EMBRACING ONLINE PROMOTION AND SOCIAL MEDIA IN RESEARCH &

ACADEMIA FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS

Promotion through social media

Mark Farmer / 2016-02-22

Today

Using social media to promote yourself. Thought leadership. Networking: how to. A contrarian view. What works & what doesn’t. How to get started.

Popularizing academic activity. Examples.

What to avoid.

Skepticism is fine

I run into a lot of skepticism about social media.

Skepticism is fine. It’s in the DNA of academia and research activity. My friend Katia was very

skeptical about it, but then she embraced social media and built a business on it.

Don’t let skepticism hold you back

Refusing to embrace social media on some level, for yourself and for your work, may limit you.

Behold the power of brand!

Social media can help your career.One of the things it does really well in this

area is to help build brand.

BUILDING

BRAND!

“Building brand” actually means something outside of marketing circles.

What does “brand” mean to you?Building brand – your personal brand in this

case – is how you become a trusted resource that people notice and pay attention to, for a specific area or niche.

It can help position you as a subject matter expert, and get you the notice you need to take your career or research to the next level.

Cliché alert

So how do you do it?

Thought leadership What is thought leadership?

An “…authority in a specialized field and whose expertise is sought and often rewarded.”

Insight Advice Analysis Information Something useful you provide that isn’t readily available

elsewhere.

Who is a thought leader?

Who do you think of when you think of a thought leader? Steve Jobs Malcolm Gladwell Ken Steele Seth Godin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Steve_Jobs_with_red_shawl_edit2.jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Malcolm_Gladwell_2014_(cropped).jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seth_Godin_in_2009.jpg

https://twitter.com/kensteele

Thought leadership

You develop your thought leadership position a little bit each time you share interesting, relevant content about your area of expertise / interest.

You do it every time you answer a question, solve a problem, share your opinion or even just engage with someone on a professional topic.

Speaking of problem solving, there’s a piece of technology that is solely concerned with how well people answer questions & solve problems online. Any guesses as to what it is?

Thought leadership examples

Everyone’s getting in on the action

My inspiration

• My friend Boyd Neil is in his 60s and is the Senior Digital Strategist at Hill+Knowlton.

• Started blogging in his 50s, andcredits blogging with re-bootinghis career.

How can you get started?

Look at some of the leaders in your field.Question: what are you interested in,

professionally? What are some of the issues in that field? Hot topics, controversies, trends, debates, etc.

But there’s already too much of this stuff!

I don’t want to just contribute to the existing level of background noise.

What have I got to say that’s unique?Everything that can be said has already been

said.I don’t have the time.

A non-academic viewpoint

Sharing online doesn’t have to be an academic exercise: it’s not about being absolutely unique.

Just because someone beat you to the punch on an issue doesn’t mean you shouldn’t talk about it: there’s room for more than one POV on a topic

Just because someone’s talking about this, or someone already wrote about it, doesn’t mean the rest of the world has read that particular piece of content, which means you shouldn’t feel prohibite from providing your insights and point of view on said topic.

Ok, so how do I promote me / my

research?

“Americans hate social media promotions.”

“If your company doesn’t have a social media editorial program that emphasizes spontaneous, personal, human, light-hearted, interesting, funny, timely, and photo-driven content, you are swimming against a powerful tide of customer desire.”

http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-research/new-research-americans-hate-social-media-promotions/

Inside Baseball

● “Inside Baseball:” what I do is fascinating to everyone,in all its exquisite detail.

● We constantly overestimatethe world’s native interestin what we do, whether we’re students, academics, average Joes & Janes, institutions… you name it.

● It doesn’t mean that what we do isn’t interesting, but that not all of it is interesting to everyone all the time.

So what do you do?

What Works

● Positive, engaging, significant newsworthy content.● Stories that highlight major, cutting-edge innovations

& research, especially when the story comes from a mainstream media outlet or an online influencer: this provides third party validation.

How to influence / resonate

• Cialdini− Reciprocity− Scarcity− Authority− Consistency− Liking− Consensus / social proof

What works well online

● Important, high-profile awards (e.g. international awards, awards with "name brand" recognition that the general public has heard of).

● "News you can use" which has a significant impact on everyday life, and which people can take action on.

What doesn’t work well online

● Anything strictly academic in tone.● Purely faculty-centric content, unless there's a strong

human interest story, such as highly-impactful, public-focused research, or a strong emotional hook.

● Anything institutionally-focused or inward-looking, such as many kinds of institutional announcements, press releases, and so on.

● Many kinds of stories about current students and their activities, unless they're achieving or doing something really significant.

What doesn’t work well online

● Many kinds of stories about a given faculty, researcher, student or staff member (usually) unless it's tied to a major innovation or success story.

● Many kinds of lectures, whether by faculties or guests, unless it's by a highly-recognizable celebrity.

● Strictly promotional content.

In spite of this, it’s all about you

What do you have to contribute?What do you know that – while it may not be

absolutely unique – not everyone else knows?

What’s your area of expertise? Everyone’s got one.

MEME

ME ME

ME MEME MEME

Where to do it?

Traditionally, this has been a blog.Doesn’t have to be one anymore.

Tumblr Facebook Wordpress.com YouTube

Think outside the box

Video: youtube.com/user/bookjunkielit.

Who else does this well?

Google hangouts on air.Facebook live video.Instagram.Apps.Virtual reality.

Palaeo Q&A

Dr. David Evans

Networking

Where do you network professionally? LinkedIn Meetup Facebook Other

Meetup: Social Media Café TO

What can you do?

Answers questionsProvide a valuable serviceMake connections

The dark side

There are risks of using social media. It is possible to make mistakes.

Using that as an excuse to ignore social media and avoid it isn’t the best solution.

So what can you do to engage with social media and protect yourself?

Nothing is private on social

Assume social media is public. All the time. Forever. Even if you’re sending a private / direct message.

Acid test: would you want to see what you’re about to post, on the front page of The Globe and Mail.

Err on the side of caution

Avoid saying things you wouldn’t want attributed to you.

Avoid reacting in anger.Avoid assuming.Don’t ignore privacy.Don’t break copyright.Avoid disparagement.Avoid jargon or marketing speak.Avoid swearing.

Thank you; please stay in touch

http://markfarmer.netTwitter.com/markus64linkedin.com/in/markfarmer64mfarmer@yorku.ca