Social media for researchers: Maximise your impact on LinkedIn and beyond [in six simple steps]

For many researchers, hearing the word “LinkedIn” might cause an involuntary, internal “ugh” – simply because leveraging social media for research impact can easily feel like piling work upon work. Because let’s face it: LinkedIn is social media in a suit and tie. But (and this is an important but), LinkedIn offers something other socials don’t – a captive audience of your peers. Not weird aunt Ellie who you felt obliged to accept a follow request from, or your school mates who wouldn’t know the difference between qualitative and quantitative with a gun to their head. Actual fellow researchers, potential collaborators (and competitors) who will understand and care about your next paper or project and who might pass it along to their own captive audience. For that reason alone, it is worth putting some effort into. Not to mention the exposure it provides to potential grant funding, job opportunities and collaboration you otherwise might have missed. So, how to make sure you are doing the right things to maximise your visibility and reach? We’ve got you covered. And not just on LinkedIn but X (formerly Twitter) and Bluesky too (the newest blue social on the block).

Step 1: Groom thyself

If you want to make a good impression, you need to clean up. Trim the beard. Fluff the ponytail. Dab on some scents, and so forth. The same goes for your social media profile. It can make a big difference to be detailed about getting the basics right:

• Do you have an agreeable, professional profile photo? (Decent lighting is a must, and it doesn’t hurt to show an inviting smile.)

• Is your resumé, academic and work-record up to date?

• Does your bio, headline or “About” section accurately and succinctly convey who you are and what expertise you offer?

If you struggle, ask your friendly neighbourhood AI chatbot to help out. Also, ask colleagues or collaborators to vouch for you through recommendations or testimonials – we all look at reviews before buying something. As an added touch, consider a stylish, professional background banner (no boozy beach photos!). Perhaps of you talking at a conference, or simply a stylish, minimalist design that gives your profile some flair. Simply put, attention to detail makes you immediately stand out.

Step 2: Be clicky

Hyperlinks make everyone’s lives easier (who has the time for copy/paste anymore?). Whatever research accomplishments you wish to highlight, make sure they are conveniently linked to the relevant online paper, dissertation, conference proceeding, project or whatever the case may be. And link to your ORCID iD (That’s a no-brainer). You can even link directly to paper PDFs to make things easier for those now surfing your neatly chiselled feed.

Furthermore, it is worth making sure your profile is linked to all the relevant organisations you are associated with (to help the algorithms tighten your curated professional network). Most organisations already have a professional profile, so if you type it in, it should automatically ‘light up’ and link to the relevant organisation’s page. If it doesn’t, you may have misspelled or you need to check how the organisation has named their profile. This will also help former colleagues, interested parties, headhunters (or your alma mater crush) to look you up more easily.

And, of course, make sure you follow everyone in your research network, especially the relevant leaders in your field, so you can strengthen your network and learn from the best. Online, everything is about connections, so make sure you shoot your spidey-web in all the right directions!

Step 3: Share what you love

Rick Rubin, the famous music producer, has this saying, “the audience comes last.” Although that might seem counterintuitive to what you might have read about tailoring your online content to cultivate a ‘target audience’, he makes a solid point: If you try to cater to everyone else’s taste, a lot of people might like it, but likely far fewer people will love it. What makes you passionate is what makes you, you. The simple lesson being: Don’t just share, post or repost something simply because you think it will be popular or get a lot of likes or shares. Share what makes you excited (be it polls, personal stories, or sharing behind-the-scenes aspects of your research). It will show, and it will make people come back for more.

The same goes for engaging with your peers or idols in comments or DMs (direct messages). Don’t comment on a popular post out of FOMO, or to piggy-back on a hot conversation. Post when you truly have something to say. The algorithms might not immediately reward you, but over time, it will pay dividends. The reason why someone like scientist, podcaster and LinkedIn guru Julius Wesche comes across so well is in no small part because he is clearly energised by what he does. Passion sings through the noise.

