November 14, 2012

Annual Survey on Web 2.0, Social Media, and Library PR


If you work in a library in the US, please take a moment to take this survey!

Thank you for taking time to respond to this annual survey on American libraries using Social Media tools for PR/Marketing. It should only take 10-15 minutes to complete. It is a follow up to a survey of the same type conducted November 2011. 

SURVEY LINK: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/annualweb202012 

The survey will close on Wednesday, November 21, 2012, 5:00pm EST.

Please forward this survey to library colleagues, state library association listservs, Facebook pages, or others who may be interested.

If you have any questions, please contact me at crogers@statelibrary.sc.gov.

Curtis R. Rogers, Ed.D. Communications Director, SC State Library

October 29, 2012

Are you taking Risks with Social Media?

This was a very interesting presentation to do the research for. I found some really great resources and ended up having a great conversation with the 60 or so program attendees at the SC Public Records Association conference last week. Here is my presentation on Slideshare. Enjoy!

October 18, 2012

ALCOP Conference

WOW! I have not blogged here in a while! This past weekend I attended the ALCOP conference.  It's a new association:  Association for Library Communications and Outreach Professionals.  I met a lot of wonderful folks from around the country and also got a chance to present a session on the annual social media survey I do.  Here is my presentation.  Enjoy!


July 05, 2012

Quote Images

I recently read an article about things non-profits can use to increase traffic on their facebook pages so I've started creating some quote images. Here are the most recent ones. Enjoy!

June 07, 2012

Nice Example

library signage by Michael Casey
library signage, a photo by Michael Casey on Flickr.

This is a nice example of a sign in a library about cell phone use. Libraries, take note!

The Power of Library PR!

I had a great time a few days ago presenting at the SC Library Association's College and University Section's workshop, The Library Instruction Toolkit: Effective Teaching, Active Learning.  Below is my presentation on Slideshare.  Attendees had lots of great comments and really added to the session. I was really impressed with one attendee who said she makes it a point to meet with her assigned department on her campus once a week!  The group exercise went very well and all four groups developed some really great ideas for future workshops.


June 05, 2012

2011 SLIS Hooding Ceremony (Extended cut)

I just came across this on the USC CMCIS YouTube channel.  At about 11:00 is where my speech begins. Enjoy!

April 11, 2012

Reading Rooster Recommends April 11 2012

Watch this episode of the Reading Rooster Recommends to learn about great children's book titles about the Titanic and Cats and Poetry!

April 10, 2012

Know What You Want - guest blog post by Stephanie Vance


If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll wind up somewhere else. Yogi Berra

Yogi Berra cracks me up (as does Yogi Bear, perhaps because he’s smarter than the average bear. For those who didn’t grow up with Yogi Bear, look it up).  And it’s true that you MUST know your goal before you get started.  You may need to reassess as circumstances change, but you won’t get very far down the road if you don’t have an idea of which road you’re on or should be on.  Or let me correct that. You certainly can go very far down the road, but in general it’s not going to get you anywhere near where you want to go.  I know this because I get lost a lot.

Tactics 1 through 5 in The Influence Game cover “knowing what you want,” specifically:
·         Your Effort is a Cause: Your cause may be getting a new job, gaining a sale or implementing some legislative initiative.  Whatever it is, remember that you are promoting a specific result over opposition, competition or potential objections.  That’s the very definition of a cause.
·         Know the Nature of What You’re Selling: I wrote several blog posts on this already, so all I’ll say is that you’ve got to know whether what you’re selling involves inertia or action, is controversial or easy, is a must-do or may-do decision or is short- or long-term.  If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you won’t be able to set a SMART goal (see the next tactic).
·         Set a SMART Goal:  SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.  In other words, you must know what it is you want, when you want it by, whether you have the internal resources to attain it, whether the external environment makes it possible and what the timeframe is for a decision.
·         Know WHY You Want What You Want (Or Why the Other Person Might Want That): “You should do what I say because I said so” works only in parental situations and even there not so much.  I can’t even get it to work with my dog.  So you’ll have to have a good reason for why you want what you’re asking for.  And if that reason relates to what the decision maker may want, you’ll be far more effective.
·         Know What You’re Talking About:  While it’s totally appropriate to say “I don’t know, but I’ll get back to you,” nothing is more frustrating than having someone try to sell you a product they know absolutely nothing about, right?  In many ways your cause is a product and you’ve got to be familiar with its nuances if you’re going to convince others to get on board.
Another baseball player named Babe Ruth knew all this about knowing what he wanted.  He’s the one who, when he came up to bat in the 1932 World Series, pointed to a spot in the stands and hit a home run to that spot, which won the game.  Sure, there’s some controversy over what he was pointing at and what he intended.  The key, though, is that he pointed and the ball went there.  You need to do the same.
Stephanie Vance, the Advocacy Guru at Advocacy Associates, is the author of five books on effective advocacy and influence, including The Influence Game.  A former Capitol Hill Chief of Staff and lobbyist, she works with a wide range of groups to improve their advocacy efforts.  More at www.theinfluencegame.com

