Social media has become a predominant tool to share what is going on within our lives. When used in a professional regard, it has the capacity to build connections with like-minded people. We have gathered the best tips on how to use social media effectively to do just that:
- Why share video posts? Using videos can be a great way to capture your audience’s attention quickly. A rule of thumb is that you have 3 seconds to do just that otherwise the reader will continue to scroll. Some techniques you could use are dramatic captions, or music to create an added effect.
- Why posting links? The sharing links on your platforms is going to create conversations. This is a handy way to gain insight from those who are not in your direct network, especially on Linkedin or Twitter. Just make sure when you post a link, you include hashtags and give it a heading or a brief personal opinion that will invite people to comment.
- You only get out, what you put in. The basis of social media is to build engagement with others, so make sure you are doing that! Try to take the time to comment on not just one post but several. This will build conversations and strengthen your engagement levels. Also, you can join groups, ask questions via a post or have a poll to spark interactions.
- Be Consistent. After taking the step to make a social media profile, you want to maintain your online presence! This includes consistently keeping your profile up to date. A practical approach to this is to allocate time within your weekly or daily schedule to post. There are platforms out there that also allow you to schedule your posts so that it can be a weekly task!
- Use Graphics! Images are an alternative to grasping your audience’s attention. This is a more engaging and visible way to stop the user in their tracks. It is also an avenue to share your own work, especially via Instagram. Just make sure your images don’t have too much detail that they’re overwhelming. Also don’t forget to add the alt-text to ensure that your post is accessible to people using a screen-reader.
Links:
- Video Storytelling for Social Platforms (1 min read, blog post)
- How researchers use LinkedIn effectively (2 min read, blog post)
- Tips for Social Media (4 minute video and 1 minute read, video and text)
- Postdoc Daisy Shu Talks Science Communication on Instagram (15 min video or text option)
- Logging into blogging (5 min read, blog post)
