Post on 28-Jun-2020
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
National Library of Scotland
Talking Social Media & teamwork Stewart Hardy
July 2017
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba Scottish Heritage Social Media Group
Welcome & housekeeping
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba Scottish Heritage Social Media Group
About the National Library
Formed in 1925 (from the Advocates Library) One of six UK Legal Deposit Libraries (what’s this?) Leading centre for study of Scotland and Scots 26 million items in our collections (that’s a lot!)
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba Scottish Heritage Social Media Group
About me
Marketing Officer, formerly branding, brand management, internal comms Joined the National Library in June 2015 Degree in social sciences and CIM professional diploma in marketing
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba Scottish Heritage Social Media Group
Social media when I started
Low frequency Repetitive content Little variation Low engagement
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba Scottish Heritage Social Media Group
The Library’s 2015-2020 strategy
Announced soon after my arrival (Sept 2015) Ambitious targets (digitisation) Priorities include: • Supporting Learning • Inspiring Engagement • Reaching Out
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba Scottish Heritage Social Media Group
CLEAR that social media can help
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba Scottish Heritage Social Media Group
Channels
26,750 followers (corporate account) 18,424 followers (corporate account)
1236 followers (corporate account)
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba Scottish Heritage Social Media Group
Current social media set-up
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba Scottish Heritage Social Media Group
Current set-up in our department
Marketing Officer (me) Events / Exhibitions Digital Comms inc.
Social Media
Head of external relations and governance
Marketing Partner National campaigns
Brand Market Research
External Affairs Specialist Media relations
PR Annual reporting
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba Scottish Heritage Social Media Group
How did we change things?
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba Scottish Heritage Social Media Group
Tone of voice
• Engaging and interesting (using humour) • Responsive – we don’t shy away from discussion • Open, friendly and honest • Clear and direct but not adversarial • Champions of our collections
Having a personality is the difference between an empty space and a guided tour. Paraphrasing @RussellDornan’s blog post.
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba Scottish Heritage Social Media Group
Tone of voice – huzzah it works
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba Scottish Heritage Social Media Group
Engagement with staff (I) Talk to them!
Held our first Twitter forum in April this year – building confidence and enthusiasm Circulated content calendar around staff Began a series of staff presentations describing marketing / media /social media
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba Scottish Heritage Social Media Group
Engagement with staff (II) Go with them and see collections
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba Scottish Heritage Social Media Group
Be creative (I) Collections and locations
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba Scottish Heritage Social Media Group
Be creative (II) Re-purpose great work by staff
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba Scottish Heritage Social Media Group
Engage with influencers
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba Scottish Heritage Social Media Group
What HAS worked well
Creativity – we are not only holders of content – we work WITH the content and comment on it Responsiveness – showing that we are in touch with events in the outside world
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba Scottish Heritage Social Media Group
What HAS NOT worked well
Surprises – quizzes began well but popularity tailed off quickly. Low engagement combined with seriously good contenders.
Posts for the sake of posting – lack of variation
Trying to be all things to all people – covering all bases doesn’t work unless you have very good resource.
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba Scottish Heritage Social Media Group
Challenges
We can’t do this on our own or just using our own department. We must request and get support.
Preconceptions about tone of voice need to be challenged in order to engage your target audience
You must not be afraid to be creative – and to fail – because you will fail, just not all the time.
Low confidence = lack of support. Help colleagues.
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba Scottish Heritage Social Media Group
What the metrics show
Yay! We’re punching Could do better above our weight
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba Scottish Heritage Social Media Group
Plans for the future
Increased partnership working Investigating Snapchat for younger audience – very interested to hear opinions / experience Working more video content into workstream More forums with staff to build up internal engagement
National Library of Scotland Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Thoughts? Queries? Funny pictures?
@natlibscot (work) @kharashov (personal)
Scottish Heritage Social Media Group
Thank you for listening!