The purpose of using social media as an academic is to do more than spread the word, it is also a way to develop readers and relationships, said Janet Salmons, an independent researcher, writer and consultant with Vision2Lead, Inc., in a TAA webinar entitled, “Six Strategies for Using Social Media to Promote Your Writing.”

“What’s unique about the social media networking environment is the ability to find groups of people of like mind and interact with people and get their perspectives and engage with them because they are able to produce content as well,” she said.
Here are five strategies she highlights in the webinar:

1) Write: Posts and Highlights

Pull out an intriguing point, question, or issue from your work and create a post that links back to the article. Post on your own blog or submit guest posts for social media sites or blogs that attract your target audience. LinkedIn also allows you to create more significant posts.

2) Tell: Podcasts, Videos or Media

Present some part of your work using audio or audiovisual media. Reach out to organizations or institutions that showcase authors on their podcast program (for example Research in Action by Katie Linder at Oregon State University) or create your own podcast series and embed the link in your blog or website and link that in your posts to other social media sites.

3) Illustrate: Infographics, Visuals or Maps

Show key concepts and relationships, and communicate ideas visually. Piktochart is just one of many resources you can use to create infographics. Link the infographic to the actual study or the book chapter, and you might gain more readers.

4) Demonstrate: How-to Steps

Show how ideas can be applied and/or summarize key steps. You could present your steps using infographics with steps laid out, or with a podcast or video.

5) Collaborate: Webinars, Chats & Dialogue

Look for opportunities to interact and engage with your target audience to build credibility. Webinars, tweet chats, Google Hangouts, Facebook Live are all platforms that you can use to do this. You can use this strategy to not only talk about your how-to steps, but also to hear from your potential readers/instructors. What are they concerned about? What problems are they encountering in this field? What do they need to know?

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For more on using social media to promote your academic writing, watch the full TAA webinar (free for TAA members). Join TAA for 30 days for only $10.