Movers and Shakers 2008

How proud are we here in NJ! Two of our own have been named Movers and Shakers- Pete Bromberg, Assistant Director, South Jersey Regional Library Cooperative and blogger extraordinare (Library Garden) and Elisabeth Jacobsen Marrapodi, Director, Library Services, Trinitas Hospital! Congrats!!

I would be amiss if I didn’t shout out to David Lee King (alias leeking- it was a misprint but I think the nickname may stay for awhile and all the winners. What a great honor! Congrats.

Library by Day compiled a list with blog links.

library marketing

Free high quality photos

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library marketing

To friend Mom and Dad is just the beginning

Great article in the Washington Post today about the phenomenon kids on facebook are having to address with the whole “Friending your parent” debate.

That got me wondering about how effective our libraries have been in engaging interactive online conversations with teens. We have been working so hard to reach the teens. Libraries have blogs, facebook accounts and myspace pages but I still wonder if we’ve really been able to be part of the interactive network kids have between themselves or are we still “pushing” – trying a little too hard like the kid who just isn’t part of the group.

Are we utilizing the tools that will help us make that connection or are we recreating a classroom setting and labeling it “new”?

I found this video and I loved it. But it exemplifies what I am talking about. Here is this very cool video with a teen speaking to teens, the whole bit. But it only has 228 hits. When the hits are that low for an online video designed to reach teens, to me that’s a red flag that says we missed the mark. Let’s face it, for a teen to listen to anyone (even this very cool teen) talk about a teen center just isn’t going to cut it. I’m envisioning we might want to use these tools a little differently…

All the new marketing concepts are about providing what our customers want. So what do our teens want? I don’t think kids necessarily need us to be their friends in the classic sense. Hey like it or not, we are still adults. We may be cooler than schools but we are an institution. So with those parameters what kind of social networking would they need from us?

Let’s start where we are successful. If you’re running programs that are bringing in teens and they leave thinking it was an awesome program then you can assume they need to show their friends ho didn’t come what they missed and share memories with those who did come. This is where you post the YouTube clips. No need to video the whole event but you could edit the clips that are memorable and will be viewed by kids on YouTube. Chances are extremely good that you’ll need a teen in the editing room with you to pick them out or else you’ll miss what they really thought was good. I’d follow through with a link to an online survey either about the program or the clips. Something that will bring them to the teen blog where they can find out and vote for the next program.

Speaking of blogs, how are our teen group blogs doing? Is anyone running them as a place where teens are voicing opinions on issues THEY are already thinking about and maybe even discussing?

I know we al love online book clubs and there is an audience for them. But we also know teens love to talk about themselves. They like to talk about the things they are reading in the teen magazines- older brothers harassing them, homework too hard, adults acting alike hypocrites, proms, celebrity gossip … is there a way we can use the topics they are interested in to engage them in a conversation online with us?

You’d probably need to start with online surveys to build some interest since surveys allow kids to be involved with the safety of anonymity. If an issue is getting enough traction then maybe open it up to online discussions.

YouTube debates are a big hit. Why not use the medium for your teens. Attach secondary polls asking kids to name people they’d like to question about the topic. Or take it a step further and ask them what famous people would they want to ask a question. This starts the list of people you’ll want to try to contact. You don’t have to bring the person to your library; you could negotiate an online appearance and run a webinar. The teens can submit YouTube questions and vote for which ones will be asked the person. You might be able to land a really big name if you join with other libraries and schools and split costs. And the beauty is because it’s online you’ll be able to reach kids at home.

Now I’ll go full circle… I’d love to see on online debate between parents and teens on the subject of friending parents!

Has anyone done similar programs? How are they working?

library marketing

Wal-Mart blog goes authentic

Whoa, it’s relly happening… web 2.0 has begun to morph into authentic corporate blogging, or has it? An article in the N Times reports that Wal-Mart has. Will others follow? Will libraries actually begin allowing comments on their public blogs? Ah the questions that remain to be answered….

