The Factors Influencing Effective Web 2.0 Tools Used to Market - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Factors Influencing Effective Web 2.0 Tools Used to Market Library Services & Resources Zhixian (George) Yi School of Information Studies Faculty of Education March 12, 2014 School of Information Studies

Overview  Introduction  Literature review  Study framework and hypothesis development  Methodology  Findings and discussion  Conclusions  References School of Information Studies

INTRODUCTION School of Information Studies

Background to the Problem  Digitisation in libraries, archives and other information agencies is a new trend. Information technologies, especially Web 2.0, have provided more options for people to access information.  To keep pace with evolving information technologies, librarians use a group of software applications including blogs, wikis and podcasting, media- sharing tools such as YouTube and Flickr, and social networking services such as Twitter and Facebook (Hinchliffe and Leon, 2011; Moulaison and Corrado, 2011) to market their services and resources with mixed success. Xia (2009) examined how librarians marketed their libraries and services using Facebook in research universities. However, it was not conclusive about which Web 2.0 tool was more effective than any other Web 2.0 tool in marketing services and resources. School of Information Studies

Purpose The purpose of this study (Yi, 2014) is to examine how Australian academic librarians perceive effective Web 2.0 tools used to market library services and resources and the factors influencing perceptions of the Web 2.0 tools used. School of Information Studies

Research Questions 1 ). How do academic librarians perceive effective Web 2.0 tools used to market their services and resources? 2). What factors influence their perceptions of the Web 2.0 tools used? School of Information Studies

Significance of This Study  This study provides a better understanding of academic librarians’ attitudes, views as well as effective Web 2.0 tools used to market their services and resources.  Librarians can use the results to reflect on the effectiveness of the Web 2.0 tools used, to balance the weight of the factors’ influences and to better understand various effective Web 2.0 tools to enable them to market academic library services and resources more effectively in the future. School of Information Studies

LITERATURE REVIEW School of Information Studies

Current Studies  Web 2.0 technologies have been readily adopted by information organisations. With the enormous popularity of Web 2.0's platforms, libraries, archives, museums and other information agencies have embraced them as a method of promoting themselves and marketing services and resources for their clients.  Some studies have been conducted to investigate the application of Web 2.0 tools in university libraries (Kim & Abbas, 2010; Nguyen 2008; Tripathi & Kumar 2010; Xu, Ouyang & Chu, 2009). However, the focus has been on their use as enhancements to library services, rather than a means for specifically marketing services and resources. School of Information Studies

Literature Gaps  While the literature is quite strong on discussing, exploring and even analysing the use of Web 2.0 tools in libraries, there has been no real study that has examined the effective use of these tools to market services and resources, particularly in Australian university libraries.  Little information is given about the factors influencing perceptions of the Web 2.0 tools used. School of Information Studies

STUDY FRAMEWORK & HYPOTHESISDEVELOPMENT School of Information Studies

Study Framework  This framework is to study the relationship between the Web 2.0 tools used and three kinds of predictors: (1) demographics, (2) human capital and (3) library variables. School of Information Studies

Hypotheses  According to the results of a pilot study (Yi, Lodge and McCausland, 2013, p. 593), age and present positions were significant predictors and other independent variables were not significant. It is hypothesised that there are significant relationships between age or years at present position and the Web 2.0 tools used to market services and resources.  It is also hypothesised that there are not significant relationships between Web 2.0 tools used and gender, education level, number of different positions, years of service, the formal study of marketing, attendance at a marketing workshop in the last 5 years, and library variables. School of Information Studies

METHODOLOGY School of Information Studies

Data  An online survey was sent to 400 academic librarians in 37 Australian universities. The response rate was 57.5%.  In this study, 71.7% (165) of 230 respondents returning the surveys successfully answered the question on the effective Web 2.0 tools used to market services and resources. The final analysis did not include 65 incomplete questionnaires. School of Information Studies

