digital content strategy for libraries

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Digital Content Strategy What libraries can learn from the marketplace & How you can reach their goals by improving your digital presence Sharon Clapp Digital Resources Librarian, Elihu Burritt Library, CCSU [email protected]

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Digital Content StrategyWhat libraries can learn from the marketplace & How you can reach their goals by improving your digital presenceSharon Clapp

Digital Resources Librarian, Elihu Burritt Library, CCSU

[email protected]

I was going to talk about tools

Hootsuite

Wordpress, Drupal, Joomla

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn

EventBrite, Meetup.com/BigTent,

Hubspot, SEOMoz

Google Analytics

Google Calendar

MailChimp, Constant Contact

Customer Relationship Management (CiviCRM, Salesforce, Zoho, RedHen, Hubspot)

but…

You don’t need to hear this if…

Everyone on campus is already fully aware of what the library offers Your “brand” is already more than books Your programs are overflowing with attendees Your student body has already learned everything it needs to know about

information literacy Your faculty members already understand, respect & embrace the role of the

library in the 21st-century Everyone on campus finds and uses your web presence easily Because of that high-quality user experience, your campus recognizes the

library as a leader in the digital realm – uses its best practices as a basis for their own

Campus administration is so convinced of the importance of the library in 21 st-century academia that you’re well-funded and well-staffed

But the same tools made these

We need a “blueprint” (a digital strategy) that includes the following

$

Human resources

Time

Governance / structure

HOLD UP A SECOND!

We don’t have $, human resources, time, or even a governance structure – so how will this happen - Who’s going to do all of this?

Do a Digital Health Check on your organization: see

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/06/20/take-a-digital-health-check/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDps4SesQAE#t=128

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDp4Vunjvr4

Learning from the for-profit world

Embracing the “M” word

Commercial v. library/non-profit sector

Learn from the people with the $

The marketplace is an immediate feedback loop

What is the library’s feedback loop?

The rise of “Inbound Marketing”“Inbound Marketing”Is not interruptive / outbound / push-based marketingInstead, it is attractive / inbound / pull marketing

the content is the piece that attracts

“Content Marketing”

“Content Marketing”

Content marketing is any marketing that involves the creation and sharing of media and publishing content in order to acquire and retain customers. This information can be presented in a variety of formats, including news, video, white papers, e-books,infographics, case studies, how-to guides, question and answer articles, photos, etc [from Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_marketing, 11/13/14]

Content provides value to users

Must be relevant to audience

Pre-digital “Content marketing” included cookbooks/recipes, magazines/newsletters, e.g.

Takeaways from Today’s Digital Marketing Pros – Time to get strategic

We need to be > strategic when creating & distributing content online

We used to rule the free offerings of content/resources space

Now with big $ in content-based, commercial firms are resetting user expectations for digital content

The evolution of digital

Putting stuff online is enough

Put your stuff online and… [Search Engine Optimization (SEO)] Add metadata/keywords

Get others to link to your stuff

Put your stuff online & distribute it Blog

RSS feeds

Email subscriptions

Social Sites

Facebook / LinkedIn / Twitter

Event Promotion Sites

• When Libraries / Higher Ed Ruled the Digital World

• Publishers, Digital Experts Like “SEOs” start to rule the Web (growth thanks to Google)

• Social Media Experts Rise

Are Libraries & Institutions of Higher Ed Playing Catch Up?

Evaluation: How effective is your current digital content strategy?

What’s the mission of your digital presence?

What are your metrics for success?

What is your process for publishing & promoting your library online?

Is there a publishing checklist for promoting library events, services, resources?

Who manages your online presence? (if everyone’s in charge, no one’s in charge)

What tools do you use & who’s in charge of each

What are your continuity plans

Digital Content Strategy Establishes

Why you’re publishing (have clear, measurable goals)

What you’re publishing

Whom you’re publishing it for

When you’ll publish it

Where you’ll publish it / How you’ll publish it

Who will publish it?

Publishing

The <3 is your website

Use a content management system

Drive traffic to your website

Make it easy to share

It needs constant care & attention

Publishing

Editorial calendar

Content publishing template / repository from HubSpot

Where to? Channel depend on:

Audience location / desires

Type of content

Promotion – SEO – social media

Social media tools

Landing Pages & CTAs

1 concept / page

Includes 1 CTA (Call to Action)

Share this / promote / advocate for

Subscribe to email list

Ask a librarian

Review / rate / comment / post

Enter

Fund

Join

Digital Content Strategy Process

List Goals /

Align with overall business goals & brand strategy

Research Users

Inventory Existing Channels & Content

Plan

Build / Fix / Optimize

Measure

Repeat

User eXperience (UX) Design

Digital content is for use

Everything comes down to relationships, even today

How do you build a relationship?

Understand your users & their needs

Meet their needs

Engage with them, converse with them, make adjustments

UX -> Digital Success

Consider your customer’s journey

Map it / understand it (gain empathy)

Your library’s digital presence is the way end-users encounter your library online. It includes online touchpoints such as:

Your website

Blog

Social networking sites

Other repositories of web content

UX Process = Building Relationships

A process for relationship building online

Begin with User Research (surveys, focus groups, analytics)

Identify your target audience

Learn what they need

See where they go

Find the right channels for your audience, influencers

Then Create Personas to Help you design

Once you’ve built, test and iterate to fix issues

Consider Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Personas

“The purpose of personas is to create reliable and realistic representations of your key audience segments for reference. These representations should be based on qualitative and some quantitative user research and web analytics. Remember, your personas are only as good as the research behind them.”

“Personas help to focus decisions surrounding site components by adding a layer of real-world consideration to the conversation. They also offer a quick and inexpensive way to test and prioritize those features throughout the development process.”

- http://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/personas.html

Minimum Next Steps

1. Fix your website & social media content (& continue to do so – it’s an ongoing task)

2. Make sure you have the latest Analytics tools running

3. Be Strategic

1. get support of higher ups

2. build a task force (to transition to an editorial board for ongoing operations)

3. write up a strategy (a living document)

4. begin executing ASAP (the only way to see what works is to begin doing – agile not waterfall style projects)

4. Map your customer journey / Inventory web properties, purposes, who’s in charge

5. Create goals for your content

6. Inventory existing content

7. Do a gap analysis between existing content and where your content goals are

8. Make a list of the audiences you’re targeting

9. Make personas for each segment

10. Create a style guide (guiding best practices include look/feel, tone, and principles)

11. Plan your user research program (get IRB approval)

Thank you!

Sharon Clapp, Digital Resources Librarian

[email protected]

860-832-2059

@sclapp