It’s estimated that over 40 million eReaders will be sold by the end of the holiday season. Your library is positioned to capitalize on this trend by letting people know you have eBooks and helping them to learn how to use their devices to download your eBooks.
Alison Circle has shared the strategy Columbus Metropolitan Library is using. It’s simple and direct. I love the idea of the genius bar. Even if you don’t have a selection of readers, you could set up a genius bar where people could bring their readers in for a demonstration. There are fantastic videos already made that you can utilize on your webpage. There are lots of ideas, but it all starts with defining your audience and setting out a plan. Alison’s is outlined below, what’s yours?
1. Use the website as a point of sale to answer customer’s questions. Target audience to new eBook owners looking to download books. Focus on select readers that are compatible with the library’s e-book content. Build webpages to answer customer’s questions.
2. Promote through Facebook by engaging customers in conversation with polls and promoted content. Send an email to selected zip codes to heighten awareness and post a video wherever possible.
3. Establish a Genius Bar at two of locations with mobile display tables and seven eReaders that are compatible with the library’s eBooks to give customers a hands-on experience. Customers can even bring their own device.
4. Educated staff on the devices with training videos.
Please leave a comment here and share the things your library is doing to promote your eBooks so everyone can benefit. Thanks! –Nancy
Thanks for sharing this, Nancy. I love the Genius Bar idea. It would be a logistical challenge for the public service staff, but is a tremendous opportunity for the marketing department.
I am trying to arrange a library night at the local coffee shop which has wifi. I want to be available to people with their app-phones, e-readers, and i-pods. I can provide on-site tech assistance AND reader’s advisory (actually I would like for it to be more than one person, but that gets expensive). Ideally I would be able to issue library cards to the qualified (and direct others to their public library and ListenNJ type provider). I don’t really know how to accomplish it all, but I will try.
For years I have felt that much of the marketing done by libraries only reaches the people already using the library. The idea of leaving the buidling to have a ‘Genius Bar’ is how I feel Adult Services Outreach needs to go. Visit local businesses and sit in the cafeteria during lunch; hit the streets with your app-phone during street-fairs, go to the mall on the weekend. We need to remind non-library users of all the stuff they are missing (and paying for with their taxes…)