Library marketing via social media. The relationships between Facebook content and user engagement in public libraries
| Pages | 940-955 |
| Date | 08 October 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-10-2017-0288 |
| Published date | 08 October 2018 |
| Author | Soohyung Joo,Namjoo Choi,Tae Hyun Baek |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Bibliometrics,Databases,Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet,Records management & preservation,Document management |
Library marketing via
social media
The relationships between Facebook content
and user engagement in public libraries
Soohyung Joo
Department of Information Science, University of Kentucky,
Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Namjoo Choi
Department of Library and Information Science, University of Kentucky,
Lexington, Kentucky, USA, and
Tae Hyun Baek
Department of Integrated Strategic Communication, University of Kentucky,
Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is twofold: to explore what kinds of social media content public libraries
create to communicate with users online, and to examine the relationships between social media content types
and corresponding levels of user engagement.
Design/methodology/approach –The sample comprises 4,637 Facebook posts collected from 151 public
libraries across the USA. The authors identified ten types of Facebook posts based on the open coding, and
calculated the degrees of user engagement for each type of Facebook post, represented by the numbers of
likes, shares and comments. Also, The authors examined the effects of the inclusions of images or video clips
on user engagement.
Findings –The authors observed tha t the most frequent type o f post was related to announc ing
upcoming events held in li braries. This study also found that pos ts about community news or emotionally
inspiring messages el icited much engagement from user s. Posts having an image or images ten d to receive
more user engagement.
Practical implications –Based on the findings of this study, the authors discussed practical strategies for
public libraries to effectively use social media to better facilitate user engagement.
Originality/value –This study is one of a few attempts that examine the relationships between the types of
social media content and the degrees of user engagement in public library environments. Also, the authors
have proposed a coding scheme useful to analyze social media content in the context of public libraries.
Keywords Online marketing, Social media, Public library, Social media marketing, User engagement
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Social media has emerged as a popular marketing tool for public libraries; enabling them to
reach out and communicate with users online. Carr and Hayes (2015, p. 50) define social
media as “internet-based channels that allow users to opportunistically interact and
selectively self-present, either in real-time or asynchronously, with both broad and narrow
audiences who derive value from user-generated content and the perception of interaction
with others.”Social media enables users to create their own profiles and make connections
with others online, as well as allowing them to contribute and share content and
commentary on online networks (Boyd and Ellison, 2007; Steiner, 2012). Social media, which
is often equipped with various functions to share messages easily to a wider network of
Online Information Review
Vol. 42 No. 6, 2018
pp. 940-955
© Emerald PublishingLimited
1468-4527
DOI 10.1108/OIR-10-2017-0288
Received 11 October 2017
Revised 4 February 2018
Accepted 3 April 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1468-4527.htm
This study was funded by Speed Dating For Researchers-V (SDR-V) Collaborative Grant, College of
Communication and Information, University of Kentucky.
940
OIR
42,6
online users, can serve as a compelling marketing tool at a low cost. Social media enables
libraries to efficiently promote their services, programming and events online to their
communities, and eventually to create a sense of community amongst users (Charnigo and
Barnett-Ellis, 2007; Hendrix et al., 2009; De Rosa et al., 2007).
Among different platforms of social media available nowadays, Facebook has become
one of the most popular social media channels for public libraries, and it is likely that a large
portion of library patrons already have a Facebook account (Dryden, 2014; Tomlin, 2014).
According to the recent survey by Greenwood et al. (2016), Facebook continues to be the
most popular social media platform, and nearly 79 percent of internet users in the USA use
Facebook. Facebook is also one of the most heavily used social media platforms in library
communities (Xie and Stevenson, 2014). The strength of Facebook as a marketing tool lies in
that it allows users to connect with others by simply uploading posts, and to easily respond
to others’posts through liking, sharing and commenting.
Recognizing the potential benefits of using social media in library marketing, researchers
have investigated different aspects of social media use in public libraries. In particular,
analyzing the content of social media has emerged as an important focus of research inquiry
to offer insights that may help public librarians harness the effectiveness of social media
marketing. Extant literature has identified various types of information posted on library
social media based on content analysis (e.g. Chen et al., 2012, Aharony, 2012). In addition,
several researchers have explored the best practices for effective deployment and use of
social media in public libraries (e.g. Cahill, 2011; Steiner, 2012; Tomlin, 2014). However, little
is known about the relationships between social media content and user engagement in
public library environments.
Given the utility of social media as an effective platform for community engagement, the
primary objectives of this study are twofold: to examine how public librarians utilize social
media (i.e. Facebook pages) to facilitate user engagement and identify social media content
that drives high levels of user engagement. To that end, this study analyzes a total of 4,637
Facebook posts from public libraries. We construct a coding scheme tailored to the public
library context in an attempt to better understand the unique nature of Facebook content
generated by libraries. Using the coding scheme, we investigate which types of Facebook
content are most or least frequently generated by public libraries. More importantly, we
attempt to reveal the relationships between Facebook post types and user engagement. This
study is one of a few that examine the patterns of user engagement for different types of
Facebook posts in public libraries. Practical implications for effective social media use are
discussed based on the findings of the study.
Literature review
As social media has emerged as a key channel to communicate with patrons, library science
researchers have paid much attention to social media use in libraries. Prior literature has
investigated different aspects of social media use in public libraries, such as social media
content, perceptions of stakeholders and strategies for effective social media use.
There have been several efforts that researchers analyzed types of social media content
created by libraries. For example, Chen et al. (2012) analyzed five months of social media
data, including Facebook and Twitter, collected from both public libraries and academic
libraries. From their analysis, four types of interactions in library social media were
identified: knowledge sharing, information dissemination, communication and knowledge
gathering. Facebook was effective in knowledge sharing while Twitter was an efficient tool
to facilitate communication. They also found that academic library patrons were more likely
to engage in social media to communicate with librarians, while public library patrons used
social media more for knowledge sharing. As part of her study, Aharony (2010) conducted a
comparative content analysis of tweets produced by 15 public and 15 academic libraries,
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Library
marketing via
social media
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