Social media are interactive computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation or sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks. Wikipedia
Why use it?
Most of us will be familiar with social media and use it personally so know the benefits (and problems!). Social media is also a way of publicising your service and resources. Increasingly it is where people look for latest information, and some organisations and companies now see this as their main way of communication with users rather than websites. You can get your service out among users and seen by hundreds if not thousands of users. Social media can be seen as more personal than a website, and people can respond to what you’ve posted and you can then respond to them.
It allows quick distribution of information, for instance if the library has to close early in an emergency. It also provides an easy way to share stories and images, whereas sometimes it takes a long time to get things added to corporate websites.
Journalists often search social media for stories, so media enquiries can come from reading something you’ve posted.
Local Studies collections are a fantastic resource for social media.
Main types
Blog – allows longer articles to be shared. There is often a comment facility although it is best to enable moderation on this.
Facebook – individuals join and then request friends, join groups and follow organisation pages. People (or groups) post stories, images and videos.
Twitter (now X) – sharing 240 character tweets (posts). Threads and BlueSky are alternatives which work on similar principles.
Instagram – photo (and video) sharing platform.
LinkedIn – a professional networking platform. You can create you own personal profile and engage with others and make contacts, and share stories about your service with potential partners. You can also create a profile for your library/service.
There are various others such as Tik Tok, Tumblr, Mastadon, Flickr. Each has their own character and focus, so will vary as to whether they are suitable for your purpose. Social Media trends change rapidly, and what was popular one year may wane the next, and there will be new platforms launched. Keeping track of everything is hard.
Account options
Do you have Local Studies account or just contribute to a wider library account? Check with your Comms Unit for advice as each organisation will have different policies. Some may allow numerous accounts to be set up across Libraries, with each library having their own account and a local studies account may be possible. Other may restrict, so local studies will feed into a larger account. The latter may have benefit of introducing new users to local studies and requires less content to be created.
If an account is shared by several administrators, then co-ordination is needed as to what is posted and when.
If there is a generic account for your parent organisation (e.g. Local Authority) make contact and let them know any good content they might like, as they are often looking for interesting content. Tag them in so they can reshare. Some Comms Units may not know you so it is a chance to let them know the treasures available.
Social Media Policy
Your organisation may have policies about social media so check with your Comms department. If you are contributing to another account they may also have a policy so you will need to be aware of it and fit in with their ‘style’. Most accounts have more than one Admin so the usually policy is that they all conform to the same style so people don’t know the difference.
It is best to stay clear of controversial topics and think if something could be misinterpreted. For instance if you are posting a photo of a past flood because there are current floods then be aware people may have been badly affected and phrase accordingly. If a local council scheme is controversial you may want to stay clear of posting something linked to it, or get advice.
If people comment you should try to comment, if relevant, acknowledging comments and providing more detail if available. Most libraries and heritage organisations have very few nasty/angry/controversial comments, but if you do you may want to get advice as to whether to ignore them or to engage and explain. Some organisations, though, have found an increase in negative posts on some platforms in recent years, so have decided to close some accounts.
Posts
These are some suggested advice for some of the most used platforms. You can usually get a feel for these and others through reading posts from others, and there is plenty of advice online.
Blogs – longer articles, normally a few a week maximum and not more than one a day. Takes time to write and research so post less frequent.
Facebook – No limit to text but usually 3 or 4 images maximum and a couple of paragraphs. May link to a blog. Usually only post one or two a day at most, and need to do at least one a week. Can link to a blog so people can read the longer article.
Twitter (X) – 240 characters so short and sharp, with maximum 4 images. Can tag other organisations in who may reshare. Can share link to blog. Most people see tweets in chronological order and there’s no problem in posting numerous tweets in a day, and repeating tweets to ensure as many people as possible read them. You can now link tweets as well, so if you need longer than 240 characters you can have a thread of several tweets, but it is still good to be as concise as possible.
Instagram – Photos/Videos are the main focus, so choose eye catching images.
