Numbers Don’t Lie: Increasing Engagement on TLA District 8’s Facebook Page

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok provide easily accessible, free marketing tools for many small organizations like libraries. TLA district officers use these platforms to communicate and market district events to members. However, the limited number of events means that social media communication and marketing often occur infrequently. And if social media platforms are only being used to promote the occasional district event, then members may not have good enough reasons to regularly follow these district communication platforms. This infrequent usage presents a lost opportunity for districts to build richly engaging social spaces where members may learn, inspire, and support one another regarding library initiatives, programming, and pressures. In 2021, District 8 members elected a new web administrator who chose to focus on increasing community engagement on the district’s Facebook page. The goal was to provide a more interactive experience for anyone choosing to view or follow the page by increasing the number of posts. The administrator achieved this by following and regularly sharing posts from the Facebook pages of every library within the District 8 region. Represented communities range from large urban cities to small rural towns, and the libraries include public, school, university/college, and specialized institutions. Since implementing this change, engagement, and followers have increased. The purpose of this presentation is to share this easy-to-implement strategy along with supporting Facebook data demonstrating the strategy’s effectiveness.