This session was presented by staff from the National University of Singapore (NUS) who talked about how they use social media to bring students into their library. They use blogs, Facebook, Twitter and they have also explored Foursquare and a number of other sites as outlined here:
FOUR SQUARE
The library found that students were checking in with Foursquare with no intervention from the Library. The Library then decided to carry out a number of Foursquare campaigns in order to reach out to students and to highlight their presence on social media.
Typical campaigns included:
- Students who checked in to Foursquare and then came into the Library, were given a token gift.
- Students who checked in four times during a set time were given a token gift.
- Flash special - A Facebook and Twitter notification would alert students that a campaign was underway where they could check in to receive a gift.
- The person who checked in the most times over a period of 60 days would be given a special gift.
The University found that a significant number of people checked in during campaigns. Although campaigns didn't significantly affect the number of walk-ins at the Library they did generate good will and highlighted the Library's presence on social media.
A meme is a viral image in popular culture for certain information or emotions.
- Memes are very easy to create and share and were very popular at the time of the University Library setting up their Meme Project. The project involved the following steps:
- Users emailed their meme with their name.
- The memes were posted on a dedicated Facebook page.
- Students were encouraged to 'like' the page so they could tag their meme.
Memes had to relate to the library and all current students and staff could take part.
The memes were judged on:
- Creativity
- Effectiveness of getting the message across
- Relevance to NUS libraries
- Popularity (including but not limited to likes & shares)
The Library uses Instagram to post pictures including 'behind the scenes' photos of the Library.
The Library has a pinterest account.
Twitter is used by the Librarian. The Library ran a project when staff took in turns to tweet about their work for a week so students got to know a bit more about each member of staff.
ORIENTATION VIDEOS
This year (2013) NUS are introducing very short orientation videos about seeking help etc. These were just being launched when I was at IFLA. I have just search You Tube and found this, which must be one of their new videos:
- It was interesting to hear about the different ways that NUS are using social media, to engage with students, encourage a feeling of goodwill and inform students about the library and staff. There ideas were simple to carry out and seemed to be very effective. Unfortunately all social media sites are currently blocked at our school which makes many of these ideas impractical for us to try at Tanglin. We do, however, have a number of short videos for students. We have very recently started a Library Twitter account too. Our account @libraryTTS is shared by all Tanglin Libraries and it will be interesting to see how this, our first venture into social media, develops.