Northwest Missouri State University

HISTORY

The Maryville Public Library was established on July 1, 1905. It was funded by a

$15,000 gift from American Industrial Leader and famed philanthropist, Andrew

Carnegie. In 1962, the Maryville Post Office was converted into the new Maryville Public

Library – in the same limestone structure the library is housed in today. Today, the

library houses over 55,000 titles as well as high speed internet connection, electronic

databases, and other electronic resources. They offer public meeting spaces and

children’s programs, as well.

MISSION STATEMENT

The library’s mission statement is to provide patrons with quality informational services

and educational opportunities. The library would like to highlight more of their electronic

resources, like their e-books and the online database they have for Maryville business

owners. They would also like to procure more cardholders in the community. They want

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to promote that there is more than books – learning in all forms. They would also like to

develop some sort of tagline.

COMPETITION

One of the library’s main source of competition comes from B.D. Owens at Northwest

Missouri State University. The majority of college students go to this library to get the

books they need for class, or conduct their study hours.

Another source of competition for the library would be services like Kindle by Amazon

where users can purchase new books from the comfort of their home rather than going

out to a library to rent a book. The library has an e-book program, but have done little to

promote it on their Facebook page thus far.

B.D. Owens’ has pages on both Twitter and Facebook and due to its location on

campus, is both more popular in likes and followers, as well as interaction with posts.

More of B.D. Owen’s posts are related to things going on at the library, rather than

memes or quotes. Having a Twitter account has also benefited B.D. Owens simply

because it’s added exposure.

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SOCIAL MEDIA FOOTPRINT

The Maryville Public Library is only active on Facebook. Facebook is currently the only

form of social media the library believes is beneficial to their target audience right now.

Having considered Twitter in the past, they have never pursued it because they did not

feel it would reach their target audience effectively.

B.D. OWENS – 591 FOLLOWERS ON TWITTER | 988 FOLLOWERS ON

FACEBOOK

TARGET AUDIENCE - COLLEGE STUDENTS

MARYVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY – NO TWITTER ACCOUNT | 740 FOLLOWERS ON

FACEBOOK

TARGET AUDIENCE – RESIDENTS OF MARYVILLE, STUDENTS BELOW

COLLEGE LEVEL

ANALYSIS |PART 1

The Maryville Public Library has been providing books to the town of Maryville since

1905. Its main target audience are the townsfolk of Maryville, considering the B.D.

Owens Library is located on the Northwest Missouri State University campus for college

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students. The majority of people obtaining books from the Maryville Public Library would

presumably be people beyond their college years, and younger people in their early

teens or childhood.

The Library’s primary source of communication with the public is through Facebook.

However, most of what is currently posted on Facebook has little to do with the library

itself, but instead has focused on comedic memes and inspirational quotes. Lately, the

page has been doing more to promote their own programs, like the returning Teen Book

Club, E-Book program and events going on in and around Maryville.

The Facebook page does do a good job of answering people’s questions in a timely

manner. Though the memes and inspirational quotes aren’t directly promoting the

library, it does keep them in touch with the community by grabbing their attention

through comedic relief and different quotes from recognizable authors and books.

The feedback on the Facebook page is also positive in nature. As noted above, the

page does a good job of answering questions quickly and connecting with the

community through relevant posts.

GOALS, STRATEGIES AND TACTICS | PART

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Based on the information provided above, we have come up with a few strategies and

tactics for the Maryville Public Library to look into to help improve their Facebook traffic

numbers and expand their audience.

GOAL: DRIVE MORE TRAFFIC TO THE FACEBOOK PAGE

Strategy: Create shareable and targeted content

One of the library’s main goals is to drive more traffic to their Facebook page which will

in turn generate more followers for the page. The Facebook page currently shares quite

a bit of content from outside sources and doesn’t generate a whole lot of original

content themselves. Sharing memes and other interesting links is one thing, but to

really drive interest towards the page the library will need to be a bit more creative.

The library can draw more people to visit the Facebook page is by creating content that

is prioritized to be shareable, such as a contest with a reward. The giveaway could be

as simple as asking followers to like the Facebook page and share a post to enter to

win a free book of their choosing. By asking followers to share the post, you’re

amplifying your message to hundreds of potential new followers. To enter the giveaway,

entrants will have to like the Facebook page, thus generating a number of new

followers.

To generate even more engagement the Facebook page could run contests that require

user generated content. Even selecting a winner can be driven by your follower base by

allowing them to vote on their favorite entries. The more user engagement you can

create the better. A few examples of contests that could be run are included below:

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Design a Cover – Have Facebook followers design their own cover for their

favorite book and upload their results to the Facebook page. At the end of a

certain time period, have your followers vote on the best cover design.

Favorite Quotes – Have Facebook followers share their favorite quote and allow

users to vote on their favorite after a period of time. (See appendix i.)

