2012 Best Practices for Government Libraries

How Librarians Can Successfully Navigate the 7 Cs of Social Media
By Joe Walsh, Former Social Media Manager, Library Connect,
Elsevier
Originally published on March 29, 2012 in the Library Connect Blog.
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BEST PRACTICES 2012
More and more librarians each day are utilizing social media to
support and demonstrate their organizations’ values and services,
and to engage with their users, stakeholders and other relevant community members. I
suspect, however, that there still are many among you who have questions about how
best to get started in the always-changing medium, and which channels are best. While I
cringe at being called a “social media guru,” having managed social media marketing for
global businesses (Elsevier, LexisNexis) for the past three years (and counting), I do
consider myself an expert in the field. With that in mind, below are some tips and best
practices librarians can use when getting started with social media. It’s the same advice I
recently share with my Elsevier colleagues. I call them the Seven Cs of Social Media.
1. Channel: The first place to start is to identify which channel(s) you will use. Will it be
Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, and/or a blog? My advice is to select only
those channels where you can devote resources (meaning your time). Be realistic.
Starting off with one or two channels usually is the best approach when getting started.
2. Content: You need to have a defined content plan. Let me repeat: you need to have a
defined content plan. Decide what types of content you will be tweeting/retweeting,
posting/sharing on Facebook, blogging about, etc. Will you be posting multimedia (photos,
videos, podcasts) or primarily text? Do you want to use polls or just make
announcements? Do you want people to comment? Answering these types of questions
will help you create a defined content approach, which will help you quickly populate your
channels with useful and shareable content.
3. Community: While choosing your channel(s) and creating a content plan, you also will
need to identify and define who you are trying to engage with. Depending on your library,
this could mean students and faculty, research staff, doctors, nurses, administration and
senior management, fellow library staff, other libraries, and community stakeholders.
There can be multiple audiences you are trying to reach and engage with each day. If so,
you’ll need to create a multi-tiered content plan.
4. Conversation: Always remember the “social” in social media. You want to do more
than just post content on your channels. You want to create engagement with your
communities. Ask questions, post polls, solicit feedback, try to start conversations, etc.
And remember, it’s ok to have some fun while doing all this.
5. Candidness: A tip of my hat goes out to my Elsevier colleague, Rafael Sidi
(@rafaelsidi), who pointed out the need for the fifth C. When creating conversations,
remember you need to be candid in your tone and approach. Try to personalize the voice
you are using on your channels—in other words, make sure what you write sounds like