User-generated libraries

IG TrendCentral reported on a new social networking/media sharing site called Uber.com. Here's what TrendCentral had to say about the online community:

"The sleekly designed, user-friendly site offers innovative functions and features currently unrivaled by other popular social networking sites. Not only can users discover, publish, collect, store, and share all forms of content (e.g. art, photos, videos, blogs, and bookmarks) all in one place, but the site also provides them with capabilities to consolidate, manage and store profiles, pages and media from YouTube, Flickr, MySpace, and Facebook all in one place. In other words, Uber is a virtual library where users can store their digital footprints.

Inspired by community members’ ideas and fueled by their desire to create, express and share, Uber’s unique Visual Index is organically generated through the compilation of user-generated pages. As such, the platform is quickly evolving into a next-generation media publishing company that, by fostering creative collaboration, allows users to emerge as stars."

I've played around on this site a little bit. You can log in with your Facebook account. It's really neat to see people experimenting with photography and other media, and to see the collections people are putting together. I'd love to see libraries allow patrons to do something similar on library sites with library materials. For example, libraries provide the resources and information for patrons to produce their own media, and then provide a forum like Uber.com so that they can share their collections with others in a library-hosted platform. The idea appeals to me because it's a great way to demonstrate how information resources are brought to life, and to showcase patron's creative efforts at the same time. (Not a bad marketing strategy either...).

Facebook: Where socializing and monetizing collide

Marketplace.org aired a piece yesterday on how Facebook and Buy.com banded together to provide a new service called Garage Sale - a service that allows people to buy and sell their stuff from their Facebook profile pages. The move is yet another example of a growing trend where the online worlds of socializing and consumerism are merging together. I think these developments will change people's expectations about having product and service providers in online networks since now members are becoming the marketers. The Buy.com Chief Executive states,

"We see tremendous growth opportunities in providing the millions of users on business and social networks with an alternative to eBay, and the ability to transform their personal profile pages beyond information-sharing."

Perhaps the changes will also make reluctant librarians more comfortable promoting their services through social networking sites. Whatever the case, if Facebook is part of your library marketing strategy, these changes are good to know.

[Also see an article from WebProNews about Garage Sale.]

Guest post from Emily Clasper on reaching connected moms

Thank you to librarian Emily Clasper for her recent commentary to the post "Mom power." In her response, Emily mentioned that she could relate to the experiences of on-the-go moms and their use of social networks to stay connected. I asked her to tell me more about her perspective and how librarians can do a better job of reaching out to moms like her. Fortunately, she took me up on the offer and contributed this guest post on the subject, which I'm copying in its entirety here (with permission, of course):

As a parent of a young child, I definitely use social networking a lot as a parenting resource. I started when I was pregnant and joined a forum for mothers with a February 2006 due date. About 40 of us from all over the world got to know one another, and it's still going strong as we now all have children the same age and can relate to one another really well. These ladies are now some of my very best friends and I don't know what I would have done without their advice and support!

From there, it was a slippery slope...I've also gotten involved in the "Mommy Blog" (or Daddy Blog!) subculture that is thriving online. We post pictures of our little ones, along with our thoughts on the trials of motherhood, and a lot of advice and information that's helpful to other parents (we hope!). I am constantly researching parenting topics online, everything from developmental milestones to the best toys for a one year old (I've come to rely on recommendations from other parents for that one). Being involved in online parenting communities has enriched and informed my offline life immensely!

So how can libraries use the power of online social networking to reach out to young, modern mothers...not only to provide them with more and better services, but also to take advantage of the word of mouth buzz such ladies can give your library?

In her post on Mom Power, Jill summarized the important aspects of providing services for savvy Gen-X and Y moms well: "Make services for this group quick, convenient, and online if possible by creating more specialized online content and taking advantage of the social networks they rely on for quality information."

Some tips for attracting young mothers to your library (and keeping them there!):

1. Provide programs and services that interest Gen-X and Y parents.
Children's programs are terrific. There is nothing like a good storytime! But I don't often see programs that are geared towards the parents of young children and the issues that we face these days...and I'm not going to take the time to participate if I'm not really interested. What about programs on juggling work and family? Or choosing a good childcare situation? Or dealing with food allergies? Or using social networking to get support and information from other parents? And why not hold one of these really good, topical programs for parents at the same time as a children's program so that both the children and parents can participate? Bibliographies of parenting resources are found in most Children's rooms...why not take these a few steps further and publish a wiki for your patrons? I’d love that!!

2. Make us aware of these services.
My library's monthly newsletter generally goes directly into the garbage with the junk mail when it reaches my house. It's not that I'm not interested in my library or what is going on in my community, but we are (like most people, I think) completely bombarded with junk mail each day and it's hard to make a distinction. Therefore, putting a mention of an upcoming event, program, service, or collection targeted at mothers is going to completely unnoticed in my house. Libraries need to find other ways to reach out to busy young parents. Go where we are, and speak our language. I'm more likely to notice a library event on the local newspaper's online events calendar, or from a brochure at the pediatrician's office (sometimes the only place I ever get to sit down and rest for a second!). If your library has a blog, publicize it and encourage patrons to subscribe...but give us something interesting to read while you plug your programs and services, and encourage us to participate in the conversation! A blog that reads like a string of press releases won't hold our interest for long.

