Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Keeping Up with our Social Media

I know it's hard to keep up with all the things going on today on facebook, twitter, and what is pinterest?! Well this blog is going to help you out. Our social media sites are a great way to keep up with things going on at the library or things we think are interesting. So sit back and take it all in. Click on the links below to go to our respective sites.

Our Website- Is NEW and IMPROVED! I'm very proud of what I've been able to create on our new website.  It may not be perfect, but I think it's much more functional than what we've had in the past.  There are way to many things on the website to list them all but I encourage you to check out the "Library Services" tab, the "Calendar" tab, and the "Community" tab which are all right under the picture of the library.

Facebook- Facebook is a way to connect with friends or just people you know. Could be people you went to high school with, work with, or people you just met.  Most people have a facebook these days.

Our facebook is a great way to find out what is happening at the library that day/week.  
  • Facebook is where we post all the pictures we take from our various activities including Friends events and Children's events. 
  • We have a picture album dedicated to our Employee's of the month, so every month (or as soon as the EOM is announced) we will post their picture along with a quote from their nomination.
  • Some of you may have noticed but I have a little quote of the day thing going on every Thursday. I've been able to find inspiring library quotes to share with everyone.
  • I create a facebook event for every Friend Event that we have happening at the library. As soon as I have a flyer for it, I'm making the event on facebook.
Twitter- This is a great way find out what is going on in your area by following people/companies.  It's good if you don't want a lot of stuff to weed through or pictures to be forced to look at but the only down side is sometimes it seems like everyone on Twitter has their own "twitter language".

Pinterest- Let's be frank here....Pinterest is a great way to waste A LOT of time. If you're like me, you can get on Pinterest and 5 hours later you're like "What? What time is it?" BUT it's AWESOME!! It's a virtual pinboard that you can explore all sorts of things that you're interested in and "pin them" to your boards and go back later and look at them or make/do them.

We use our pinterest to:
  • show you things we're interested in on our "Staff Picks" board
  • show you funny/cool libraryish pictures that we come across on our "Things We Love" board
  • show you neat and nifty things to do with the children under the "Children's Craft's" board.
  • But most of all, we use our Pinterest to convey to our patrons books that we are just getting in to the library. Check our lists to make sure you are up to date. =)

Google+- This is coming that is new to me so I'm still trying to figure it out. BUT we do have one. From what I can tell it's sort of a cross between Facebook and Twitter. Look for new things to be going on with this page.

YouTube- We have a YouTube channel where we'll post book trailers from books that we will be getting at the library and videos that we come across that we thing are interesting. Great thing to watch folks. Keep that on your favorites list for sure.

foursquare- This is an website or an app on a smart phone that will let you "check-in" to places and sometimes you can get special deals with it or show pictures from the place and the coolest things is you can leave tips for other people who are visiting this place after you. You can also collect points/badges like the bookworm badge for checking in at the library.  This is also new to me but I'm workin' on it. So far, I'm the mayor of the library. It's not hard to become the mayor when you check-in at the same place everyday because you work there! =)

Of course there is our blog which you're reading right now...that will continue to grow and improve. 

I hope this has helped you understand social media and stay in touch with us. We love to hear back from our patrons. So follow us/friend us/check-in/pin/subscribe/WHATEVER! =)