This document provides guidance for researchers on developing an online presence through social media platforms. It discusses establishing profiles on research networking platforms like ORCID and Google Scholar. It recommends Twitter, podcasting, and blogging as effective tools for promoting research. The document offers tips for these platforms, including defining an audience persona, online voice, relevant hashtags, and who to follow. It provides copyright guidance and discusses metrics for measuring engagement and impact. Overall, the document aims to help researchers maximize the benefits of social media for disseminating their work.

1. Social media for researchers
Developing your online presence

2. Before you
start
Superstars
Platforms
Audience Persona
Tags and
tips
Tweet!
Getting
followers
Blogging
Podcasting
Copyright
Measuring
it
More help

3. Before you start …
Where are your research outputs?
• USQ ePrints author record
• ORCID.org
• Google Scholar profile

4. Research superstars
@DrMaggieHardy
@thesiswhisperer
@astroduff
@astropixie
@phillipdawson

5. Activity
Search for an academic in the Twitter search feature.
https://twitter.com

6. The best platforms
What are the best tools to promote my research?
• Twitter
• Podcasting
• Blogging

7. Who am I talking to?
Twitter: People who follow you (and their
followers if they retweet you)
Podcasts: Subscribers and people who find
your podcast and listen to it
Blogging: Subscribers and people who find
your blog post and read it

8. My ideal audience
Spend 5 min identifying your
• target audience, and
• key messages

9. Who am I online?
Spend 5 min visualising your
• Online persona, and
• “voice”

10. What do I say?
• I’m going to (this conference…) Want to catch up?
• (Advice on research methods) because (I messed up today / had an
epiphany / am an expert)
• Here are (my slides) from my talk on (something useful) today
• My views on (this recent research news story) are (this)
• (This awesome opportunity) has just been announced (here is the
link)
• (My new publication) which has just come out (link)

11. Re-tweet / share
Re-tweeting = sharing someone
else’s tweet with your followers

12. @handle
A “handle”:
• Sends a public message to a person by
including @person in a message
• Can be found by searching for a
person’s name in the search field
• Can show you are quoting that person:
.@amywalduck Be a pineapple #standtall
#wearacrown #besweetontheinside

13. #hashtag
Include a #hashtag to link to a wider
discussion such as #ECRchat #PhDchat
#overlyhonestmethods #suwtues or
#auspol
Livetweet an event using the event
hashtag (eg. #asciliteconf , #usqsalon ,
#qanda)

14. What is that?
Reply publicly to this
Send person a private message
Like or approve of a post

15. Try it yourself
Write an example 140 character post including
someone’s @handle or a relevant #hashtag

16. Who to follow
Whoever you would like to follow you!
• ‘Celebrity’ academics
• Professional bodies
• Funding bodies
• Academic and professional press
• Academics in your field
• Public engagement
• Industry, companies, public sector

17. Blogging
Things you want to write but you can’t ‘publish’
• Write a journal of your research project adventures
• Keep a research diary of things you think while reading
• Share each post on Twitter (and Facebook)
• Take photos of your scribbles and share them
• Comment on the barriers you come across

18. Podcasting / ‘Vlogging’
Be the star!
Do you have some interesting colleagues you could interview?
Do you have a good presence, are you well-spoken or kooky?
Tips:
Use a high quality microphone (ie. the Booth)
Plan carefully with scripts in your natural language
Use an intro and outro you can love forever
Post at regular, predictable intervals your listeners can rely on

19. Can I share this?
You can share:
1. A link to anything…
• Any version of an article that is available to the public in USQ ePrints
• Any publisher’s version
• A preprint (pre peer review) version of an article
2. Pictures you have personally taken
3. Pictures with a public domain or CC license
4. A link to a YouTube video

20. How do I report it?
Tools:
• Twitter Analytics
• Klout
• Google Analytics ($)
• Plum analytics ($)
• Impact Story ($)
Report your:
• Followers
• Subscribers
• Page views (or unique users)
• Downloads
• Mentions

21. I need more help!
Your research librarian is available for consultations
Email: researchlibrarian@usq.edu.au