Social media is a valuable resource for all academics. Whether you’re promoting your work, a journal you run, or are simply trying to find your community, there’s something for everyone. Social media, conversely, is also a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, being able to network with fellow scholars and share your work has never been easier. On the other, trying to break into an oversaturated algorithm with your own content is no small feat. Just because the task is daunting, though, doesn’t mean you can’t do it. And it certainly doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Together, we’ll look at some tips and tricks you can use to harness media platforms to expand your reach.
Creating your digital identity
Through publicly sharing curated and thoughtful information about yourself on social media, you’re establishing your online brand of sorts, even if you’re not selling a product. At the end of the day, when it comes to online spaces, our personalities are the brand. But before you can begin crafting one, you must ask yourself the age-old question: who am I? While it may seem like the answer isn’t evergreen, when it comes your online profile(s), it’s actually quite simple. When you chose your academic career, you had to specialize in a certain area, and that’s what you’re doing with your digital profiles.
For more professional and traditionally academic social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, you’ll want to highlight your areas of expertise, the research you’re currently working on, and your scholarly goals. For more populist corners of the Internet, such as Facebook and X, showcasing your personality alongside your research is best. You’re not hiding parts of your persona, just picking and choosing when to forefront which aspects.
Finding your audience
After creating your digital identity, it’s time to share it across multiple platforms. When it comes to platforms like LinkedIn for academics and more community-based hubs such as Sciprofiles, the share of users with similar interests to you is greater. Sciprofiles in particular is a great way to ease into networking if it’s not something you’ve done before. You’ll know that everyone on the platform is looking to build a scientific community and promote their academic work. From there, you can grow your outreach. Cross-post from LinkedIn and Sciprofiles to less specialized platforms, and watch your audience expand.
It may seem like a waste of time to create academic content for platforms such as TikTok and X, especially when they have reputations for spreading misinformation. But there’s a growing trend of mainstream audiences seeking out scientific content. Making short-form video essays on your research could lead to explosive engagement. Transfer those short ideas to long-form content on YouTube, and you can easily scale your community.
X may be known for its discourse, but starting a conversation could be the ticket to getting eyes on your profile. Use those views as a way to direct them toward your website or LinkedIn profile (where your more profession-oriented posts live). Thinking about how to make your area of study interesting and digestible for the broader market can help you step outside your box. And it could open several doors for you, too.
Creating academic and promotional content for social media
As touched on earlier, video content has taken the world by storm. Blog writing still has a place, especially with the popularity of sites like Substack, but videos dominate the market. Every platform has seemingly integrated vertical, short-form videos into their interface and branding. That does not mean you need to dance to a rap about molecular cells, but it does mean looking into what kind of video editing aspects are popular. This could be anything from the font used for the text on your video, a song in the background, or even sound effects. Keyboard typing sound effects, for example, tend to be in viral videos. There’s a way in which your research can be simplified and made trendy without compromising your scientific integrity.
Adding to that, focus on specific problems within the academic community. This can boost engagement within your community, and also shed light on problems in academia that the general public may not know about. Concerns about publishing, peer review, and the distinctions between disciplines are all good topics to touch on. Additionally, if you have a product to advertise, such as a journal or software, creating content about known issues you have the solution to will give you an edge over your competition.
Social media isn’t going anywhere
Not everyone is comfortable posting online, but the reality is that knowing how to use social media is a huge asset. Whether you stay within targeted academic communities, even on popular platforms such as X, or try to reach the masses, it’s important to learn how to establish an online community and create content for them. Start where you’re most comfortable. Writing might be your choice, and then you can integrate a podcast venture into your blog or Substack. From a podcast you can toy with the idea of creating videos. Each of these options has a direct path for growth. Just because you’re a scholar doesn’t mean you have to keep to yourself in the lab or the library.
And if you’re not a fan of online spaces? Networking on social media can help you pivot into in-person meetups and community building. You’ll have a list of event attendees at the ready, and a newfound confidence in your ability to engage and direct an audience. Either way, social networking is crucial to getting your work out there, so why not get started?