Content
The best way to see what is good content is to look at similar organisations. You can get lots of ideas from them so have a browse. Local Studies, as you may be aware, have fantastic resources for social media as we have amazing collection. Keep an eye on the stat pages on the platform to see how well different posts are doing, which is also important to record to show your managers. Quite often you’ll be surprised at what is popular.
- Service updates – new additions, changes to access, opening hours, sudden closures or still open in bad weather. Many organisations don’t update their website now with this information and just update social media.
- Topical – is it a frosty/rainy/snowyday? It is the budget, Sports Relief, has a popular TV series just started or something just hit the headlines?
- Hashtag Days – Just every day is a particular day, such as Biscuit Day, Handwriting day, as well as other more well known days such as Shrove Tuesday, St Patrick’s Day, World Book day or May Day.
- Anniversaries – VE Day, Birth/death of a monarch, local anniversaries can all be the focus of a post
- People are also interested in old photos (you may well have plenty in your collection), especially if they can reminisce.
- Funny/Strange stories or enquiries
- Oldest/Biggest in your collections
- Subjects people are in studying (with their permission if mentioned)
- Famous people in the archives
- Events – advertise your workshops/talks and other events
Examples
These are a few Worcestershire examples, posted by Worcestershire Archive & Archaeology Service (posting under the Explore the Past brand) which have proven to be very popular and may inspire you.
A frosty morning inspired this photo being shared of the frozen River Severn.
When we saw this 1890 newspaper story of a hairdresser letting off a cannon in their bedroom we knew it would be popular. A host of questions spring to mind!
A sales catalogue for Bag End is always popular when it has been shared whenever there is a Tolkien anniversary or a film is released.
This Fish & Chip shop in 1968 on #NationalFishAndChipDay (7 June) caused a lot of reminiscing about going to the chippy in the past.
Copyright / Permissions
Putting images on social media is publishing so make sure you have permission for anything you post!
You may want to ensure images are lower resolution (but enough to look ok) and post your library name on along with any reference (in case people follow up and ask for it) in case people cut and paste or copy which they may do. Many people think if it’s on the web they can feely use it, so will use on their own websites and social media without permission or acknowledgement. Another option is watermarking.
Check you have people’s permission before posting photos of them online.
Evaluation
If you’re spending time on social media then you want to see how successful it is, for yourself and to show others. Again there’s plenty of advice online about measuring it. Views are good to record, but they are part of the story. Interactions, such as sharing, likes or replies, can be more useful to show how much interest it’s generated. Some statistics need interrogating further. For instance a 10 minute YouTube video may have 100 views, but when you check only 50 views were over 1 minute, and only 10 were for more than 5 minutes, giving an indication of how many people took an active interest.
Another indication is whether people responded in a way you wanted them to. Did they supply information requested, follow a link to complete a survey, or attend an advertised event? It may be that a post advertising a tour of the local studies library was really popular and reshared and liked many times, but very few people actually book.
Beware!
It can be very time consuming, and responding to messages can be one of the hidden extra tasks. Have a plan for what you will do, and revisit it, to help avoid being overwhelmed. Ensure your manager is aware of how long it takes too. Being part of a larger team can help.
Remember that some elderly or disadvantaged customers do not use social media (but don’t assume, as lots of older people use it) – ensure other methods of communication are also used such as local newspapers, council flyers and posters.
There are many forms of social media and people have different preferences, and each has a different audience profile. So you may either just reach a proportion or have to use several platforms.
The social media landscape changes rapidly. Remember when young people were using Bebo, and having a MySpace account was the in thing? Then in late 2024/early 2025 quite a few organisations starting to switch from Twitter/X to BlueSky or just coming off it altogether, due to concerns over the toxic nature, and also the decline on people on that platform. You may be reading this article and thinking how out of date it sounds! So you will need to keep re-evaluating you social media policy which is of course is extra work.
Got something to add?
Do you have any comments, suggestions or updates for this page? Add a comment below or contact us. This toolkit is only as good as you make it.
CILIP Local Studies Group 