How social is your social media? Managing social media marketing in academic libraries

Abstract

This paper explores the use of social media in academic libraries for marketing purposes. It is suggested that, to date, academic libraries’ use of social media has focused predominantly on the promotion of library services and resources and that the dialogic potential of social media has not been fully exploited. A review of the LIS literature indicates that although there have been many studies and reports of social media use by libraries, investigations of how libraries can promote engagement with stakeholders through social media are scarce. The paper introduces the Strategic Social Media Marketing Framework (SSMMF) and considers how academic libraries might apply it when considering the management of their social media marketing.