Draft marketing strategy for a University Library

Objective: 

To effectively deliver key library messages and build partnerships for developing a truly customer-centred library.

Marketing Strategy:

Introduce and trial new communication channels using social media tools.

Universities are complex and dynamic organisations where inconsistencies in branding easily occur and are not easily controlled, but can lead to customer confusion and provide a risk to reputation and standing. In developing an effective social media marketing strategy, cohesion with the existing brand and the parent marketing strategy must be a priority objective. 

Fundamental to a marketing strategy’s success, which in this case is to effectively deliver key library messages and build partnerships with customers using social media, are the following:

1. Knowing and understanding the business goals and the organisation’s mission/vision, generally highlighted in mission statements and articulated in greater detail in a University’s Strategic Plan. 
2. Knowing the customer and their needs, how they perceive the University’s brand and what online behaviours are most prevalent. Researching customer perceptions, needs and wants by listening via social media can identify online behaviours, broken down into the categories outlined in Bernoff's (2011) blog post - Creators, Conversationalists, Critics, Collectors, Joiners, Spectators or Inactives (Forrester's Social Technographics Ladder: a classification of social media behaviours), making decisions easier around which marketing tools to use. For example, if our customers are predominantly made up of “spectators”, tailoring the social media presence appropriately means including ready access to up-to-date Blog posts, podcasts, videos from other users of the library service/product, ratings and reviews, and current Tweets.
3. Map business goals to target customers’ needs. What marketing channels are most appropriate to customer segmentations, for example social media or traditional media? Mapping social media tools to targeted customers, to business goals, and to products/services can produce powerful conversations and interactions, and in combination, create extremely positive outcomes. 



Mapping strategy components for positive outcomes

4. Budgeting for the appropriate amount of resources to implement the strategy. 
5. What are the rules of engagement? If using social media, a policy is crucial. 
6. What is being marketed? Is the Library the marketing focus, or specific products/services? 
7. Incorporating social media tools means choosing which will be used based on their appropriateness to purpose. Limiting these tools to four will avoid overwhelming staff and audiences. 

The Marketing Strategy, using social media/networking tools: 

1. To raise awareness of the University Library’s services and products. 
2. To build and maintain effective conversations between the University Library and its customer base using selected social media tools. 
3. To influence behaviour and encourage best practice in scholarly communication and research, by delivering key messages through a variety of new media channels in order to contribute to positive outcomes. 
4. To be open, transparent and responsive to our customers, maintaining engagement through two-way communication media.
5. To encourage participation, partnering and collaboration in developing a library of and for the future.

Bernoff, J. (2012, January 04). The global social takeover [Web log post]. Empowered. Retrieved January 19, 2013, from http://forrester.typepad.com/groundswell/2012/01/the-global-social-takeover.html 

Brown, A. (2009, July 30). Developing an effective social media marketing strategy [Web log post]. Examiner.com. Retrieved January 16, 2013, from http://www.examiner.com/article/developing-an-effective-social-media-marketing-strategy