3. Go by our schedules, not yours.
One of the main reasons why online social networking appeals to me more than the "live" Mommy group has to do with time. With the hectic lifestyle most young moms find themselves leading, it's nice to be able to participate when we can - whether that's for fifteen minutes at 11:30 at night or at work while we take a lunch break. Scheduling programs for young moms (especially for those who work) should respect the difficulties many of us face in squeezing anything extra in. In addition, providing online resources and opportunities for online participation are great because we can access them at any time that is convenient for us. That great parenting program you had last week? Put the video up online so that those of us who couldn't make it can still participate!

4. Put it online!
I do not bring my son to library programs. There are too many rules, signups are a pain, and I can't fit the programs into my schedule as they're all when I'm at work. So I take him to music classes on the weekends instead. We were able to sign up online, pay online, and we can schedule makeup classes online. I got my references for the program online, too. If the library would give me the same options, I'd be there in a flash. Until then, I can't be bothered. IM or email reference help is a good idea, but often seems a second thought and is not often consistent. Not only that, but it is generally pretty poorly publicized, and I don't know that I would be aware of these services if I weren't a librarian myself. I think good library blogs, wikis for resources on topics that interest me, and more consistent online reference (paired with marketing to raise awareness) would be a great way of catching the attention of parents these days. It would also be great if libraries could help parents create online communities as well. With all of the YA departments getting involved in MySpace, etc for the teens, this seems like a natural direction for libraries to go. We talk a good game these days about libraries as community centers...why not libraries as community creators?

5. Make us want to come again.
I've often heard that the most effective marketing tool we have is customer service. If you can give us a good experience while we are in the library, we will come back. And we'll bring friends. But if we don't have a great experience, you're done. We won't be back, and we will tell everyone we know how awful it was to boot. This goes double for online content. If we find what we need, it's interesting or useful and easy to access, I just might come back. Especially if there's a way to subscribe.

I appreciate Emily's insights and am grateful to her for sharing these useful ideas. She touches on a lot of themes addressed here, and it's nice to see a personal account of them in action. As you probably noticed from her post, Emily has no shortage of ideas and is a terrific writer. That's why I was glad to find she started her own blog, Library Revolution: The Status Quo Most Go (nice title!). Though less than a month old, the blog is off to a great start and I'm looking forward to watching it develop.

Good luck in your efforts to reach those busy moms!

Stuff worth reading (in brief)

I'm sorry to be so silent for much of this week. It's been a short week full of meetings and getting ready for my trip to Seattle for Midwinter. There's so much juicy marketing reading out there though, that I just have to pass it along, but I will have to do so in list form:

Making relationships work: MarketingProfs outlines Five Ways to Develop a Dialogue with Key 'Influencers'. Influencers are those hubs of product/service information who have a knack for guiding others. The article points out ways in which we can best interact with these important people and build an influencer program. On a similar note, Knowledge @ Wharton reports on study that reveals people are more likely to purchase something if they are "network neighbors" with existing customers (Network-based Marketing: Using Existing Customers to Help Sell to New Ones). Finally, another MarketingProfs article suggests that there's no such thing as a one-size-fits all online community, and that "microcommunities" are much more successful. The article concludes with a handy list of 5 questions people should ask themselves when building these communities.
Update: It's All Good has more to say on social networking.

Open-source soft drinks: Pepsi sent out a press release outlining its revamped marketing strategy that aims to increase interaction with its customers. Here's an excerpt from the release with some examples of what they have in mind: "Examples of the upcoming packaging designs and promotions: In the U.S., the first can, titled "Your Pepsi," will link to a website inviting consumers to help design a Pepsi billboard ad which will run in New York City's Times Square in April. Consumers in the U.S. will also have a chance to design a special paint scheme for NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon's car that will race later this year. In many international markets, designs will link to websites that enable consumers to create music and video that they can share with others. Consumers will also have access to packaging designs by some of the biggest names in sports and music." It'll be interesting to see how this works out and if there might be some inspiration here for those of us in library land.

Book of interest: BlogCritics Magazine reviews the book, Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing by Ron McDaniel. What interests me most about this book is that the author counters the traditional logic that only amazing, out-of-the ordinary products generate buzz. Instead, McDaniel believes that word-of-mouth can be generated by dedicated, front-line staff. If anyone has read it, I'd like to get your take, so please leave a comment.
Update: I've wanted to mention this for a while: Paul at the Idea Sandbox has an outstanding series of posts on being remarkable. The posts highlight books on the topic of differentiation, all of which are going straight to my ever-growing "To Read" list. This topic is one of my absolute favorites in marketing, so I'm excited to dive into these reads.

Marketing on a budget: Once again, MarketingProfs has a great article, this time on the topic of online marketing on a small budget. Some of the examples include using surveys, forums, and e-mail management sites.