Generational Marketing: Exploring the use of web 2.0 tools in marketing to patrons at the Ladera Ranch Library
Research Proposal
Abstract
Web 2.0 technologies such as social networking sites, blogs, RSS feeds, and the like have revolutionized how the public communicates with other people, businesses, and even their government. As a result, it is proposed that they have also changed how patrons interact with or would like to interact with their libraries. It is also proposed that patrons desire more online services from their libraries that also utilize novel Internet technologies. This paper examines the community and environment of the Ladera Ranch Public Library, which is one of affluent young families. Given the specific community conditions at the Ladera Ranch Public Library, it is theorized that our patrons are among those who desire more online services and would be reached through an online marketing campaign. It is proposed that an action research project consisting of surveys, focus groups, and questionnaires be implemented in order to discover exactly what our community wants and how they would like to communicate with their public library.
Introduction
Background
The Ladera Ranch Library is a public library and is part of the Orange County Public Library system. OCPL consists of 33 branches throughout the county of Orange, each with their own collections, services, programs, and specialties. Currently, OCPL has primarily undertaken a system-wide marketing plan; that is to say, current marketing strategies publicize the OCPL system and system-wide initiatives, with little mention of specific programs at specific branches. Since the county is so large and the library system so spread out, it is apparent that each library should undertake marketing strategies that are specific to their own branch and pertain to their own particular services and community.
The Ladera Ranch community consists of approximately 22,000 people, which is mostly made up of young families. The community is close-knit and upper-middle class. Our patrons at the Ladera Ranch Public Library also mostly consist of young families and a few elderly patrons. However, many members of the community do not see the library as an institution that serves their needs or has anything to offer them. Also, many members of the community are unaware of the services offered by the library or even where the library is located in this small community.
The Ladera Ranch Library shares the building it is located in with the offices of the schools it is surrounded by. The public library is located on the same property as the local elementary school, middle school, and school offices. Additionally, it shares indoor library space and part of its collection with the schools as well. Our downstairs library functions as the school library during school hours, then it is opened to the public after school is out for the day. While it is confusing and inconvenient for our patrons who are not students at the schools, this also means that our library has a large collection of books for elementary and middle school-age patrons.
We also have many programs geared towards children of younger ages as well. During the school year, we offer infant and toddler storytimes on a weekly basis. These programs are very popular; however, because of our limited space during school hours, we must impose strict limits on the number of participants. There is a standing wait list for those unable to secure a spot in these programs.
Additionally, we have programs scheduled throughout the year for school-age children, such as contests and puppet storytimes. These are among the services least used by the community, including resources available for adults such as databases, ebooks, and account management services available online. Many patrons are not aware of the online services we provide, or do not know how to use these services. A more effective and targeted marketing program would indeed help to spread the word about these services. Specifically, a web-based marketing plan would be effective since it is web-based services we are marketing, and also since our patrons are of the primary demographic that uses the internet to search, to conduct day-to-day business, and to socialize with peers.
Literature Review
While the usage of online tools to market libraries is relatively new and has only been studied for approximately ten years, there is still quality data and research available on the subject of marketing library services to a population that is largely active online. Roy tells us, “public library marketing [...] involves planning, measurement and evaluation, budgeting, and fundraising/development” (2002, p. 216). These steps ensure that the library’s marketing plan will have maximum success that can be quantified and shared with key stakeholders. We see this illustrated in the Gail Borden Public Library’s summer reading program: “Be a hero- Read” (Brautigan 2011). Their usage of Roy’s steps and also an integration of web 2.0 tools such as YouTube and blog marketing lead to an extremely prosperous summer reading program that successfully employed web 2.0 technologies to market to young children and their families. This program also used partnerships in the community to organizations such as the Boys and Girls club to reach out to community members who had not previously used the public library (p. 50).
Since this proposal’s focus is young families, it is important to consider the impact of web 2.0 tools on parents in addition to children. Mi & Nesta investigate the impacts of the Internet on library usage in the “Net Generation,” which they define to include people born as early as the late 1970’s (2006, p. 45). However, they also advise, “that some of the characteristics of this generation may go beyond the generational gap and apply to their parents as well” (p. 45). In 2011, both demographics are possible parents in the community of Ladera Ranch, especially when you take into consideration that those impacted by or participating in the activities of web 2.0 include people who use Facebook, turn to Google instead of the their library, and read their daily news online instead of in print format. Especially telling is the statistic that the largest demographic of users of social networking sites are those ages 35-44, who make up 25% of all users (Pingdom, 2010).
