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There’s lots of information out there on how to create customer-focused content, what it is, and how important it is. But how does this apply to the library space and how can you best leverage this on your library website?
Unfortunately, most information about creating customer-focused content is aimed at a traditional company - one that sells products to a customer and needs to create marketing materials to bring attention to those products to sell them. Libraries, although very different in makeup, are actually in the same place as these “product-centered” companies.
However, it’s much easier for a regular company to be “customer-centered” as they have a specific audience, and those customers who don’t need what you offer can ignore you, or find their item elsewhere. The library doesn’t have that luxury. The public library needs to serve all people within their community, and that makes creating customer-focused content extra challenging. And I know that this isn’t news to you - Libraries as User-Centered Organizations: Imperatives for Organizational Change by Meredith Butler was published in 1993 after all, but how can you draw those lessons into the digital realm and apply them to the library’s website?
Traditionally, libraries have been “product-centered” organizations - focusing on what the library has, what they can offer, and how patrons can get their hands on the latest bestseller in the shortest amount of time. But times are changing, and the ways that your patrons interact with the library online are very different from what they used to be. It’s no longer enough to simply list off the features of a particular resource for your patrons, but rather you must explain why that resource is useful, how they can use it, and what they can expect from it.
In practice, this means that a post about learning languages online, for example, should lead with what the resource allows the patron to do, instead of acting as an advertisement for the product. A patron will know what “learn Spanish online!” means, more than knowing, intuitively, what Mango Languages means.
Move from posts like this:
To posts like this:
Who are you trying to connect with?
What is the problem they’re trying to solve?
What info are they looking for?
When creating content for your patrons keep three particular questions in mind:
-
Who are you trying to connect with?
Obviously, you’re trying to connect with your patrons, but which ones specifically? What demographics are you looking at, how are you going to reach them, and what audience is your post aimed at. -
What problem is the patron trying to solve?
Is your patron simply looking for an easy way to access their account? Or perhaps looking for the next best book to read? Think about why a patron might be coming to the library website, and extrapolate from there. -
What information will the patron be looking for?
Is your patron looking for hours and locations, children’s storytimes, information on returns or WiFi capabilities at a branch? When creating content, think about the most important piece of information you can provide to your patron to answer their question.
Creating content that tells patron’s what they can do with a resource, or at a link, allows them to use their clicks wisely — instead of sending your patrons to a place they didn’t need, or a place they didn’t know they would end up at. Put as much power into your patron’s hands as possible so they can make the best decisions about what they’re looking for, what they need, and so they can learn about the additional features the library provides.
Creating your online content around what the content offers instead of the company that offers it does one more thing — it allows you to continue to build your library brand. You already pay for the services that you’re providing to your patrons, so why should you also spend your marketing dollars on promoting their brand, instead of yours? By creating content that focuses on the patron and their journey you’re continuing to create and build content that enriches their experience and allows them to associate that with the library brand, instead of pushing your patrons out to third-party sites and creating customers for other vendors.
BiblioWeb, our full content-management system and library website builder, comes with a best-in-class page builder to help you create and design visually appealing and engaging library website pages. But more importantly for this discussion of customer-centered content are cards. Cards are a central way of repurposing the content you create on your website on different pages, at different times. Cards automatically resize depending on the page you’ve added them to and can also be archived for use later.
For example, an Online Resource card for Little Pim, or learning languages online can be added to your Kids audience page, Online Resources page, Summer Learning page, Parenting Page, and even the library homepage.
When you can consistently understand your audience's needs you will be able to create patron-focused content that can be easily reused on multiple website pages, and BiblioWeb allows you to create visually engaging posts that will encourage your patrons to engage with all the resources the library offers.