General Tactics

General Tactics 

Understand your audience.  

You should always be able to define who your primary audience is and understand their behaviors and needs. This is information that will determine how to achieve your overarching communications goals. Successfully making relevant content on the right platform is contingent upon how well you know your audience.   

Develop relevant content.  

Because your target audience can receive multiple messages from multiple sources every day, try to make your messages relevant, useful, and interesting so your audience will interact and be engaged. Relevance can be based on:  

• Time (e.g. election season, back to school, etc.) 

• Geography 

• Audience 

• Interests 

Ensure your content has a purpose.  

• Make social media information useful by suggesting practical steps for helpful events, information, or statistics. 

• Ensure there is a clear call to action (CTA).  

• What are you trying to get the reader to do? Visit a web page? Register for an event? Ensure that you are directing readers to take action and ultimately better serve some of your program objectives. 

• Keep it short & interesting.  

• To capture a reader’s attention, create content that piques curiosity and interest. Messages are easy to understand and share when you provide: 

  • relevant, intriguing information at the beginning of your post. 

  • enough context so that your message can stand alone. 

  • action verbs such as “learn,” “watch,” or “join.”

Handling Problematic, Offensive, or Inappropriate Comments or Messages

Posts or messages that are obviously spam can and should be immediately reported as spam. Sometimes these are couched in legitimate-sounding language, so if you have any questions, ask another person before engaging. You can always reach out to CommunityRelations@oaklandlibrary.org for questions or advice on handling a confusing or problematic situation. When in doubt, escalate the issue to Community Relations, Nina Lindsay, and Jamie Turbak. 

Creating Events Graphics 

When creating digital event visuals–whether they are graphics or videos–be sure to include the following where possible: 

• Date and time 

• Location (may include street address and/or directions) 

• Registration information 

• photos/videos of real people, especially if it contextualizes the event/service (optional, but effective) 

See also  “Images” section.

OPL’s “Voice” 

Remember to use “we” in your posts and engagements with patrons. 

See also “Writing Style and Tone.” 

Connecting w/ Community 

In order to boost engagement, you are highly encouraged to do the following: 

• Tag partners as this will expand the potential audience reach of your posts (and foster mutual cooperative relationships with partners).  

• Use relevant hashtags. When captioning the image, utilize relevant hashtags. This allows users to use the search function o find photos related to a specific event by utilizing a hashtag. 

• If you receive a media request, immediately notify OPL’s director.  

• For active accounts, check inboxes at least twice a day– once in the morning and once in the evening. 

• If you anticipate high levels of interaction for a specific campaign or other reason, maintain inbox browsers tabs open and/or toggle email and/or browser notifications.