Heading to the OKACRL Fall Conference on Friday?

Make sure to stop by COIL’s poster session over utilizing social networks for more than just friends!

Details below:

Ning it, Tweet it, F and B it… Utilizing Social Networks for More than Just Friends

For the 2009 unCOILed workshop, COIL members decided to try something new– marketing their summer workshop via social networking websites. One such social networking site was Ning.com, an online service that allows groups to create, customize, and share small social networks devoted to their interests or events. COIL used the unCOILed Ning to not only host and market the workshop’s content, but to also allow presenters and attendees to communicate before the workshop. Presenters posted their presentation content to the ning, and encouraged attendees to ask questions and steer presentation content via the network’s discussion board. In addition to increased collaboration in workshop planning, the unCOILed Ning brought COIL a first—out of state workshop attendees!

In addition to Ning, the group started a Twitter account (@coilok) that marketed the workshop’s theme, date and sign-up and also served as a communication tool during the workshop with different presenters and attendees twittering about their unCOILed experiences. Finally, besides the usual email list-servs, the group reached out to various Facebook librarian groups both locally and nationally by pasting workshop details and their Ning link on Facebook group pages and discussion boards. By using social networking in addition to traditional marketing channels, COIL’s marketing efforts created a buzz that resulted in a record summer workshop attendance and a great deal of positive feedback for their use of new marketing channels.

—

OKACRL’s Fall Conference, Market Share: A Blueprint for You and Your Library, will be this Friday, November 6th at Tulsa Community College’s Southeast Campus.

More details can be found at: http://okacrl.okstate.edu/OKACRL2009.pdf