A Brief Intro to Web AnaAlytics and Web Optimization for Libraries Pt 4: What Do They Think of Us?

This is the last week I will be exploring web analytics. This week I will move away from looking at how our efforts can be tracked (i.e. how much our tweets/posts matter) and now I will show ways to find out how to track public perceptions of the library. With social media, it is very easy to have an understanding of how people feel about the library. You can see when they say something good, something bad, etc.

Why care? It’s every where and growing.

Seth Godin internet sage and leading voice on marketing in the digital realm has mixed curiosity and outrage when he observes the lack of participation in social media by non-profits. After all, it’s free, it has a growing impact and so on. Hey, it’s true. Why not follow what other people are saying about us.

Furthermore, many of these tools are important in gaining feedback from groups that may not use other electronic media. A recent study found that the mobile web (i.e. cell phones) is shrinking the digital divide. Services like Twitter are built around the idea and ease of things like text messaging and can give insight into users of these services. So why not try to follow the comments that users openly express on services like Twitter or Facebook. We have users planting big red flags all over the web telling us how we can make things better. All we need to do is listen.

Measurement 1: Follow mentions of the library on twitter

Measuring tweets is an easy and important first step in a social analytics program. Research from Penn State has found that 1 in 5 tweets mention specific brands. This is an incredibly rich source of comments and observations. A common misperception is that you need to follow a user to see their tweets. That’s not true. Tweets are pretty universal. Unless a user explicitly says that they want their tweets to be private, they are open to everyone. Of course librarians do not have time to follow and skim millions of tweets per day to see what people are saying. Fortunately, there are several tools that can track keywords for us.

The quickest and easiest is Twitter Search. This is a quick and easy keyword search that can be customized in a few ways. The best is a limit by location. I work at Memorial Library in Madison and there are, of course, a million libraries named Memorial library. Nonetheless, a limit reveals that people are talking about the Madison Memorial Library:

Not too bad. Nearly all twitter tools have some form of keyword tracking. Using hootsuite (my favorite twitter client) I have set up several keywords searches to give me real time mentions of libraries that I work in. The problem is that this cannot be limited by location, so I learn about what students all over the country are doing in college library:

These features are found in other popular clients like tweetdeck or seesmic, or there are many stand alone ways to track keywords.  So set one up to follow the name of your library. Spend 5 minutes a week skimming through the mentions and you’ll quickly gain invaluable insight into what services your patrons are using and what they may like or dislike.

Measurement 2: Facebook

This one is fairly obvious, so again I’ll focus on the why. A recent study has found that 50% of social media users connect to a brand. So all of those signs at Burger King that ask to be added as a friend on facebook. Well, apparently people respond.

A library facebook page is not going to be earth shattering. But, returning to Seth Godin, why not? It’s free, it’s accessible, it creates good will and can quickly spread information about new services. However, the important point here is to be active without being desperate. Keep a page, update frequently, do not become the only face a patron sees on their frontpage stream.

Measurement 3: Do patrons feel like they matter

I’ve mentioned the MyStarbuck Idea Initiative before, but it’s worth repeating. Starbucks began a campaign where any customer can submit an idea. And the catch? Starbucks implements the idea and lets other users comment, discuss and analyze the idea. It’s a brainstorming sessions, survey, and focus group rolled into one. Simple ideas can emerge from this, things like adding back a particular scone.

The thing that is different is that this campaign and one by dell, is that they both listen and act. And by acting they are showing customers that their opinions do matter. So for libraries, the question is do patrons see their comments acted on? Is there a feedback loop in place that shows response. As one writer noted: listening without acting is worthless.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewfield/2306001896