A Journey to Reach Users Where They Are: Facebook as a Digital Portal to Your Library Katie Bohnert, Marketing and Communications Manager Bethany Fiechter, Archivist for Manuscript and Digital Collections Laura Mulligan, Information Services Librarian
Libraries on Facebook Facebooking for your library isn’t always easy! Challenges and pitfalls Instant gratification and long-term effects Honest, practical tips for success
2011 Facebook Facts More than 800 million active users worldwide* More than 51 percent of the American population uses Facebook** The average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups, and events* More than 75 percent of users are outside of the United States* There are more than 350 million active users accessing Facebook with mobile devices* * **
Facebook as a Marketing Tool History of the Ball State University Libraries’ Facebook page Making Facebook part of your “Marketing Suite” Facebook cannot replace your library’s web site Making your Facebook page work for you
Creating a Dialogue with Users Posts and responses Links to library and non- library web content Photos of students and spaces in the library Videos and tutorials Apps Questions—gathering feedback
Making Use of “Insights” October 13, 2010: 858 likes October 10, 2011: 2,317 likes 170% increase What are Insights? Where do you find Insights? How do you compile Insights? Generate directly from Facebook Create your own reports! Expectations Ball State University Libraries Facebook Statistics Annual Report
University Libraries Statistics Monthly Active Users October 13, 2010: 3,284 October 10, 2011: 6,328 89% increase Weekly Active Users October 13, 2010: 1,398 October 10, 2011: 3,696 38% increase Daily Active Users October 13, 2010: 379 October 10, 2011: 1,432 26% increase Gender Female: 54% Male: 43% Top Countries United States: 2,154 Turkey: 9 South Korea: 8 Top Cities Muncie: 1,207 Indianapolis: 212
University Libraries Statistics Top External Referrers cms.bsu.edu: 7,579 bsu.edu: 1,430 google.com: 162 bsu.libguides.com: 51 libx.bsu.edu: 24 Top Total Tab Views Wall: 1,055,250 Information: 24,729 Photographs: 1,011 Events: 415 WorldCat: 287 New Statistics to Follow Places Bracken Library: 442 likes / 2,166 check-ins Ball State University Libraries: 2,317 likes / 9 check-ins People Are Talking About This It measures the activity of how a user is engaged with our Page and our postings. As of October 10, 2011 there were 61 people talking about Ball State University Libraries, an increase of 3.4%. Weekly Total Reach It provides administrators the number of people who have viewed any content associated with our Page (including those who have not liked our page). As of October 10, 2011, there have been 2,402 people connected to our Page.
Day-to-Day Maintenance Challenges Consistent voice Round-the-clock maintenance and posting
Managing the Page Round up colleagues to form a Facebook committee! Drafting a Social Media Policy Routine assessment Planning for the future
Recommendations Link on your web site Marketing URL Commitment Assessment Support from above Be able to answer the question “Why?”
Thank You! Katie: Bethany: Laura: Like us on Facebook: