Rebranding NTU Library:

A Transmedia Approach

Samantha Seah Siew Cheng

Noverinda Bella Ratmelia

Thavamalar Mohan

Office of Information, Knowledge

& Library Services

Introductions

Samantha Seah

Librarian

Advisory & Consultation

Bella Ratmelia

Librarian

Advisory & Consultation

Thavamalar Mohan

Senior Assistant Manger

Communications & Outreach

Overview

• Part 1: Background and some definitions

• Part 2: Rebranding NTU Library

• Part 3: Crafting content strategy

• Part 4: Campaign design and using social media

• Part 5: Takeaways from the past year

Before NTU Library, we were

• Main strategy: saturation

• Platforms:

– Physical i.e. posters, in person during orientation

– Web e.g. Facebook, Twitter, TV screens, Channel NTU, NTU

Event Calendar, Website Banners, Blogsite

– Library communal PC wallpapers

– Emailers

Workflow

• While the Library Promotion Division were the main team in charge

of library promotion, other teams also had their own ideas and were

given the freedom to execute

• On the flipside, this meant there wasn’t any standardization across

the libraries

• In 2016, there was a change in NTU Corporate Communications

Office which lead to rebranding and stricter control over any

communications from departments

REBRANDING NTU LIBRARY

Name and identity

NAME

NTU Library

Office of Information, Knowledge and Library Services

Poster templates

BRANDING SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

Platform Branding

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/NTUsgLibrary/

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/ntusglibrary/

Social Media - Platforms

Platform Branding

Twitter

https://twitter.com/NTUsgLibrary

YouTube

https://www.instagram.com/ntusglibrary/

Social Media - Platforms

CONTENT STRATEGY

Transmedia Storytelling

• Definition of transmedia (Phillips, 2012):

– Multiple pieces of media that are, by themselves, whole and standalone but

complement each other and interweave

– Tightly woven content, spread over various platforms, for a set duration of time.

Typically heavily reliant on social media

• “Transmedia storytelling is a marriage of various forms of technology

and media … to invite audiences to connect to a story across

multiple platforms.” (Thomas, 2015, p.19)

Transmedia Storytelling

• In contrast to entertainment, storytelling for marketing

purposes refers to use phrases or images to tell stories

that are bigger than the sum of their parts and elicit an

emotional response

• Balance your brand against the story

Decide on your story

• Things to think about:

– Show don’t tell

– Values/adjectives you want associated with your brand

• Put yourself in your audience’s shoes

– Find the heart of your story, why should people care about your

story

Content Strategy

A content strategy was devised to achieve the following with

our users:

1. Connect

2. Communicate

3. Collaborate

1. Connect

• Educate users on the various communication platforms they can use to connect with

NTU Library and the various locations their resources are available at both physically

and digitally.

1. Connect

• Inform users on the services that can help them with the resources they need and invite

them to our physical spaces to let them experience how the library cares for them.

2. Communicate

• Inform users on the various events, workshops, talks, contests and seminars the

library organises and invite them to participate.

2. Communicate• Librarians connect with the users in person at events of all nature to advocate the

value of the library and importantly gather feedback. Some of these feedback are

documented into videos which are produced and uploaded onto the library’s social

media platforms to keep others informed on the experiences they can get with NTU

Library.

3. Collaborate

• Seek collaboration opportunities with members of the NTU community and outside the

university to promote their products/services, host their events or partner in their

showcase.

3. Collaborate

• To provide effective value propositions for stakeholders and users who will in turn

support the library’s initiatives and campaigns through participation or publicity.

SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

#NTUsgLibrary

A hashtag is a label for content.

It helps others who are interested in a certain topic,

quickly find content on that same topic.

Introducing Hashtags

Introducing Hashtags

Branding Hashtag: #NTUsgLibrary

Establishing HashtagsSub-branding hashtags Campaign Hashtags

#ReadsofNTUsgLibrary

#DiscoverNTUsgLibrary

#CelebratewithNTUsgLibrary

#ResearchatNTUsgLibrary

#ResourcesatNTUsgLibrary

#DatabasesatNTUsgLibrary

#WorkshopatNTUsgLibrary

#QuizatNTUsgLibrary

#ContestatNTUsgLibrary

#TalksatNTUsgLibrary

#ExhibitionatNTUsgLibrary

Digital Scholarship Workshop Series

DS: #NTUsgLibraryDS

Python workshops and consultations: #Python_NTUsgLib

/ #PythonProgramming

Education & Learning Workshop Series

EndNote workshops and consultations:

