Case Study: East Baton Rouge Parish Library
EBRPL Tries Koios Ads, Sees 'Direct Correlations Between Ad Campaigns and Online Usage’
Location: Baton Rouge, LA
System Info: 14 locations and 4 bookmobiles; we also service a Juvenile Detention Center, Head Start locations, WIC Centers, etc.
Service Area: The population of 440,000+ includes a mix of rural, suburban, and urban areas. This state capitol region is re-imagining itself, shifting from just a college town and petrochemical corridor into a more diverse region with high-tech industries including IBM, EA Sports, medical research, business incubators, etc.
Library URL: www.ebrpl.com
Library Situation
East Baton Rouge Parish Library (EBRPL) is fortunate to enjoy stable funding, with all support coming from a dedicated 10-year tax that has historically been well-received by the voters. We enjoy high levels of user satisfaction and usage throughout the system and are well-respected in the community.
However, in recent years, unrest has been affecting our area. There was the July 5, 2016 police shooting of Alton Sterling outside of a convenience store, followed by protests by Black Lives Matter and other groups. On July 17, an out-of-towner set up a retaliatory ambush in Baton Rouge and killed three law enforcement officers. Then in August 2016, a devastating flood caused widespread disruption. All of these incidents, along with increasing dissatisfaction among polarized voters who are angry at local school systems and other governmental entities, have created a sense of vulnerability for our 2025 referendum. We knew if we wanted to not only retain “market share” but in fact increase it, we could not just keep operating as usual. So when Bill Mott of Koios reached out to me in summer of 2017, we were very interested in hearing about the Google Ad Grant process.
What type of product / service have you promoted with your Google Ad Grant?
We are primarily focusing on databases and e-resources since the potential patrons will be able to immediately get a taste of the product. Tools and resources for Business, Career Development, and Job Seekers are my number one focus.
We also do campaigns for lifelong learning, Mango Languages, resources for non-native English speakers, and resources for parents.
What challenges was your library addressing? What goals was it trying to meet?
We were really trying to get out in front of people who were either not coming into the library or who were just not seeing us on regular media channels, especially local millennials, business owners, and even young at-risk moms who were unemployed or under-employed.
We knew they Googled. We wanted to appear in their results.... And we had our brand new Small Business Service to promote.
Why did you decide to try Google Ads?
A few years back, students from Louisiana State University participated in a Google Online Marketing Challenge and our library was a beneficiary. The students built campaigns around OverDrive and business databases, and we experienced a 41.6% increase in page views after the campaign. So I knew that Google Ads were effective.
But our PR budget is limited to mainstream media such as TV, radio, billboards, and print, with just a small amount dedicated to social media boosts. But the social media campaigns are focused on events and programs and don’t really “speak” to potential patrons in the business community. We felt the Google Ads would meet them were they were—online.
Startup was so easy... We had some in-depth conversations with Trey and his team. They were patient instructors and creative thinkers about how best to deploy our Google Ad Grant.
What did the start-up process look like at your library?
Startup was so easy... We had some in-depth conversations with Trey and his team. They were patient instructors and creative thinkers about how best to deploy our Google Ad Grant. In addition to myself, since I work with all marketing efforts and oversee collections, services, and programs, we brought in the Reference Coordinator, Systems Librarian, and Webmaster.
The Koios staff did a deep dive into what we offered (always good to have fresh eyes look at things), and we worked out the strategy for trial campaigns. With each campaign, the Koios team really looked at the results we were getting and tweaked the strategy, including helping us figure out ways to optimize our links and landing pages.
What sorts of results have you seen from using Google Ads? Have you resolved the challenges and / or met the goals that you started with?
We feel that we have achieved higher visibility among potential library patrons by using Google Ads, but without having to spend hours and hours on it ourselves. We have seen direct correlations between ad campaigns and online usage. For example, we promoted Gale Courses in general as well as specific topics within our Gale Courses platform. We can absolutely see that browsers found us online and jumped right in!
And the fact that we are using Google Ads translates into the library appearing more like a business to the members of the business community—a plus for us! The fact that we have created more landing pages and blogs that lead to engagement is a direct result of our work with Koios, and I have then used those same landing pages and blog links for all other digital or social media.
EBRPL makes an effort to reach out to the larger community with a wide variety of offerings. This chart shows how many different programs and services East Baton Rouge promotes with Koios Ads. The color-coded categories are plotted at the intersections of Clicks and Impressions. The giant red data point shows that the library consistently uses digital ads to build and maintain its brand, too.
Any words of wisdom you want to share with your peers?
I am so happy we are working with Koios to manage the Google Ad Grant. I really do feel that this helps us meet people where they are—which is online!
Mary Stein, a native of West Virginia, has lived in Baton Rouge since her college days at Louisiana State University. Before entering the world of public libraries, she worked as a special collections librarian at New Mexico State University and a reference librarian at LSU. Mary joined the East Baton Rouge Parish Library in 1984 and worked for many years in the Adult and Teen Services departments before becoming Assistant Director of Administrative Services in 2004. She works with programming, collections, services, community outreach, marketing, and PR.