Blog Post Week 9

Ms. Purviance's presentation was a basic discussion on the meanings and inherent value of social media in a concerted marketing effort. The presentation discussed the basics of what exactly social media is, and also discussed major usage trends among the mainstream demographic audiences on the internet. She was also able to articulate within the presentation the advantages in engaging a user base through the use of social media, as well as how to measure the success of a social media marketing campaign. Measurement of a campaigns success could be reliably measured via conversion metrics such as the ratio of site views versus online transactions, and several others.

In general, I agree with Ms. Purviance's thoughts on social media; they are indeed effective and needed ways to drive interest in an organizations activities in a way that could potentially lead to a better bottom line. There is no doubt in my mind of this. In the 21st century, it is necessary to use social media to not just talk at your audience, but engage them in a genuine and meaningful way. People need to feel like they're a part of something in order to feel more motivated to actually contribute to your bottom line. As odd as it sounds, it's important to make them feel good about themselves as they spend their time and money on you and your brand.

What I find problematic about the use of social media tools is how to articulate the necessity of such things in a public library environment. Budgets are being tightened all the time, and social media, especially outside of the bay area, is perceived as still being a frivolous online activity. How does one go about explaining to government officials who are looking to cut your budget and look good to a cash-strapped public, why it is important to spend time and resources on things like facebook and twitter. It seems like a difficult perception to fight against in this case.

For marketing purposes, as I have stated in other posts, I do indeed feel that libraries would benefit most from facebook and twitter as a way to engage communities, and also extend library services beyond the reference desk. Doing so could prove to be the future and the key to libraries' survival in the years to come.