely on-brand for us. We are, after all, a library. So it makes a lot of sense for us to … say … post about books once in awhile, right?
Talking to book lovers: When we post to our Facebook Page, we are starting conversations with people who chose to click Like on our Page. They chose to follow their local library, and (hopefully) to see some content and have some interaction with us. We don’t have to convince this group that they’ll be interested in what we do – they know that, and want to share what they are reading. Pretty cool!
One other thing going on here. When we ask “What are you reading?” we also end up with a great list of books that our local community is currently reading. That gives US some great content that we can re-use as needed. We can turn it into blog posts, book lists in Bibliocommons, or book lists in our print or enewsletters that we send to customers.
All done with 4 simple words.
My library is in the midst of a bunch of building renovations and updates (which is fun, and also extremely time-consuming!).
We’re trying to capture some of it on video. The trick to that is this: how do you capture construction work and building updates without making a boring “here’s what we’re doing and why” video (yes, we have made one of those, too)?
Well … we decided to play around with time lapse videos. Check out the video embedded in this post for one example of that – it’s a time lapse video that captures laying down a terrazzo tile mosaic in our main entrance to the library.
Here’s another short time lapse video that captures tile going down in another part of the building.
Why use time lapse videos? Here are some reasons:
Has your library made any time lapse videos? Please share!