Social Media Videos Marketing Success for Pickering Public Library

In our age of digital marketing where there are so many social media options to choose from, one community library is finding success through their development and use of videos.  In addition to using Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram, the Pickering Public Library is including short, in-house created videos in their Facebook Page, YouTube channel and website to communicate upcoming events, new programs and services, fun facts and promote client engagement.  These videos have become quite popular in their community and beyond.

Donna Moritz of Social Media Examiner attributes the rise in popularity of short video social media content to how “snackable” they are, as a quick visual method that grabs our attention,

“Short videos suit our busy lives, brief attention spans and the need to consume content easily and quickly. Because fans are consuming content via their mobile devices while they’re on the go, the shorter the content is, the better.”

 

Stephanie Panou, Marketing Assistant at the Pickering Public Library has seen a dramatic increase in engagement through social media in the past year – something that coincides with the increased amount of videos they have developed and posted online.  One of their library video creations in particular – “Libraries Tranform“ – has achieved near-viral status with 50,026 views via their Facebook Page.  Stephanie had this to say about achieving such success,

“It’s quite evident how impactful video can be in the online world, and it can have a greater reach than a regular post.  Take for instance, our Libraries Transform video – it has more than 50,000 views (without paid advertisement) and it was shared by libraries around the world. That was crazy for us and let us know that we can make a difference.

Videos at Pickering Public Library are a group effort of 3 to 4 people, as they are more complex to create and take time.  But Stephanie assures that the time and effort is well worth it, especially when a video’s views reach into the thousands.  For example, “The Next Generation Library“ video (with over 2,100 views on Facebook) took an entire work-day to film, 2-3 days to edit, with approximately 3-5 days total for the concept. She adds,

“We wanted a visual way to represent all the amazing things that libraries are offering around the world and show our clients that we want to become a library for the next generation. Videos are more shareable than just a single post with text.”

The only challenge they found was with sound, which they cleverly addressed with the addition of captions.  She states,

 “About 85% of people view our Facebook videos without sound, so we created captions that will automatically run when the viewer’s sound is muted. It takes away from the video’s artwork but we didn’t want the message, the most important part, to be lost.”

Stephanie feels there are a lot of libraries stepping out of traditional marketing methods and comfort zones and who are trying new things based on where they find themselves in their social media level.  She agrees that social media marketing and promotion has increased client feedback and general communication, resulting in greater library engagement including event attendance.  “We surveyed over 300 clients who attended our annual “How-To-In-10-Festival” and Facebook was the 2nd highest way that attendees heard about the event.”  She adds,

“The best thing about social media is that we create a welcoming atmosphere which brings our followers together and allows them to bond with the library on a different level.  We aren’t just a service to the public – social media allows us to build a community.”

Lessons for Others

According to Social Media Today, social media video content is a growing trend – one that might warrant investment costs in annual budgets and strategic plans,

“There’s no doubt that video marketing is on a steady incline.  Video content is an excellent way to capture audience attention and deliver your marketing messages in a more engaging, active way, and as such, it comes as little surprise that more and more brands are leaning towards promotional videos to attract potential customers.”

Implementing the use of video into your social media marketing strategy doesn’t have to be complicated or costly to be effective.  Businesses, big or small, have the ability to develop budget-friendly videos through the use of any cell phone camera, movie-making app or utility outlet (i.e. Facebook Live) to market themselves and tell their story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site, please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Program Director, Social Media for Business Performance.

---

References