Variables  Dependent Variables: Web 2.0 tools (blogs, email newsletter, Facebook advertising, Flickr, Google Voice, instant messaging, LibraryThing, LinkedIn, mashups, MySpace, podcasts, RSS feeds, Second Life, self-posted Facebook, tagging, Twitter, vodcasts, wikis and YouTube) used to market services and resources  Independent Variables: (1) demographics; (2) human capital; and (3) library variables School of Information Studies

Data Analysis The collected quantitative and qualitative data were analysed using descriptive (frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations) and inferential statistics (ordinal regressions). School of Information Studies

FINDINGS & DISCUSSION School of Information Studies

Descriptive Results (1)  In terms of what Web 2.0 tools were effective ones used to market services and resources, 41.2% of respondents perceived that blogs were effective and 25.5% of respondents reported that blogs were more effective . However, only 5.5% of respondents thought that blogs were most effective .  32.7% of respondents thought that email newsletter was effective . 33.9% of respondents reported that Facebook advertising was effective . 27.9% of respondents thought that instant messaging was an effective marketing tool, with 32.1% of respondents perceiving that podcasts were an effective marketing tool.  33.3% of respondents thought that RSS feeds were effective and 20% of respondents thought that RSS feeds were more effective . School of Information Studies

Descriptive Results (2)  22.4% of respondents reported that self-posted Facebook was an effective marketing tool and 24.8% of respondents perceived that tagging was an effective tool.  Twitter was perceived to be effectively and more effectively used to market services and resources by 29.1% and 18.8% of respondents. 27.3% of respondents thought that vodcasts were effective .  37.6% of respondents thought that wikis were an effective tool, 17.0% thought that wikis were more effective and 5.5% of respondents reported that wikis were most effective .  39.4% of respondents thought that YouTube was an effective tool, 34.5% thought that YouTube was more effective and 10.3% of respondents reported that YouTube was most effective . School of Information Studies

Dependent and Independent Variables  Table 1 below shows the percentages, medians and ranges of the variables. The dependent variables were the Web 2.0 tools used to market services and resources. They were ordinal variables.  Gender, formally studying marketing and attending a workshop on marketing in the last 5 years were nominal variables. The ordinal variables included age and education level. The other independent variables were continuous ones. School of Information Studies

Table 1: Descriptive statistics of variables used in the analysis. Variables Percent/Mean SD Dependent Variables 3 a 4 b Blogs 2 a 4 b Email newsletter 2 a 4 b Facebook advertising 1 a 4 b Flickr 1 a 4 b Google voice 2 a 4 b Instant messaging 1 a 4 b LibraryThing 1 a 4 b LinkedIn 1 a 4 b Mashups 1 a 4 b MySpace 2 a 4 b Podcasts 2 a 4 b RSS feeds Second life 1 a 4 b 2 a 4 b Self-posted Facebook Tagging 1 a 4 b 2 a 4 b Twitter Vodcasts 2 a 4 b 3 a 4 b Wikis 3 a 4 b YouTube Independent Variables Male 27.3% 7 a 9 b Age (10-point scale) Education level 3 a 5 b Years of present position 6.4 5.5 Years involved in all library services 21.6 10.9 Number of different library professional positions 5.7 3.5 Number of staff 98.4 61.9 Number of library branches 4.7 3.2 Number of total population 30236.9 17859.1 Formally studying marketing 15.2% Attending a workshop on marketing in the last 5 years 35.8% Legend: SD = Standard deviation ª Median, b Range School of Information Studies

Results of Ordinal Regressions  Table 2 and Tables 2 (continued 1, 2 and 3) below demonstrate the ordinal regression estimates predicting the effective Web 2.0 tools used to market services and resources. The results display that independent variables — male, age, number of different library professional positions, attending a workshop on marketing in the last 5 years, number of staff, years of present position, number of total patrons, and education level — significantly impacted the outcome variables. School of Information Studies