Stop Posting Into the Void

AFTER COMPLETING THIS COURSE, YOU'LL BE ABLE TO:

• Explain how major social media platforms actually work, including their algorithms, audiences, and content norms, so you can make informed decisions about where to focus your energy.
• Develop a content strategy rooted in your library's identity and community context, not just a posting schedule.
• Create engaging content that reflects who your library is and reaches the people you are trying to reach.
• Read and interpret your analytics without a marketing background to understand what is working and what is not.
• Build a sustainable posting rhythm that fits within your actual capacity and does not require a dedicated budget or team.
• Distinguish between chasing trends and using social media thoughtfully and strategically as a community engagement tool.
• Apply library-specific approaches to social media that account for the realities of public-facing institutions with limited time and resources.
• Tell your library's story in a way that helps your community discover and connect with everything you offer.

You will leave with a strategy, not just a plan, and the skills to keep refining it as platforms and communities evolve.

This course is especially helpful for:

• Library staff responsible for social media, marketing, or community outreach
• Librarians who are posting regularly but not seeing much engagement
• Staff managing social media without a dedicated budget, team, or formal training
• Anyone trying to build a more thoughtful, sustainable social media presence for their library
• People who need a clearer strategy, not just more content to post

If that sounds like your role, you will probably see yourself in this course.

If you are someone who:

• Is posting consistently but feels like your content disappears the second it goes live
• Has a content calendar but no real strategy behind it
• Is doing all of this yourself and trying to make it work with limited time and resources
• Feels overwhelmed by different platforms, changing algorithms, and mixed advice
• Wants more people in your community to actually notice and connect with what your library is doing

This course was built for you.

THIS COURSE CONSISTS OF 4 ON-DEMAND MODULES:

Module 1: Strategizing Your Content

How can you create a social media strategy that is more than just 'let's wing it'? And how can you optimize your strategy and calendar to reach your community most effectively? This module will help you engage your community in your library by teaching you how to create a compelling and actionable strategy for social media marketing

Module 2: Creating Your Brand & Finding Sticky Stories

What makes a library's brand really work? How can library staff identify the narratives that truly capture their community's attention? This module explores the fundamentals of library branding and storytelling, from defining your unique institutional voice to spotting the "sticky" moments worth amplifying. Leave with a practical framework for uncovering and sharing your library's most compelling stories.

Module 3: Maximize Your Reach: Applying Data and Analytics

How can you maximize your social media impact efficiently? How can you make the most use of each platform’s data analytics to make strategic decisions? This module will help you understand which platform is best to use in different contexts and help you be strategic and data-driven with your social media marketing.

Module 4: Reels and TikTok: Reach Your Community Without Burning Out

TikTok and IG Reels are still trending, but many librarians are overwhelmed. This module will show you accessible ways to integrate Reels and TikTok into your social media strategy without it becoming just ‘one more thing’ you have to learn. You’ll leave with straightforward tips and tricks for understanding of how the platform works and efficiently building fun content that engages your audience.

Cordelia Anderson, CEO of Cordelia Anderson Consulting

Cordelia Anderson is founder of Cordelia Anderson Consulting, a boutique library consulting agency launched in 2018 to help libraries and other community-serving organizations. She has worked with a wide variety of public/academic libraries, library organizations, and others to develop marketing plans, brand identities, and strategic plans. Prior to launching her consultancy, Cordelia spent a decade as Director of Marketing & Communications for Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, where her team earned the inaugural Library Journal Marketer of the Year Award and two John Cotton Dana Awards. Cordelia has extensive experience as a public speaker and trainer, and has spoken at many meetings and conferences. Cordelia is the author of Library Marketing and Communications: Strategies to Increase Relevance and Results from ALA Editions; and Positioning Your Library for the 21st Century: Strategies for Engagement, Relevance, and Sustainability from Elsevier. A sought-after speaker and trainer, Cordelia has presented at conferences and professional gatherings throughout the field. Learn more at cordeliaandersonconsulting.com.

Keith Kessler, Social Media Librarian, Los Angeles Public Library

Keith Kessler has been the Social Media Librarian at Los Angeles Public Library since 2016. With nearly 60 million impressions in 2026, the social media of Los Angeles Public Library has been featured in the NY Times, L.A. Times, Washington Post, People, Sports Illustrated and many other publications. Most notably, he produced the Linda Lindas' video for "Racist, Sexist Boy," which reached over 20 million people and won two Webby Awards.

Social media can feel like a full-time job layered on top of your actual job. Libraries are expected to show up online consistently, promote programs and services, and somehow keep up with changing platforms, changing algorithms, and changing audience habits, usually without extra staff, extra budget, or extra time.

This course is built to make that work feel more manageable and more effective. You’ll learn how social media platforms actually function, how to build a strategy rooted in your library’s identity and community, how to create content people want to engage with, and how to use analytics to make smarter decisions. The focus is not on chasing trends for the sake of it. It’s on using social media thoughtfully, strategically, and in ways that help your community discover and connect with your library.

SESSIONS AND PRICING

Early bird pricing ends one month before the session deadline. Course materials become available on the registration deadline date.

GROUP OPTIONS

Training a team? Choose the setup that matches how you want to plan and pay:

Group course enrollment: Enroll 3+ staff in this course and save.

Bulk course credits: Prepay once, get the highest per-seat discount on every course, and assign seats later.

Unlimited annual licensing: System-wide access for a year with no per-course approvals.

Request Discounted Group Pricing

Questions? Email groupsales@libraryjournal.com.

COURSE FORMAT

This is a fully self-paced, asynchronous online course consisting of 4 modules. Each module includes video instruction, slides, readings, and reflective exercises designed to connect concepts directly to your daily work.

EXPECTED TIME COMMITMENT

Each module is designed to take approximately 4 hours to complete, for a total of 16 hours. You may move through the course at your own pace and on your own schedule.

COURSE ACCESS

You will have access to all course materials for six months from the material unlock date. You can start at any point during that window and move through the course at your own pace.

CREDIT & CERTIFICATE

Complete all modules to earn 16 professional development credit hours and a Library Journal certificate of completion, which will be emailed to you.

ACCESSIBILITY

All video recordings feature auto-captioning. If you require accommodations, please email course-support@libraryjournal.com upon registration and we will make our best efforts to support your needs.

SUPPORT

For technical or course-related support, please contact course-support@libraryjournal.com.