Wal-Mart Tastemakers Write Unfiltered Blog

Microsoft is one of Wal-Mart’s biggest suppliers. But that did not stop the Wal-Mart employee in charge of buying computers from panning Microsoft’s newest operating system, Vista.

“Is it really all that and a bag of chips?” he wrote on his blog. “My life has not changed dramatically — well, for that matter, it hasn’t changed at all.”

His public burst of candor was not isolated. On the same blog, a video game buyer for Wal-Mart slammed a “Star Wars” film as a “debacle” even though Wal-Mart still sells the movie.

Known for its strict, by-the-books culture — accepting a cup of coffee from a supplier can be a firing offense — Wal-Mart is now encouraging its merchants to speak frankly, even critically, about the products the chain carries.

This unusual new Web site, which was quietly created during the holiday shopping season, has become a forum for unvarnished rants about gadgets, raves about new video games and advice on selecting environmentally sustainable food.

Corporate blogs are nothing new — General Motors, Dell and Boeing have them — but Wal-Mart’s site, called Check Out (checkoutblog.com), turns the traditional model on its head. Instead of relying on polished high-level executives, it is written by little-known buyers, largely without editing.

The result is an intensely personal window into the lives, preferences and quirks of the powerful tastemakers at Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, who have spent years shielded from public view.

Their decisions about what makes it onto Wal-Mart’s shelves have enormous impact, earning (or costing) vendors millions of dollars. It was a blogger on the Check Out, after all, who first disclosed last month that Wal-Mart would stock only high-definition DVDs and players using the Blu-ray format, rather than the rival HD DVD system. The decision was considered the death knell for HD DVD. Full story

library marketing

Ideas from Customer Service is the New Marketing Conference

Andy Sernovitz on Damn! I Wish I’d Thought of That! posted a neat list of ideas he compiled from the panel “Customer service as community, community as customer service” at the Customer Service is the New Marketing Conference. Sounds like it was an all star panel:
Gina Bianchini, Ning; Matt Mullenweg, WordPress ; Tara Huntl, Citizen Agency ; Patti Roll, Timbuk2; Brian Oberkirch, Small Good Thing.

It has some good stuff for librairies to consider when we creating our campaigns.

“1. When you open up to customer participation, your brand belongs to your customers, not you.
2. Use your product every day. It aligns your interests with your customers’. It lets you fix problems as they happen. It lets you see things as a user, which is always more helpful than seeing it as a marketer.
3. Turn the bullhorn around. Stop talking. Give the community a chance to speak.
4. There is no such thing as a “community strategy”. The community will do what it wants. Go with it.
5. Join conversations early. Negative gets worse if you don’t respond. Positive grows when you do.
6. Why pay for product photos? Encourage your community to share their product photos. They may even blog about the fact that you chose their photos.
7. Sounding “professional” does not require you to sound like an ass. You don’t need formal language or big words. Talk like a human being. Talk to people online like you talk to your friends.
8. The great thing about communities is that you can hear from everyone. The bad thing about communities is that you can hear from everyone.
9. It’s ok to moderate and set rules of civil discourse. You can politely refuse to engage with ranters who don’t want to have a civil conversation.
10. Your community will support you if you enable them. When a critic gets vocal, let your fans reply instead of you.
11. Listen to experts but design for novices. “

library marketing

Live streaming, twittering on the phone with Quik

Steve Garfield explains streaming with Quik over the phone. While he streams, people can chat with twitter right there on the screen. Very cool.

library marketing

Can your library be sued for contest used in video contest?

An article in the NY Times says new lawsuit by Subway against Quiznos that will explore that question and the ruling may impact the future of future video contests. According to the article , Quiznos ran a contest encouraging participants t o make a video that depicted Quiznos sandwiches superior to Subway. Subway says the ads make false claims and depict their brand in a derogatory manner. The new twist to this kind of lawsuit is that Quiznos didn’t make the videos . The story says if the courts say Quiznos is liable then it can bring a quick death to the popular surge of video contests.

