Engage your community in fun and innovative ways by deepening your social media skills.

Course Description 

Keeping up with social media trends can be overwhelming, but you’re not alone! This half-day online course will help you understand the foundations of social media engagement and marketing, demystify newer platforms like TikTok, and bolster your confidence using social media tools in your outreach practices. You will leave with tangible ideas for how you can use social media in your library or classroom to increase engagement across your communities.

The live sessions run on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024 from 1:00 to 5:00 pm ET (recorded for on demand viewing). Don’t miss this opportunity!

Learning Outcomes

After you leave this course, you should have the ability to:

• Understand major social media platforms, including each one’s strengths and limitations

• Create strategy for which platforms you choose to use and how you want to use them

• Evaluate which platforms will best help you accomplish your goals

• Create a holistic social media marketing and engagement plan

• Develop social media content in a manageable and sustainable way

• Understand how to use data and analytics to increase your social media efficacy

• Create compelling designs using graphic design best practices

• Use simple tips and tricks for creating TikTok content

Who should take this course?

This course is geared toward librarians with new or emerging social media marketing skills and will be most relevant for librarians who are involved in community programming, engagement, outreach, marketing, and communications.

Course Features 

This will be a half-day online course and will include:

• Live sessions: Guest speaker presentations by leaders in their field. (All sessions are recorded for on demand access for six months after the course ends.) 

• Facilitated discussions: Audience participation in Q&A and discussion with guest speakers.

• Early access on-demand resources: Access to a series of past live session archives from Library Journal and School Library Journal courses to explore at your own pace. 

• Online Classroom: The virtual learning platform that holds all course content and is accessible for six months after the course ends. 

Expected time commitment

If you attend or watch the recordings of all live sessions, you'll spend approximately 4 hours on this course. You'll earn 4 hours of PD credit and a Library Journal certificate of completion. 

On-demand access

All live guest speaker sessions are recorded and available on-demand for six months following the initial broadcast as a part of your purchase.

Certificate of completion 

Complete the course and earn 4 professional development credit hours. We provide a certificate that is emailed to you. 

Accessibility

All guest speaker sessions feature live captioning and are made available on demand after the initial broadcast. Please email libraryjournal@edmaker.co upon registration if you require any special accommodations and we will make our best efforts to facilitate them.

Support

For support with online courses, please contact libraryjournal@edmaker.co.

Group Rates

We offer discounts for groups of 3 or more. 

For larger groups of 15 or more, we offer the option to apply group rates across multiple courses to receive significant discounts. For more information, select “Bulk Course Credits Packages” in the form below. 

Request a group discount!

By registering for this event you confirm that you have read and agree to our Code of Conduct.

Half-Day Online Course | Thursday, October 10

Session 1 | 1:00-1:55 pm ET

Strategizing for Social Media: How to Plan and Create Engaging Content

Each social media platform has its own unique challenges and opportunities. This session will help you engage your community in your library by teaching you how to create a compelling and actionable strategy for social media marketing. You’ll learn how to evaluate each platform to inform a relevant strategy and how to determine which kind of content works best on each platform. You’ll leave knowing how to integrate the most common platforms into a holistic social media plan for your library.

Speaker:

Session 2 | 1:55-2:50 pm ET

Maximizing Your Reach: Foundations of Social Media Data and Analytics 

How can you maximize your social media impact efficiently? How can you make the most use of each platform’s data analytics to make strategic decisions? This session will help you understand which platform is best to use in different contexts and help you be strategic and data-driven with your social media marketing. 

Speaker:

Break | 2:50-3:00 pm ET

Session 3 | 3:00-3:55 pm ET

Maximize Your Engagement: Graphic Design Foundations  

What you say in your social media posts is crucial, but how your posts are designed is almost equally important. This session will provide a foundation of graphic design best practices to help you create eye-catching posts users will want to engage with. 

Speaker:

Break | 3:55-4:00 pm ET

Session 4 | 4:00-4:55 pm ET

Instagram Reels and TikTok for Librarians: How to Reach Your Community without Burning Out

TikTok and IG Reels are still trending, but many librarians are overwhelmed. This session will show you accessible ways to integrate Reels and TikTok into your social media strategy without it becoming just ‘one more thing’ you have to learn. You’ll leave with straightforward tips and tricks for understanding of how the platform works and efficiently building fun content that engages your audience.

Speaker:

Closing Remarks | 4:55-5:00 pm ET

Online Course Preview

A preview of how we build your library skills and bring inspiration to your projects with our online learning experience.

Course Features

Live session with Andrea Blackman and Tasneem Ansariyah Grace	Live Guest Speakers Sessions Guest speaker presentations by leaders in their field.  Audience participation in Q&A and discussion with guest speakers.

Recordings of guest speakers

Recordings Available On Demand Sessions are recorded for on demand access for six months after the course ends.

Asynchronous workshop

Online Classroom + Asynchronous Workshop The virtual learning platform that holds all course content and is accessible for six months after the course ends.  Live session recordings. Peer conversation via discussion forums.

Early Access On-Demand Resources

Early Access On-Demand Resources Bonus: Register early and get access to a series of past live session archives from Library Journal and School Library Journal courses to explore at your own pace.  Some courses include supporting resources in the online classroom.