How Academic Libraries Can Leverage Social Networking to Popularize Their Services: An Empirical Study

Social media is commonly used in academic libraries to market services, products, and events to users. A thorough review of the extant literature revealed that few libraries have incorporated a social networking strategy into their broader marketing strategy. Users of an academic library in an urban Midwestern university were surveyed to reveal how they use social networking sites. Respondents were asked the importance of libraries using social networking sites. Although the majority of users thought it was important for libraries to use social networking sites, their preferred method of communication with the libraries was flyers in the library. Library users below the age of 35 preferred to get information from the library webpage. Based on the results of this study, we recommend suitable social networking strategies for academic libraries