Community Influencers: The New Word-of-Mouth

How New Jersey Libraries Can Partner with Local Voices to Expand Their Reach

By Julia Giantomasi

Published May 19, 2026

Historically, libraries have relied on word-of-mouth to connect with their communities. In today’s much more digital world, that technique has taken on a new form in community influencers. These are not celebrities or paid spokespeople, but local voices your patrons already know and trust. As the marketing landscape evolves, your library might want to consider partnering with local creators, educators, historians, and readers as a powerful, low-cost way to promote services, programs, and collections.

What Is a Community Influencer?

A community influencer is anyone with an engaged local audience. This could include:

• Teachers and school media specialists
• Local historians or preservation groups
• Bookstagrammers and avid readers
• Community organizers or nonprofit leaders
• Small business owners
• Parents active in school or town networks

They may have a few hundred or a few thousand followers, but what matters most is trust and connection. You’ll be able to find these influencers by browsing social media by topic or location and finding what posts pop up where followers show significant engagement either by liking, commenting, or reposting.

What’s In It for Your Library?

The biggest benefit to your library will be cost. Traditional advertising can be expensive, and we understand that not every library has a marketing budget. This approach is accessible to all libraries, regardless of size. Additionally, a community partnership is personal and authentic, which further reinforces the foundation of a library as a trusted and safe space in the neighborhood. Collaborating with local influencers can amplify your resources to audiences beyond your existing followers, highlight services in a more relatable way, and strengthen your roots in an area. In a diverse county or township, these types of partnerships can even better connect your library with a specific culture or interest group that you haven’t been able to reach.

How to Reach Out

This may seem intimidating if you’re new to collaborations, but many local influencers care about their community and value the library as a resource, so they’ll be open to sharing more meaningful content. Starting the conversation can be as simple as sending a direct message on social media or emailing them an invitation to an event to show your interest and talk in person. Explain what you admire about their work and why you think a collaboration could be a good fit. Keep it casual and clear by suggesting a low-effort collaboration idea and see where it goes from there.

Example
“We love the way you highlight local history in our community. Would you be interested in visiting the library and sharing a post about our local history collection?”

Easy Ways to Collaborate

You do not need a complex campaign to get started. Often, partnerships can be as simple as an invitation, a shared post, or a visit to the library. Here are some ideas to start the brainstorming process, which you can adjust to your library’s needs.

1. Invite Them to an Event

Ask a local creator, teacher, or historian to attend a program and share their experience online.

2. Offer a “Behind the Scenes” Look

Give a local influencer a short tour of your library, a peek at special collections, or access to a program setup.

3. Co-Create Content

Work together on a post or short video that spotlights a piece of your library that relates to this creator. You want to make sure it’s something that this influencer is interested in, so it comes across completely authentic. Here are some examples:

• A local historian discussing your town’s past
• A teacher sharing how they use library resources with students
• A Bookstagrammer highlighting your collection or displays
• A small business owner promoting your business databases or research tools

4. Feature Them on Your Page

Highlight a topic that they’re posting about on your library’s page. Since the goal with these partnerships is to create long-term connections and not just be transactional, this will build goodwill.

5. Partner on Themed Content

Tying your collaboration to a theme can naturally boost the content and give it a niche audience. Creating a video series about your summer reading program can create excitement, increase participation, and align with this year’s “Unearth a Story” theme. Or try creating fun content that adds to the buzz around the 250^th anniversary of the United States.

No matter what idea you start with, try to be flexible and keep your expectations realistic when working with a new partner. Mutual respect and clear communication will go a long way in starting a successful partnership.

Community influencers are simply the modern version of what libraries have always done best: building relationships.

Start small. Reach out to one local voice this month. You may find that some of your strongest advocates are already right in your community, ready to share your story!