April 01, 2012

At the bookmobile exchange.


I had a great time presenting about the power of PR and everyone had lots of great ideas for promoting their outreach programs. I broke them out into four groups and here's what they came up with.

March 28, 2012

Reading Rooster Recommends March 28 2012

The Reading Rooster explores children's book titles about Easter, Passover, and the Environment.  Watch it today and learn about these great books!


March 14, 2012

Thank you notes are nice to get!

Today I received a nice thank you note for a presentation I gave last week at the Richland County Public Library.  Thanks Diane for brightening my day!


March 13, 2012

Reading Rooster Recommends for March 13 2012

Just in time for St. Patrick's Day, check out this episode of the Reading Rooster Recommends!

March 02, 2012

Does Social Media Matter?

Today I presented at our Young Adult Services Exchange and asked the question, Does Social Media Matter?  It was great to see so many comments and interaction among the attendees!  Here is the presentation and photos of the results of their group work.


Attendees were divided into four groups to address the following three things:
1) make a list of social media tools they are or should be using to interact with YAs
2) brainstorm on what could be some innovative uses for social media tools and working with YAs
3) Why does social media matter?





February 23, 2012

Reading Rooster Recommends February 23 2012

From Black History Month to Women's History Month with the Reading Rooster. (Be sure to watch this episode to the very end!)

January 19, 2012

Workforce Development Boot Camp Presentation

I had a great time presenting today at the SC State Library's Workforce Development Boot Camp. Here is my presentation along with the group project and some photos of what the groups accomplished. Everyone did a great job! The biggest commonality was that no one had any $$$ for a marketing/PR budget for their proposed workshop. This is usually the case and just means you have to be as creative as possible!
Worksheet for Workshop Marketing Plan

 What community are you serving?
 • Identify your community stakeholders 
• Who can help you get the word out? 
• Who do you think will be interested in attending? 

 Who are your customers?
• Who are your regular customers? 
• Who are your non-users you are trying to reach? 

 Develop your workshop message/description but be brief and to the point.
• How can you really build interest in your workshop? 
• Think of innovative way, verbiage, catchy phrases that will make people want to register for your workshop. 

 Create an innovative workshop title that best describes your workshop.
• Be as brief as possible. 
• Use innovative and catchy words that will catch people’s attention. 

 What specific news/media/other outlets will you alert?

 How much $$$ will you spend and on what?


Photos from group project time:

January 12, 2012

Today's Presentation for Library Public Service Managers


It's been a busy two day s of presenting!  Today I gave this presentation at the Public Library Public Services Managers Exchange and below is the result of  attendee group session work.

Social Media and the library front line…
Presentation link:
1.      What social media tools should your library use?
a.      Facebook
b.      Twitter
c.       Flickr
d.      Pinterest
e.      Ravelry
f.        Meetup
g.      Blogging
h.      Youtube
2.      How could your library use them better?
a.      Have a link on the homepage to social media
b.      Each dept add something regularly
c.       Solicit comments
d.      Informing the public – update more frequently
e.      Receiving feedback
f.        Use QR codes
g.      Look at the stats and see who is saying what
3.      What results have you seen?
a.      Not currently aware of this yet (forget to check)
b.      Public is upset when these tools are not available
c.       Take up a lot of bandwidth
d.      Increase in “likes”
e.      Increasing need for more content/sharing
f.        Low number of people liking us compared to number served – is it really reaching the number of people we think
4.      How can your library staff get more staff involved in using social media tools?
a.      Promoting it within the library
b.      Have an incentive (prize for staff member)
c.       Staff awareness – training
d.      Make it part of your day – check it – add it to ‘to do’ list
e.      Informing the staff – training

Institute for Department Management

I had a great time presenting yesterday for the USC Institute of Public Service and Policy Research.  Below are my presentation and session notes.  Enjoy!