Finding Your Favorite Book – Have Facebook followers share their own story

of how they came to find their favorite book and why it’s their favorite. (See

appendix ii.)

Donation Events – Run a canned food drive at the library and the person who

amasses the most donations wins a prize. Use Facebook to create an event

page. Use Facebook posts to promote. (See appendix iii.)

Sentence Creations - Post pictures of stacked books on Instagram using the

titles to create an entertaining sentence. The most creative image wins.

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Outside of contests and other incentive based posts, Facebook pages can also be great

sources of information for an organization. Another idea is to post frequently and on a

regular basis. One of the easiest ways for a library to do this is to announce new book

arrivals and release dates. Just like with any other form of entertainment, people always

want to know when the next book in their favorite franchise will be arriving, or when new

stories by their favorite author are available.

Posting this type of data on the Facebook page is information that people readily share

with their friends and family who have the same interests as them. A sample of what

these posts could look like can be found below.

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GOAL – MARYVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY WANTS TO EXPAND ITS

AUDIENCE  

Strategy - Connect with a range of audiences to reach all ages of the Maryville

community by using a variety of social media mediums including Facebook, Instagram,

Pinterest, and Twitter. 

Utilize the Facebook page for events, focusing on the older audiences.

o Host family events to include parents and a range of children’s ages with

movie nights or bonfires. (See appendix iv.)

Use Instagram to post creative pictures of the library or resources to engage a

younger audience. (See appendix v.)

Twitter would be best to engage college and high school students to share

resources and news. (See appendix vi and vii.)

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Pinterest for making “boards” of book genres found in the library, specifically

hitting females and mothers.

Strategy - Increase college student traffic in the library to engage that group of

consumers and create competition against B.D. Owens.

Host an outdoor book sale with helpful study books or sources for research.

Advertise on Facebook and Twitter.

Utilize organizations on campus such as sororities, fraternities, and teams to host

opportunities for service hours. Promote Greek Life involvement by sharing

pictures and posts of work in progress on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

o Cleaning the library.

o Organizing new books or removing old ones. 

o Read to children at programs such as making a visit to the elementary

schools with the soccer team. 

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Host author signing for a popular writer for young adults and children. Use

Facebook to create an event page. (See appendix viii.)

Promote study areas outside of B.D. Owens by posting images of places to study

in the Maryville Library and around the community on Facebook, Twitter and

Instagram

GOAL – CREATE A RECOGNIZABLE BRAND FOR THE MARYVILLE

PUBLIC LIBRARY

Strategy – Create a new slogan and logo that is more recognizable to the

community.

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. Find a logo that encompasses the library and establishes an image.

o Host a contest for creating the logo and slogan on Facebook, Twitter and

Instagram.  The winner is recognized and receives a gift card. (See

appendix ix.)

o Use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to promote the winner of the

contest and their creation.

o Start watermarking photos and videos taken at the library to make sure

your brand is continually represented in all forms of media.

MEASUREMENT & CRISIS MANAGEMENT |

PART 3

GOOGLE ANALYTICS AND FACEBOOK INSIGHTS

To know whether or not your social media plan is working you’ll need to constantly

measure your results. This will involve using tools like Google Analytics and

Facebook Insights.

Google Analytics allows you to track the amount of visitors to your website, the pages

they view, the amount of time they stay and whether or not they’re new vs returning

visitors, among many other statistics. You can even see whose visiting your website in

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real-time. Facebook Insights provides many similar features to Google Analytics, but is

tailored to the Facebook platform.

Below is an example of the Google Analytics platform in action.

Using Facebook Insights, you can check the engagement level of each individual post

to see what works and what doesn’t. If a post doesn’t create much engagement with

your audience you might avoid wasting time on posts like that in the future. Since one of

the Library’s goal is to increase the follower count on Facebook, most of the analytics

measurements will come from that service.

Facebook Insights can also distinguish paid traffic from organic traffic. Paid traffic is

obtained through using promoted Facebook posts which are users can specifically

target audiences. Organic traffic is free traffic that’s obtained through your followers

sharing, liking and linking your posts on other sources.

Paid traffic can increase your social media following quickly, but has a low return rate.

Organic traffic tends to stick around longer and includes actual fans of your content

rather than just someone stumbling upon your content through a paid advertisement.

Below is a picture of the Facebook Insights platform in action.

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To make sure the library stays on a steady posting schedule for new content, you can

pre-create posts and set them to go live at a certain date and time. Per say, if you have

release dates for books well in advance of the actual release, you can have posts

scheduled to go live a few days beforehand to remind people there will be a new book

available and a final reminder once the book is available. Making sure to keep people

engaged and measuring their involvement on a regular basis is a sure way to continue

to increase your audience levels. This applies to contest reminders as well as any event

reminders as well.

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MEASURING SOCIAL MEDIA OVER 6 MONTHS

Present January February March April May June

Facebook 767 followers

Likes

Comments

Shares

Twitter Does not exist

Likes

Retweets

Closely measure and watch the increase or decrease in followers, likes, comments,

shares, and retweets.

CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Possible Crisis Scenarios: The Maryville Public Library must prepare for all

different types of possible crises; this section explores all of the possible crises they

could encounter.

Disease/Sickness

o Spread of disease

o Food poisoning/ E. Coli on a mass scale

o Infestation of bugs (bed bugs, book worms, cockroaches, etc.)

Felonies/Misdemeanors

o Sexual assault/molestation by a volunteer, staff, or patron

o Physical abuse allegations

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o Murder

o Issues surrounding domestic violence/child abuse

o Theft and robbery

Social Media Crises

o Threats issued on social media

o Complaints issued on social media

Complaints

o Lawsuits

o Inquiries regarding offensive library materials and programs

Other

o Fire/Natural Disaster

o Suicide

o Angry employees or patrons

Crisis Communication Team

Library Director

Assistant Library Director

Remainder of library board

o Children’s Services Librarian

o Teen Librarian

o Adult Services Librarian

Library Director will act as spokesperson for the crisis, all others will fall into

place when they are not available

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Assistant Library Director will do all research on the crisis and report to library

director

Board will enact all protocol included in crisis communication plan

EMERGENCY/CRISIS PROCEDURES

Upon first indication of crisis, Library Director (Stephanie Patterson) must be notified

immediately by any means of communication necessary.

Note: If there are safety measures that need to be taken to ensure no staff member or

patron is in danger, skip to Step 3 in this plan.

STEP ONE

o Notify library director. If the director is not available, notify the Assistant

Director of the Maryville Public Library

o If necessary, social media and press need to be addressed.

STEP TWO

o Library director will instruct front desk personnel.

All calls about the crisis will be documented and callers will be

notified that information will be released as quickly as possible.

No information about the crisis will be released by any staff

member until notified by the library director.

o Library director will be designated spokesperson for crisis – information

will be released to the public by them

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STEP THREE

o Safety measures will be taken for all personnel and patrons

In the case of a natural disaster, proper precautions will be taken

as outlined in the building manual.

Tornado – Guests will proceed to basement

Fire – Patrons and staff exit through designated exit doors

Weapon in building – Staff member at desk presses panic

button and all patrons and staff do whatever they deem

necessary to assure their safety

STEP FOUR

o Assistant Library Director will research and obtain all pertinent information

to staff and Library Director

Will be disseminated by library director to all pertinent personnel,

press, government officials, police, etc.

STEP FIVE

o Continually update social media channels and media on all new

developments

Targeted Audiences

Internal

o Staff members

o Board members

o Volunteers

o Patrons

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External

o Donors

o Media

o Social media followers

o General Public

Guidelines for Handing Reporters

Respond in a timely manner

o At such a time that information is available to be released to the public, do

so immediately

Be factual

o Speak only of the facts of the situation and do not offer much more than

that

Take responsibility

o If necessary, take responsibility for the crisis and do not place blame on

others.

Do not say “no comment”

o If you are in a situation where you cannot answer the question, explain

why you can’t answer it at that time.

Never speculate

o If you are unsure about any facts of the crisis, don’t speculate as to facts

that you are unaware of. Be careful to only state facts that you are sure of

and that have been confirmed.

Don’t place blame

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o Do not place blame on any employees or patrons of the library

Do not use library jargon

o Use layman’s terms so that you do not confuse your public.

Don’t give names of dead or injured until family is notified

Social Media Crises

Twitter

o In the case of a social media attack or complaint that takes place on

Twitter, respond publicly first, then DM (direct message) the Twitter user if

further investigation is needed

o Monitor Twitter constantly (We suggest Hootsuite if you need additional

help with this) because messages come and go so quickly

Facebook

o If the problem is a comment, respond in a comment back and then publish

a status if the crisis calls for it.

o If necessary, message the person directly.

In General

o Identify your influencers – always keep in mind the target audience of

various social media pages

o When in doubt, use caution. If there is questionable content in a post, do

not post it.

o Know what you are talking about – once you lose credibility it is hard to

regain it.

After the Crisis

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Issue a final statement to the media and on social media

o Share your plans for how it will be responded to if something similar

happens in the future.

Compile a record of the response of the library

o Record every single interaction and response that came from the library in

order to assess their effectiveness

o Report any problems that may have occurred and add them to the crisis

communication plan

Stephanie Patterson Director

Wilma Henggeler Assistant Director

Kim Offutt Patron Services

Deborah Clark Preschool Story Hour

Mandi Brown Patron Services

Elizabeth Argo Infant/Toddler Services

Jill Emerson Young Adult Librarian

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APPENDIX OF EXAMPLE POSTS

i. Favorite Quote

ii. Favorite Book

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iii. Donation events

iv. Facebook Event

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v. Instagram post

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vi.

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vii. Fun Fact Friday

viii. Author Visit

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