Utilization of Social Media for Marketing Resources and Services in Academic Libraries of Islamabad, Pakistan

Abstract

The paper explores the role of social media marketing in promoting user engagement and use of library resources and services in academic libraries in Islamabad, Pakistan. The paper is based on the service-dominant logic that considers value as being generated by interaction between the service providers and users. A cross-sectional survey design based on quantitative methodology was used. The information was gathered by the means of a structured questionnaire that was distributed among 128 academic library professionals in Islamabad in both the public and the private universities. The instrument was used to measure three key constructs, social media marketing proficiency, user engagement and use of library resources and services. The analysis in SPSS was done using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and simple linear regression. The results indicate that Facebook is the most widely used option of marketing in libraries, and Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and X/Twitter are not that popular. The majority of the respondents indicated that they used social media on a daily or weekly basis to market their services, and also a significant number believed that social media was an effective way of marketing library events. The research indicated a high level of positive associations between social media marketing proficiency, user engagement and utilization. Findings of the regression further indicate that user engagement, utilization, and social media marketing performance are significantly predicted by social media marketing proficiency. The paper finds that social media has emerged as a strategic communications medium to academic libraries in Islamabad. Enhancing staff capacity, institutional policy support, and resource utilization could assist libraries to enhance outreach, engagement, and resource use.