Institute for Departmental Management
Using Social Media to Enhance Constituent Services Wrap-Up
January 11, 2011
How is local government changing?
·         Hired a Public Information Officer to coordinate social media
·         Awareness is important and you need to have a social media policy in place
o   Visit http://www.statelibrary.sc.gov/docs/board/201109_com_scsl_social_media_policy.pdf for a copy of the SC State Library’s social media policy.
·         Provide more wi-fi
·         There is much more transparency
·         There is a lot more PR/Advertising
What are your thoughts on the video (social media statistics)?
·         Impressive
·         Quick way to reach people
·         Young people
·         “good grief”
·         What are the environmental repercussions?
·         What’s it replacing?

1)      How can we as public agencies engage our citizens?
a.       Website
b.      Social media
c.       Email communications
d.      Offer wi-fi
e.      Facebook and twitter by department
f.        Tax map info
g.       Post Most commonly asked questions
h.      Provide information about FOI
i.         Random advertisements
2)      How can we make it easy for customers to do business with us?
a.       Credit card payment online/tickets/fees
b.      Post RFP/RFQs online
c.       Make web site easier to navigate
d.      Provide online forms
e.      Provide Electronic billing/email statements
f.        Have links to important and timely information on web site
g.       Use paypal
h.      Allow users to sign up for services via web site
3)      How can our department be more transparent?
a.       Post events to social media
b.      Post surveys to social media
c.       Have a virtual town hall
d.      Post meeting minutes, policies, new construction details online
e.      Provide customer service (ask a question online) via web site
f.        Web site must be updated with relevant information
g.       Post the budget and ordinances online
h.      Uplink live video of council meetings, parole hearings, etc., on web site
4)      How can we provide services efficiently with new technology where it makes sense?
a.       Provide online forms,
b.      planned reviews,
c.        utilize 311 system,
d.      create an iPhone app
e.      Allow bill paying online
f.        Provide the ability to make appointments online with staff for assistance

Online Resources

·         Google
·         Mapquest
·         GFOA
·         USDA
·         HUD
·         SC Secretary of State
·         Grants.gov
·         SC Dept of Commerce
·         US Census
·         Dept of Labor
·         Labor Licensing and Regulation
·         Scstatehouse.gov
·         Masc.sc
·         Eip.sc.gov
·         Statelibrary.sc.gov
·         Local newspapers
·         Lscog.org
·         Gcwsd.com
·         SC treasurer’s office
·         Medicare.gov
·         Scaccesshelp.org
·         Codered.net
·         Asap.gov
·         Whitepages, yellowpages, google
·         Banking
·         USDOT/team
·         NOAA
·         Dhhs.state.gov
·         Scnewhere.com
·         E-verify
·         Masc.sc
·         Town website
·         Aging.sc.gov
·         ATAX
·         Gmsactg.com
·         EIP/state health benefits
·         State retirement
·         Doi.sc.gov
·         State ethics commission
·         Whitehouse.gov
·         Scvotes
·         Fitsnews.com
·         www.google.com
·         www.amazon.com
·         www.ire.gov
·         www.sc.gov
·         www.theitem.com
·         www.scdiscus.org
·         www.doj.gov
·         www.fema.org
·         www.gfoa.org
·         www.mapquest.com
·         www.weather.com
·         www.noa.org
·         www.charlestoncounty.org
·         www.charleston.net
·         www.wistv.com
·         www.masc.org
·         Google maps
·         Awwa
·         Wef
·         Planning.org
·         Aja.com
·         Grants.com
·         Mysc.gov
·         Scac.org
·         Masc.org
·         Eda.gov
·         Epa.gov
·         Scdhec.gov
·         Sccca
·         B&c Board
·         Americanfactfinder.com
·         Cmdcsd.com
·         Lscog.org
·         Hamptoncounty.org
·         Weather.com
·         Ors.sc.gov
·         Facebook
·         Twitter
·         Specific event websites (www.hartsvillechristmasparade.com)
·         GIS/property tax
·         Google street view/map/earth
·         MASC job listings
·         www.thestate.com – local reporters blog
·         Wunderground
·         Revers address