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It's Spring, and - as such - time for some much-needed social media Spring cleaning. Set aside some time this Spring to do a quick check-up on your social media channels, and see if anything needs tweaking!
David Lee King
David Lee King is the Digital Services Director at Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library, where he plans, implements, and experiments with emerging technology trends.
He speaks internationally about emerging trends, website management, digital experience, and social media, and has been published in many library-related journals. David is a Library Journal Mover and Shaker.
His newest book is Face2Face: Using Facebook, Twitter, and Other Social Media Tools to Create Great Customer Connections.
David blogs at http://www.davidleeking.com
Read David's other articles…
- App advisory at the library
- Six slick improvements for 2016
- Six tips for better videos
- Easy as a light switch
Here are some things to examine:
Profiles
Are your social media profiles up-to-date? For example on Twitter, your profile includes a sentence-length blurb, a profile image, and some links. Those represent the library in that social media channel. Do they still say what you want them to say? Is the image up-to-date? Are you using everything you can (for example, have you added a link to your Vine channel in your Twitter profile)?
Posting frequency
Look at how many times a day/week you post, and look at your posting goals (you have those, right?). Are you hitting that goal? If not, what needs to change? Here are some starter goals for posting frequency:
- Facebook: One to four times a day, and at least one when most of your Facebook Page fans are online (check your Facebook Insights to find that optimal time). For my library, that's around 8-9pm
- Twitter: One to four times per day, plus responding to mentions as needed
- Instagram: At least one great image per day
- Snapchat: One to five times a week (not as dependent on frequency).
Types of content
Video has really picked up steam in the last year or so. Are you doing video? If not, now's a great time to start. This can be done from your smartphone, especially if you are making snack-sized videos for Instagram or Vine. Make sure you post video separately on Facebook. Facebook seems to rank Facebook-uploaded videos better than videos on other platforms.
Who is posting?
Is it just you, or do you have a team? Do you need to switch something up for consistency? Think about who your good writers are, and who might have some creative or fresh ideas and isn't afraid to try them out.
Use your Analytics!
Especially for single posts. Find the individual posts that perform better, and analyze them with your team. Figure out what seems to work, and what doesn't. Then discuss how you can do more of what seems to be working.
Do some social media Spring cleaning, and your social media channels will be set up for social media success this year!