#EndNote_NTUsgLib / #EndNote

Information & Research Management workshops:

#IRM_NTUsgLib

Research Talks and Seminars

DR-NTU Data: #DataNTUsgLibrary / #DRNTUsgLibrary

Open Access talks and seminars: #NTUsgOA / #OAweek /

#OpenAccess

Campaign #ReadsofNTUsgLibrary

• When: July 2018

• Why: Tie-in with National Reading Week and eBook Day

• How:

– Selected 10 titles, took photos, crafted short synopsis/reviews

Instagram: 20 posts with a total of 360 likes and 23 stories with 845 views.

Facebook: 18 posts with a total of 62 likes and 23 stories (no stats for views).

Campaign: #SpookedatNTUsgLibrary

• When: October 2018

• Why: Tie-in with Halloween and revision period

• How:

– Decorated entrance of Lee Wee Nam Library

– Dressed up in costume on 30 Oct and went around LWNL to give

out sweets to students

Instagram: 18 posts with 161 likes and 808 video views / 59 stories with 2,660 views.

Facebook: 18 posts, 37 likes with 125 views.

Social Media Strategy

What?

To increase followers across our social media platforms –

Facebook & Instagram

Why?

- To raise awareness and promote the services of NTU Library.

How?

- Like, Follow and Share @NTUsgLibrary / #NTUsgLibrary

- Populate relevant and fun content for our target audience to read,

participate in and engage with.

Choosing your platforms

• Not all platforms are equal; some are more equal than others:– Understand who you’re reaching out to, and

– How best to engage your audience, but

– Consider what kind of content you can sustainably generate

• As of Q3 2018, the leading social networks in Singapore are– YouTube (87%)

– WhatsApp (86%)

– Facebook (82%)

– Instagram (59%)

– Facebook Messenger (59%)

– Twitter (34%)

Instagram

62.3%

37.7%

Instagram Users in Singapore

< 35 year old 35 and older

Adapted from Statista’s Share of Instagram users in Singapore as of December 2018, by age and

gender [Graph]. For the original graph, please refer to the appendix.

WARC Best Practice, August 2019:

• Globally, 87% of Instagram users

have engaged with the business

after seeing a product

information post on Instagram.

This includes liking, commenting,

sharing, etc.

• Highlights growing importance of

visual communication

Twitter and Facebook

• Facebook and Twitter users in Singapore have been steadily

increasing and this trend has been projected to continue (Statista

Digital Market Outlook, 2018)

• According to Hootsuite:

– Tweets with videos get 10 times more engagement than those without. They are

also 6 times more likely to be retweeted.

– Tweets with GIFs get 55% more engagement than those without. However, only

2% of Tweets contain GIFs.

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT & STATISTICS

Social Media Content

• Any content relevant to academia, knowledge, information sharingand promoting NTU Library’s

- Services- Spaces- Resources- Workshops, talks, events

• It can be in the form of:- Links to articles or other posts- Books or articles belonging to the Library - Pictures- Videos- FB / Insta-stories & LIVE Tweets

New approaches to events

• Live-tweeting of scholarly talks and events

• Live-streaming of OneSearchevent via Instagram, featured photos of students engaging with OneSearch booth via Instagram

• Cross-posting between other media– E.g. promote library blog posts on

social media

– Sync all posts on three platforms

7,416 7,534 7,718

409 597879

6084 6086 6044

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

9,000

Aug-18 Feb-19 Aug-19

Changes in numbers of followers over the past 12 months

Facebook Followers Instagram Followers Twitter Followers

89

25 19 13

129138

25.414.1 15

87.26

32.5

61

14.86 8.09 7.41 5.05 9.58 6.02

-85

9-1 -1

9 312

3 4 0 414

-100

-50

0

50

100

150

Mar-19 Apr-19 May-19 Jun-19 Jul-19 Aug-19

Mar-19 Apr-19 May-19 Jun-19 Jul-19 Aug-19

Tweets 89 25 19 13 129 138

Impressions (in thousands) 25.4 14.1 15 87.26 32.5 61

Profile Visits (in hundreds) 14.86 8.09 7.41 5.05 9.58 6.02

New Followers -85 9 -1 -1 9 3

Mentions 12 3 4 0 4 14

Twitter Stats for the past 6 months

Tweets Impressions (in thousands) Profile Visits (in hundreds) New Followers Mentions

Why do these statistics matter?

