{"id":3869,"date":"2023-02-22T15:29:24","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T22:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/?p=3869"},"modified":"2024-01-11T14:03:12","modified_gmt":"2024-01-11T21:03:12","slug":"social-media-tips-and-tricks-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/index.php\/2023\/02\/22\/social-media-tips-and-tricks-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Media Tips and Tricks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Social media can be a tricky world to navigate but never fret we are here to help!<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Best Practices<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Social media can be confusing to navigate, what platform should you be posting on? What time of day is best? How often should we be posting? There are so many questions to consider, so here are some helpful tips!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Consistency is key \u2014 There is plenty of information out there on how many times you should post what time of day etc. but the most important thing to remember is to be consistent. We know that not everyone has a dedicated social media person and that is fine. Pick how many times to post a week and stick to it \u2014 this can be even one time a week. As long as you\u2019re keeping your patrons engaged then you should start seeing growth in your pages.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Use a professional tone \u2014 a library is a business, so make sure your tone is professional, friendly, and informative!&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You don\u2019t need to have it all \u2014 managing social media accounts can be a full-time job and you don\u2019t need to do it all. Pick the social media that works best for communicating with your patrons and stick with it!&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Note: If you have social media accounts you\u2019re not using, get rid of them! You don\u2019t want to confuse people with wrong information on an old page or leave patron questions unanswered.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Treat your inbox and comments like a phone call or a patron coming in \u2014 When people realize your social media is more than just information, you\u2019ll get more engagement. Responding to questions or comments can help create a community on your page!&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Note: Make sure this is within reason, you don\u2019t need to be on 24\/7, set boundaries and only respond when you\u2019re in the office!&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Post about relevant items and information \u2014 New books, programs, things happening around the community, and other things that patrons can find or borrow in the library!&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Note: Sharing or commenting on other community pages or groups can create community engagement and bring more people to your page.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The best way to start using these practices is to create a\u202fsocial media policy\u202fthis way everyone is on the same page and if you hire new staff or get help from volunteers, they have a document they can reference. Learn more about\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hootsuite.com\/social-media-guidelines\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">social media guidelines<\/a>\u202fand\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hootsuite.com\/social-media-policy-for-employees\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">social media policy<\/a>\u202fwith these blogs from Hootsuite!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re a member library reach out to Parkland Regional Library System for help creating your social media policy and guidelines!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Social Media for Libraries<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is a great blog all about social media and marketing for libraries call\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/superlibrarymarketing.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion<\/a>. Recently she came out with multiple blogs \u2014\u202f<em>The 2023 Guide to Social Media for Libraries<\/em>\u202ffor all the different social media \u2014 we suggest you check them out!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/superlibrarymarketing.com\/2022\/11\/21\/facebookforlibraries2023\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Facebook<\/a>&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/superlibrarymarketing.com\/2022\/12\/12\/instagramforlibraries2023\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Instagram<\/a>&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/superlibrarymarketing.com\/2022\/12\/19\/twitterforlibraries2023\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Twitter<\/a>&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/superlibrarymarketing.com\/2022\/11\/14\/linkedinforlibraries2023\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/superlibrarymarketing.com\/2022\/11\/28\/tiktokforlibraries2023\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tik Tok<\/a>&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/superlibrarymarketing.com\/2022\/12\/05\/youtubeforlibraries2023\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">YouTube<\/a>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Copyright Laws<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Copyright laws apply to more than just books and words. Photos and stock images on the internet also apply to copyright laws \u2014 this also applies to photos from people in the community \u2014 and it is important when using photos for any use that you use a stock image site or get permission from the owner of the photo!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you use a photo from someone in the community, \u2014 posting it as your own not sharing a post \u2014make sure to give photo credits! This can be as simple as Photo Credits to @PRLSystem or Photo by @PRLSystem or \ud83d\udcf8@PRLSystem or Photo by Parkland Regional Library System if they don\u2019t have a social media account.\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Free Stock Photo Sites&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are some free stock photo sites where you can get photos from copywrite free!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Flickr<\/a>\u202f\u2014 Find photos from professional and budding photographers, please note people can turn off downloads of their photos meaning you can\u2019t use them.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/nappy.co\/search\/library\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nappy.co<\/a>\u202f\u2014 Nappy.co is the perfect site to use if you\u2019re looking to add some diversity to your social media!&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/openverse.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Openverse.org<\/a>\u202f\u2014 Find stock images, photos, and audio all for free!&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Unsplash.com<\/a>\u202f\u2014 Free and paid options, make sure you&#8217;re picking photos without water markers!&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Shutterstock.com<\/a>\u202f\u2014 Free but you\u2019ll need to make an account to download photos&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/stock.adobe.com\/ca\/free\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Adobe Stock<\/a>\u202f\u2014 photos and graphics!&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking for more?\u202fCheck out this\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hootsuite.com\/20-free-stock-photo-sites-social-media-images\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">blog by Hootsuite<\/a>\u202fto find more free stock photos and learn more about what photos you can and can not use!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Making your Social Media Accessible<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this digital age, everyone is using social media. There are simple things you can do to help everyone enjoy your page!\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Alt Text \u2014 Alternative text is a written description of what is in the photo which helps text reading be able to describe the photo to someone with a visual impairment. Check out\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/disabilityin.org\/resource\/creating-accessible-social-media-content\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">disability.org<\/a>\u202fto learn more about Alt text and how to add it on different social media platforms.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use easy-to-read font \u2014 There are websites where you can make fancy fonts for your social media post, however, text readers can not read them like the regular fonts on social media sites \u2014 the text reader will just read the code for the font instead of the words.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Camel Case \u2014 This is when you use capital letters in a hashtag to help a text reader distinguish the words for example #ParklandRegionalLibrary&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/colorsafe.co\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Color Safe<\/a>\u202f\u2014 Color Safe is a website that is designed to help companies create beautiful designs with accessible colour palettes based on the\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/webaim.org\/blog\/wcag-2-0-and-link-colors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">WCAG Guidelines<\/a>\u202ffor text and background contrast ratios.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whocanuse.com\/?bg=356149&amp;fg=ffffff&amp;fs=20&amp;fw=b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How Can See<\/a>\u202f\u2014 is a similar website to Color Safe, you can type in a colour code and see how easy it is for people with visual impairments \u2014 Glaucoma, Tritanomaly, and Achromatopsia \u2014 to read.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>More Resources<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Already have the basics down? Check out these sites to help up your social media game!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.socialmediaexaminer.com\/apps-for-instagram-stories-video-editing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Social Media Examiner<\/a>\u202f\u2014 Apps for editing your Instagram videos.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/later.com\/blog\/instagram-reels\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Later.com<\/a>\u202f\u2014 Learn more about Instagram Reels.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/heleneinbetween.com\/2020\/01\/ultimate-guide-instagram-stories.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">HelenInBetween.com<\/a>\u202f\u2014 a guide to stories.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/2022\/06\/tiktok-and-libraries-a-powerful-partnership-was-a-powerful-presentation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ALSC Blog<\/a>\u202f\u2014 a Tik Tok guide for Libraries.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Social media can be a tricky world to navigate but never fret we are here to help! Best Practices&nbsp; Social media can be confusing to navigate, what platform should you be posting on? What time of day is best? How often should we be posting? There are so many questions &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marketing-communications","category-social-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3869"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3871,"href":"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3869\/revisions\/3871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}