Thus, we should focus on what specific tools would be useful in library marketing. Cole, Graves, and Cipkowski advise, “Twitter allows the library to get involved in the [...] community, and provides another way of communicating with library users” (2010, p. 184). They continue to discuss the success of other online initiatives, including e-newsletters, RSS feeds, and a Facebook page. Xia discusses the successes and failures of various library initiatives on Facebook, and concludes that Facebook group pages are successful if it remains active, moderated by an involved and interested librarian, and constantly updates its followers as to the status of the library (2009, p. 47). While others, such as Secker (2008), contend that Facebook groups are not effective and do not encourage users to return to the site after initial contact, Xia responds that an active moderator who posts regularly about things important to their users would encourage more participation among Facebook users (p. 471).
Purpose and Rationale of the Study
It is the author’s hypothesis that better marketing efforts are needed to make the community more aware of the library, its location, and its services; additionally, it is hypothesized that because the community is young, upper-class, and tech-savy, using web 2.0 tools would be a successful and frugal method of marketing. The objective of this investigation is to make the community more aware of the services and programs available through their local public library. Additionally, using these tools would help us to better serve our community and discover what it is they want from their library. The question this research endeavor will investigate is: What kind of marketing would be most effective in this community? Would using web 2.0 tools be an effective marketing strategy? What can web 2.0 tools help us to discover about our community, and how can we use those tools to fulfill their needs?
Method
Participants
Participants of this study will be those who hold a substantial interest or stake in the outcome of the research. McNiff and Whitehead advise that researchers treat participants as “co-researchers, not subjects” that are being studied (2010, p. 77). This will lead to a greater flow of information between all groups, which will lead to better data and a more accurate research project. McNiff and Whitehead further advise that a small group of people should be selected as research participants as opposed to larger groups in order to keep the main focus of the research on the researcher since, “the focus of your work is you” (p. 101). For this reason, there are only three groups of participants for this study: researchers, library staff, and library patrons.
Researchers. The researchers will be the author and especially interested co-workers, especially those who are primarily responsible for the services the library provides to the community and the promotion of those services. This will include the Ladera Ranch library branch manager, the Ladera Ranch library adult services librarian, and the Ladera Ranch library children’s services librarian. The branch manager is intimately invested in the services and marketing strategies used by the library and is among those who seek to improve the library’s service through self-study. Both the adult and children’s librarians will participate as researchers since it is both adult and children services and marketing we are exploring. Additionally, since it is their departments that will be studied, they are equally interested parties that will be involved in self-study, which is the central purpose of action research (McNiff and Whitehead, 2010).
Library Staff. Other library staff will additionally be involved in this study because of their integral association with the organization that is undergoing the study. They will be assisting with the data collection for this research; specifically, they will help in promoting research initiatives such as surveys and questionnaires to the patrons in the library via word of mouth. In addition, they will be asked their opinion of the research, the effects on the services, and the changes they suggest should be instituted as a result of the findings. As McNiff and Whitehead advise, it is important to invite the feedback of research participants (2010, p. 61).
Library Patrons. This will be the biggest group of participants. The library will work with patrons of all ages and explore the ways they use the library and the ways they hope to use the library. Ideally, they would consist of people from all demographics the library serves, such as parents, children, single adults, and the elderly. Working with a diverse group and eliciting their opinions through focus groups, surveys, and questionnaires, these participants will give us the most valuable feedback on the effectiveness of our efforts.
Data Collection
The researchers will employ at least three methods of data collection in order to achieve “triangulation,” as is recommended by Ferrance (2000, p. 11). The previously mentioned methods of surveys, focus groups, and questionnaires will achieve a triangulated pool of data regarding patron perceptions and thoughts on the library and its services. These surveys and questionnaires will additionally be available online. This will serve two purposes: online availability will allow patrons to complete the surveys and questionnaires at their leisure in their own home at whatever time is convenient to them. This will give us the opportunity to gather more data than with paper materials alone. We will additionally be able to compare usage statistics of paper materials versus online materials. From this data, we will be able to extrapolate if in-library resources are more or less convenient to our patrons than online resources. Additionally, we may be able to reach a larger group of people through the use of online data collection, which may lead us to discover groups of people the library could serve more, such as the disabled or homebound.
In addition to these quantitative data collection methods, we will also use qualitative data to supplement these findings. Circulation and door counts are objective measures that can be used in conjunction with website page views to explore the differences and similarities in how the library’s physical and virtual services are used by our patrons.
Data Analysis
Analysis of the data collected will be performed simultaneously; that is to say, the quantitative data will be analyzed in conjunction with the qualitative data so that the findings from one set may the used to inform the findings from another set. Statistics alone cannot fully inform and investigation of this caliber, especially since it cannot properly represent the thoughts and opinions of our patrons. Conversely, direct patron communication through questionnaires, surveys, and focus groups are not appropriately interpreted without the hard facts of qualitative data showing actual patron activity. It is only when we analyze data together that we get a full, accurate picture of our patrons, their activity, and their opinions on library services. In order to understand how to properly serve our community and whether or not virtual services are important to them, we must first discover “who [our] audience is and what they want,” as Draper and Turnage recommend to those looking into web 2.0 services at their library (2008, p. 18).
