SEO for Libraries

OK, I’ll admit it. I watch Tosh.0. I watch it religiously. I know that might make some think less of me. The show is unapologetically disgusting and offensive. For those who haven’t seen it, comedian Daniel Tosh shows video clips found on the Internet and then makes fun of them. He also does an incredible job of engaging his audience. He encourages them to live tweet during the airing of the show and subscribe to his Facebook page. He also encourages viewers to send it lots and lots of their own videos.

Every organization and business is being encouraged to join Twitter and Facebook to connect with their supporters, patrons, and customers. I’m not always convinced there’s anything in it for me when say, my favorite paper towel brand wants me to follow them on Facebook. My library has 100,000 library card holders but only 376 Facebook followers.  We try to engage the followers we have and hope that people who are considering liking our page are interested in the content we are posting when they visit us on Facebook. From an SEO standpoint, we want to be visible not just on our own website, but all over the web. And since people are spending so much of their time on sites like Facebook, we want to be there too reminding our patrons about our services and how important we are to the community.

Tosh.0 has over 6 million followers on Facebook. My library sometimes gets 4 comments on a post. Tosh.0 gets about 400. I understand a popular TV show is always going to have more engagement than a mid-size community library, but there are always things we can learn from the social networking success stories.

Here are 3 interesting social networking engagements from Tosh.0 and how we can translate them for our libraries:

1. Twitten By
   Daniel Tosh once asked his viewers to help him write a screenplay…on Twitter. Each person contributed a less-than-140-character line to the story. The result proved hilarious.
   Library translation: We’re in the business of story peddling. We also love writers and we encourage writing by hosting writers groups and Teen poetry contests. Why not encourage teens to write a Twitten By-type story via Twitter? Once it’s done, post it on your website or have the tweets scroll through on a flat screen monitor in the teen area.
2. Tosh.Dough
   Being a TV show, Tosh.0 has no reason to be on the popular review site, Yelp. But that didn’t stop them. They set up a fake business name, Tosh.Dough, and encouraged viewers to write reviews about this fake bakery. Over 800 people have obliged so far.
   Library translation: We actually have an advantage here that Tosh.0 lacks – we have physical buildings that are already listed on Yelp. Those of us who have social catalogs like Bibliocommons also like to encourage our patrons to write reviews. Have you checked your library’s Yelp page recently? You can always ask people to help the library by writing a review. I’m sure a lot of your patrons would be happy to oblige. I plan to ask patrons in our next e-mail newsletter.
3. Viewer Videos
   Tosh is always asking viewers to submit their own videos. He shows a funny Viewer Video every week and then calls for videos of specific things like Surprise Trust Falls and Stuff You Never Want To Hear Guys Say. Needless to say, he gets a lot of submissions.
   Library translation: We are already doing video contests. The latest was ALA’s Why I Need My Library contest for teens. But we can branch out too. We don’t need an ALA sponsored contest to encourage our patrons to create and submit library videos. I’ve recently started making Library Haul videos. We’re asking patrons to tell us what they checked out on their latest visit to the library. It’s been a hard sell but we’re hoping it catches on.

It’s not enough to just be on Twitter and Facebook. It takes some creativity to engage your followers. Watching Tosh.0 gives me inspiration but I look for it everywhere. If you are easily offended, skip Tosh.0 and look elsewhere for this inspiration. Look for other organizations that are successfully and creatively engaging their followers and ask yourself how you can translate that for your library. Then share your idea with the rest of us, please.

Dear Library Hiring Managers,

A lot of us are trying to optimize our online presence. We hear that you Google job candidates so we make sure to see how we’re faring by Googling our own names from time to time. We’re careful what we post online and we’re making sure we properly set up privacy settings. We’re trying to keep our online reputations nice and clean. Mostly though, we’re trying to learn and be part of online conversations about the library profession. Are you paying attention?

When we apply for jobs we turn in cover letters, resumes, applications, and lists of references. We put on a good face for those 1 hour interviews. But we spend a lot of our free time trying to show everyone our ideas and interests by being active on social networking sites. With all the effort we’re putting in, it would be disappointing to find out that you’re not even reading, listening to, and/or watching what we’re putting out there for you to see.

So here’s a quick guide to the top social networking sites, just in case you don’t know what you should be looking for:

LinkedIn

This is the most popular site for professional networking. Many people use it as their online resume.

• Connections
  I’ve worked with and been influenced by some incredible librarians during my career. If you don’t recognize any names, then at least look at job titles. I learn from my friends and coworkers and I go to them for advice.
• Recommendations
  Coworkers and supervisors can post a recommendation and often say some interesting things about what it is like to work with us.

Facebook

Some people use Facebook for personal conversations but others use it for professional purposes. A lot of people have learned to use privacy settings so that you have to be a Friend to actually see what they have posted. In most cases, you will be locked out of seeing much of a job candidate’s profile.

• Wall
  This is where you can see what we are posting and what our friends are sharing with us directly. If we are using the site in a professional capacity, we might be sharing some interesting thoughts and links to good articles.
• Friends
  Do we have a lot of friends? Some of the big thought leaders in our profession have a lot of Facebook friends because people are always interested in what they have to say. We may also be friends with other thought leaders in our profession. Who is influencing us?

Twitter

I know some of you still don’t understand the point of Twitter but many of us have embraced it and are successfully using it to share information and ideas with fellow professionals. Being able to communicate in 140 characters or less means someone has mastered clarity and brevity. Both are important for any job that requires writing web content.

• Tweets
  What are we tweeting about? Are we sharing links to interesting articles? Are we retweeting other Twitter users interesting tweets? Are we sharing original thoughts?  Are we mostly optimistic or do we complain a lot? Are we using Twitter to keep up with the latest technology buzz?
• Following/Followers
  Who are we influencing and who is influencing us? What kinds of people are we following? Other library professionals? Or have we branched out to follow those in other industries? How many people are following us? People who have been using Twitter for a while and are constantly sharing interesting information will have a large number of followers.

Here’s another tip. There’s a website called Klout which scores a person’s online influence. You have to sign up for an account with your own Twitter or Facebook account first but then you can search for other Twitter or Facebook users. It does a lot of the work for you by attempting to analyze and interpret a person’s online activity.

What if you Google a candidate’s name and you can’t find any information about them or their name is so common that you can’t tell which links might actually about the person you have in mind? Some people value their privacy and shun social networking sites. That’s OK, just as long as you aren’t hiring them to be in charge of your library’s website or social networking presence.

However, some candidates will actually give you a link to an online portfolio so you don’t have to go hunting down their accounts with the various social networking sites. If someone gives you a link, please look at it. We are so much more than a cover letter/resume/application. We are active members of online communities and we love talking about the library profession. We want to be noticed. We want people to know who we are. We want to be judged and evaluated by the content we are making public on the web.

Sincerely,

Donna Feddern