Social media insights: Take advantage of our social media reach!

In spite of the unique challenges currently facing the academic sector in South Africa (regarding COVID-19), the Department of Library Services’ Social Media Committee remains committed to providing the UP community with continued support and communication regarding the online collections and virtual information support services.

Before March 2020 the @UPLibrary social media channels focused on regular library communications such as announcements of library service updates, book recommendations, recommended library training and activities, celebrations of specific occasions or individuals and notices of upcoming events. Our overall focus remains unchanged and we have continued to communicate all of these important library updates, however, the majority of our posts now have a COVID-19 response element to them. With so many regular updates regarding the University of Pretoria’s campus re-entry plan, we have adopted a more flexible social media content strategy where updates about our support services are considered urgent and more important to share with our followers at a moment’s notice.

The UP Library Marketing Office understands the importance of presenting the UP community with a social media presence that is empathetic and transparent during this uncertain and challenging time. We have focused our efforts on providing timely, useful and transparent communication about our library services, both virtually and on campus. One of our top-performing posts on Facebook during the month of August showed our followers exactly what they can expect to see when they visit a UP Library and explained the health and safety protocols in place.

Most of the queries we receive on our social media platforms are from students enquiring about physical access to our libraries. Everyone misses the browsing the library shelves and the serenity that our study spaces bring. Most of the requests we receive from staff members pertain to marketing new developments in their department/unit, as they are also navigating the new territory of online service support. A primary example is our collaboration with the Research Commons to promote the newly obtained and most sought after e-Books for our postgraduate students in this time of need.

Below is another example of how we collaborate with other library departments/units to promote their services and encourage our followers to get in touch with them:

In other news, the @UPLibrary #InstaNovel project has been doing really well, attracting more readers with every new publication. Between the months of May – August 2020, four new InstaNovels were added:

• The Gloria Scott  by Sir A.C Doyle (Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes)
• The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe
• Uthlakanyana  by Henry Callaway (In Nursery Tales, Traditions, and Histories of the Zulus)
• The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilmen

We ran a short Instagram survey to learn a bit more about our followers’ reading habits and to determine the level of interest in our #InstaNovel project. 85% of our followers indicated that they already spend a lot of time reading on social media. With a staggering 94% adding that they would definitely like to start reading books more often. Our final question was “Would you read an Insta Novel?” with 78% of our followers indicating that they would. This reveals that there is indeed already an existing readership for Insta Novels, which is very exciting! There are a number of new Insta Novels currently in development, so make sure you keep an eye on the @UPLibrary Instagram page to read new content!

A warm thank you to the Social Media Committee for their creativity and commitment to their weekly posts. We kindly ask our colleagues to support our online presence by liking and sharing our content. We also encourage you to get in touch with us if you would like to bring more attention to your unit or any new projects you may be involved in - we are always open to new ideas and collaborations! Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

Stay updated with the Department of Library Services by following these pages:

• Facebook – UP Library Services
• Instagram –  @UPLibrary
• Twitter – @UPLibrary