Here are some more examples of prominent researchers doing LinkedIn well, mostly just by being their authentic selves:

• Demis Hassabis, AI researcher, Co-Founder & CEO, Google DeepMind (100k followers)

• Adam Grant, Organizational psychologist, #1 New York Times bestselling author of HIDDEN POTENTIAL and THINK AGAIN, host of the TED podcasts “WorkLife” and “Re:Thinking” (5,5m followers)

• Thomas Mosk, LinkedIn Top Voice | Data-Driven Economist and Lecturer (8k followers)

• Dr. Sarafina El-Badry Nance, Astrophysicist & Science Communicator (4k followers)

• Dr Adriana Marais, Theoretical physics PhD, Africa2Moon team, founder of com (8k followers)

• Kirk Borne, Ph.D, Data Scientist/Astrophysicist, ‘LinkedIn Top Voice’, Thinkers360 Top 25 Overall Thought Leader (91k followers)

Step 4: Stay hip

If you take a social media hiatus (say, to finally get those minor revisions done) and you finally get time to post again, quite likely everything will look a bit weird and work a little differently. Social media keeps changing, and it pays to get with the times. Hashtags are a simple example. A few years back, Instagram posts were 20% content, 80% hashtags – to try and ride all of the current trending waves. These days, hashtags have fallen by the wayside in favour of tagging people or organisations that are directly relevant. User interfaces and functionalities also keep evolving. LinkedIn now does Insta-style carousel posts that are extremely useful to make your content more visually appealing and engaging (for instance, by using charts, quotes and graphics). Don’t know how to use them? We have another blog post to show you how.

Here’s an example of an effective LinkedIn carousel post — where you click through slides to reveal the content, just like flipping through the pages of a magazine.

Social media platforms also go in and out of fashion. Vines and Snapchat were once “the thing”, and now they’re…cricket noises. LinkedIn is likely to remain a mainstay due to its foothold as the primary professional network, but many researchers and academics have, for instance, recently called for abandoning Elon Musk’s X for the Twitter-lookalike Bluesky. Why? Well, it’s complicated and political but suffice it to say not everyone liked Elon hooking himself to Trump’s MAGA-train.

In short, some researchers concerned about censorship and data privacy feel X is too centralised and corporate-owned (giving Musk too much power, with a potentially politically biased voice). In contrast, Bluesky is a decentralised, open-source platform focused on user control and customisation. In a way, it’s similar to the age-old Apple vs Android debate. Practically though, Bluesky functions almost exactly like X.

To stay informed about both sides of the aisle, as it were, create an account and see for yourself which you prefer and which network (and users) you find more valuable.

Step 5: Be regular

Posting once every two months will not cut it. If you want your peers to pay attention, you need to keep their attention. That doesn’t mean you have to go back to posting meal-pics like in the naughties, but it will do you good to:

• Set aside some time every week to either post whatever new you are working on (in a clear, simple and well thought-out manner);

• comment on what others are doing (if it moves you); or

• at least to stay abreast of the who’s and the what’s of your field.

Comments on social media will often tell you much more about what people really think about much-hyped new papers (and their authors). Posting regularly also gives the impression that you are knowledgeable in your field (which of course you are, right?).

Step 6: Consult the oracle(s)

If you’re still struggling to decide what or how or when to post, turn to our future overlords, the machines. Most social media platforms have some kind of built-in analytics feature to give you insight into who is actually reading your posts, which posts are more engaging, what posting times are more successful to increase your reach etc. You often have to pay for premium analytics features, but LinkedIn Analytics, for instance, can give you a good leg up for free.

And if you’re having difficulty making sense of the various charts and statistics, simply download the data as a report (or copy/paste it into a word doc), and upload it to that friendly neighbourhood chatbot of yours so it can provide you with a neat little social media strategy based on your content analytics. ChatGPT or Gemini will probably be easiest to use for this.

If you haven’t yet started using AI in your research and work, you’re almost certainly fast falling behind. There are tons of AI tools specifically designed for researchers. Don’t know where to start? We have a post for that too, and even a whole online course on AI.

Keeping these simple social media habits can significantly boost your career because universities love researchers with a strong public profile.

I won't mention names, but I know of a very young researcher who got tenure extremely early in their career simply because they have a quarter of a million followers on social media (which draws a lot of student enrolments). Just reflect on that…

Every bit (or post) helps— just stay authentic.