While libraries have not created such competitive themes to their videos the issue of whether we are legally liable for content may make some bosses skittish on allowing the to run contests.

See full article: Can a Sandwich be Slandered. (You’ll need to subscribe, but it’s free.)

Of course the other question begs to be asked…. who in their right mind would run a contest entitled: “Quiznos vs Subway TV Ad Challenge” and not think there’d be trouble. here’s a sample of another ad submitted….

Sandwich Roadshow

Posted Dec 11, 2006

THis is a Quiznos entry for the Subway vs quiznos contest. It was originally uploaded before the deadline

library marketing

Norma Blake is Librarian of the Year

I am so proud to share the news that my boss, NJ State Librarian Norma Blake, has been awarded LJ’s Librarian of the Year. When the management team began putting together the nomination, even we were amazed at the overall impact her leadership has had on libraries. Read the LJ article here:

There will be celebrations throughout the year including the award dinner hosted by LJ this Friday at Midwinter. If you want me to present a letter of congrats to Norma at the dinner feel free to email it to me at ndowd@njstatelib.org.

We’ll be putting together a memory book and we’ll include it in that as well.

Anyone who knows Norma knows what an incredible leader she is. I am especially fortunate because she recognizes how important marketing is to our future and is always supportive and willing to let me be adventurous with my marketing ideas. On top of it all, she is truly a nice person, which makes working for her all the better. I’ll be taking pictures on Friday and will let you know when they are posted on Flickr.

library marketing

Viral Campaign – getting there

We just ended our second experiment with viral marketing here at NJ State Library and it worked. Well, let’s say we got a taste of success. This is the second viral campaign we’ve run. The first was “Tell us Your Three Reasons” where we created the video and then asked folks to add comments and videos. I think we have around 9,000 hits on the video but it made more of an impact on the field than it did the public.

Learning from that campaign, we launched the Super Librarian YouTube/Comic contest where kids would create their own content. We used Freepolls to set up a voting system, letting everyone see the results as they occurred. We had over 17,000 votes but the key is that nearly 90% of those votes came from four contestants… and that’s what viral is all about. One parent told me that not only did they call friends and family but their pastor actually announced the contest during the service and gave out the website right then and there! I love it!

If I were to do it over, I would not have put an age limit at 18- we missed the talents of college film majors and I think we could have gotten some neat WOM marketing going with that group. We ended up taking down comments because one overly eager contestant had fans who were getting pretty cruel about others scaring parents. Letting everyone see the results had pros and cons but I would keep it because it did motivate those in the lead to work harder to get out the word. The downside was that it discouraged those who felt too far behind.

Early on in the contest when I worried we wouldn’t get any entries, the thought came to mind that it might have been a good idea to include libraries. Now that it’s over I’m glad we didn’t. We would probably have gotten more videos submitted but this allowed us to keep customer driven.

Of course, we’ll be using this info to build our next campaign….which I suspect may take our WOM efforts to a new level….

library marketing

Is your library a Meatball Sundae?

Awhile back I joined Buzz and have been too busy to do anything with it but Seth Godin’s new book is out and he’s looking for some WOM. Being a fan of his anyway I looked at the book’s ideas and sure enough it has a lot to do with what libraries are facing – take a look here. If you get the book- let me know what you think and I’ll pass it on.

Excerpt:
A meatball sundae is the unfortunate result of mixing two good ideas.

The meatballs are the foundation, the things we need (and sometimes want). These are the commodities that so many businesses are built on.

The sundae toppings (hot fudge and the like) are the New Marketing, the social networks, Google, blogs and fancy stuff that make people all excited.

The challenge most organizations face: they try to mix them. They attempt to slap new marketing onto old and end up with nothing but a failed website.

This book explores the 14 trends that are changing our world and how organizations can either embrace them or be punished by them.

library marketing