• Likes, shares, and mentions indicate rate of engagement –your “relationship” with your users

• Follows indicates interest of users to your library

• Transmedia encourages this type of interaction which can add more depth of engagement (Philips, 2012)

Note: It is possible to have a high number of likes and shares despite a low number of followers and vice versa

How do you use these statistics?

• Analysing statistics allows you to compare metrics and

tailor information discovery (McErlean, 2018)

• See how your community responds to your stories and

work from there

• Collect any statistics you can get but take the time to

review them, then modify your strategies

Takeaways – what we would do again

• Plan, plan, plan– Be clear on your branding and messages, and how you want to put them across

– Do some research on how to effectively use the various social media tools

– Come up with a clear set of guidelines

• Use social media! – Think of it as “market research” and “tool testing”.

– Impossible to craft an effective message without understanding the demographic and the tool

• Have a social media calendar, but also be prepared to be spontaneous – some opportunities may appear without much warning

– Take advantage of global events/holidays to help with campaign scheduling

Takeaways – what we would do again

• Remember that everyone has their own set of expertise

• For librarians - listen to your comms expert, they can guide you in how to craft your messages when it comes to communication strategy

• For comms expert - listen to your librarians, they can provide context and information about user demographics and happenings

• Be willing to learn from each other!

• Consistency is key – Be sure to have steady stream of content to continuously engage users

• This is very tedious and can be considered as a full-time job!

Takeaways - what we can do better

• Customize the visual assets to suit each platform

– What may suit Instagram may not suit Facebook due to different

optimum sizes/devices from which users are accessing them,

etc.

• Refine the customization of targeted campaign

– Make it more efficient in terms of which platform should be the

main priority for the different kinds of campaign

Takeaways – roadmap for the future

• Collaborate with other libraries e.g. commenting on each other's posts, rotating exhibitions, coordinated campaigns

• Putting a face to the librarians

• Try more new features:• Reach out more to students via Instagram story and IGTV

• Library event livestreaming via Facebook/Instagram

• Use Twitter Moments

• Leverage on the insights gained from statistics• Explore other possible tools that can give us more insights from the

collected data of likes, shares, etc.

THANK YOU

REFERENCES

McErlean, K. (2018). Interactive Narratives and Transmedia Storytelling (1st

edition). Focal Press.

Phillips, A. (2012). A Creator’s Guide to Transmedia Storytelling: How to

Captivate and Engage Audiences across Multiple Platforms (1st edition).

McGraw-Hill.

Statista. (2019). Social media in Singapore. Retrieved 10 September 2019,

from https://www.statista.com/study/63698/social-media-in-singapore/

Thomas, V. (2015). Transmedia storytelling. Legacy Magazine, 26(2), p.19-21.

WARC. (2019, August). WARC Best Practice: What we know about marketing

on Instagram. Retrieved 10 September 2019, from

https://www.warc.com/content/article/bestprac/what_we_know_about_mar

keting_on_instagram/110477

APPENDIX

Table 1: Share of Instagram users in Singapore

as of December 2018, by age and gender

1.5%

11.7%

20.3%

11.3%

6.3%

3%

1.2%1.3%

10.4%

17.1%

8.1%

4.5%

2.3%1.1%

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

13-17 years 18-24 years 25-34 years 35-44 years 45-54 years 55-64 years 65 years andolder

Sh

are

of

use

rs

Females Males

Note: Singapore; December 2018

Source(s): NapoleonCat; ID 952815

Table 2: Number of Facebook users in

Singapore from 2017 to 2023 (in millions)

4 4.1 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

2017 2018 2019* 2020* 2021* 2022* 2023*

Nu

mb

er

of

us

ers

in

mil

lio

ns

Note: Singapore; 2017 to 2018; Internet users who access their Facebook account via any device at least once per month

Source(s): Statista; Statista Digital Market Outlook; ID 490492

Table 3: Number of Twitter users in Singapore

from 2014 to 2019 (in millions)

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

2014 2015 2016* 2017* 2018* 2019*

Nu

mb

er

of

acti

ve

Tw

itte

r u

se

rs in

m

illi

on

s

Note: Singapore; 2014 to 2015

Source(s): eMarketer; ID 490600