Many libraries have been using social media for years while others are just now entering the world of fans, followers, likes, and pins. But is social media worth the time and effort? How do you assess the return on investment? At one academic library, social media has recently become a point of emphasis with Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest teams formed to communicate about the library and to engage library users in conversation. This presentation will focus on how that library developed a social media assessment plan to determine the benefits of this work outweigh the cost in time. An assessment plan provides a pathway to follow to decide if the work that is being done is effective and to identify action steps if the work is not effective. The payoff for a social media assessment plan is better usage of personnel resources. The presentation will conclude with tips for libraries to start assessing their social media usage.
