First off, let's be clear, this is not a book about marketing, it's a book about social media and social networking tools and their various uses in libraries, some of which may fulfill marketing purposes. So if you’re interested in learning about the topic of marketing (as opposed to selective marketing activities in libraries) don’t be misled by the title. That said, if you are looking for a practical guide to popular social media tools and some examples of how these have been applied in libraries, including promotional and other types of marketing activities, then this book could be a useful resource.
The Editor's short preface outlines the structure of the subsequent contributed chapters which each provides a step-by-step guide to implementing social media in libraries. The first chapter introduces the topic of “Libraries and Marketing with Technology”, outlining the various tools, which are then described in the rest of the chapters. These are: Facebook, wikis, videos, Pinterest, Google+, Foursquare, blogs, QR codes, and Twitter – most of the ones you would expect, although not LinkedIn, which has been described as the business world's equivalent to Facebook and would have been a useful inclusion. The introductory chapter also contains a short section called “Other Technologies” which mentions some additional tools that have not been assigned dedicated chapters (for example, a library's web page, GoodReads, LibGuides, crowdsourcing/funding and others). The chapter concludes with sections on “Managing and Monitoring” and “Tips for Success” and a list of references and suggested readings.
Each of the nine chapters is relatively short, around ten to 15 pages, often having pictures and illustrations. Each follows the same basic format, making navigability within the chapters quite easy. The tool is explained, its relevance to marketing is described in general terms (for example, promotions, or “marketing the library”) with some evaluation of advantages, benefits, strengths, and weaknesses of the tool compared with others. There are sections on establishing an account; content and populating; maintenance and monitoring; evaluating, assessing and using statistics; best practices and conclusions, and often there are case studies or examples to illustrate the use of the tool.
It is not appropriate to describe the content of these chapters here, as that would give away a lot of the value of the book. Suffice to say that there are some interesting observations about how social media can support a library's marketing efforts, for example, using Foursquare to track user behaviour patterns (a form of market research) and branding; using Pinterest because libraries’ users increasingly are located online, so in order to remain relevant libraries, also need to position themselves in the online market space. The chapter on videos alludes to the fact that the costs of mass media advertising used to be prohibitive, but the advent of social media (and in particular, video channels) has meant that this type of promotion and the associated skills are much more accessible to libraries. Libraries’ products and promotions can be distributed freely to a mass market.
The world of social media is rapidly evolving and the content of this book is current for now but inevitably will date quickly. Its main value is in providing evaluation criteria regarding the appropriateness of a particular tool for a library's specific purpose, assessing the ease of establishing and maintaining the tool, and suggesting practical techniques for working with it. There are also ideas from other libraries and best practice examples which may be translated into similar environments.
Although the introductory chapter seeks to make some connections between modern marketing techniques and the use of social media, the lack of analysis of the tools within a marketing framework is a limitation, and thus the implications of the title may leave some readers disappointed with the content. Although social media tools have been used widely for marketing purposes, libraries need to use these tools wisely in the context of their strategic marketing plan.
