Having worked for many years in the market of scientific and publication consulting, we have become convinced that improving the scientometric indicators of the author is no less important than the publication of the paper itself. Earlier, we considered what benefits this gives scientists. In addition to academic metrics, there are altmetrics. The latter analyse the marketing activities of the author. Their indicator depends on mentions in social networks, blogs, forums, etc. The increase in altmetric indicators has a direct impact on the increase in scientometric indicators. The more people are interested in a scientific article or a post about it on social networks, the more actively it will be mentioned and quoted. Let us consider how the author can popularise their article with the help of social networks.
1. Decide on the platform.
Analyse your article using Altmetric or PlumAnalytics and determine from which resources the greatest number of clicks on the article and mentions about it. This way you would be able to select the most suitable social network for yourself. From the practice of our company, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn most often become priorities.
If there is no resource or a sufficient number of altmetric indicators, analyse the social media pages of other scientists who work in your field of research. It is possible to maintain several profiles on social networks at once, but this would require much more of your time. If you do not have such an opportunity, it is better to concentrate on high-quality promotion on one platform.
2. Make social networking regular.
The success of running social networks is in the regularity of the release of materials. Schedule content publications several times a week, and take time to respond to comments, profile discussions, and tracking up-to-date information. You need at least 30-50 minutes a day for social networking. Later, it will become a habit, and you will be able to promote your scientific articles more quickly and efficiently.
3. Share your research.
Your goal on social networks is to let as many people as possible know about your work. And over time, they could use it in their own research. Therefore, a good publication option may be a part of the scientific article, its results, and interesting points, especially if is newsworthy.
4. Convey the idea in simple words.
Even a complex scientific topic can be conveyed simply. This would be clearer for a larger audience and helps to attract attention.
5. Subscribe to colleagues.
Communicate with colleagues and other scientists. Subscribe to them to track their activities, perhaps some publications would inspire you to form your own content plan.
6. Mark the co-authors.
If your scientific article is co-authored, it is a good idea to mention other researchers in the publication. This will draw the attention of their audience to you and will help to expand the number of subscribers and readers.
7. Start a collaboration with colleagues.
Mutual "PR" with colleagues will also be a good way to attract a new audience. Publish information about the work of another scientist on your page, in return, a colleague will share information about your material. This is how a new audience will know about you.
8. Digitise your contacts.
At profile events, scientists exchange contacts with other researchers. Review who you already know offline and "make friends" with them online. This will help to form a more holistic and expert profile in social networks.
9. Subscribe to profile groups.
Find groups with your subject area or fields of interest. Very important research information is often published there. In addition, there is an opportunity to make a publication in such a group yourself (especially on Facebook), which will contribute to the promotion of your scientific article.
10. Tell about yourself.
Try to publish the most interesting moments of professional life on your social networks: participation in a discussion, attending a profile event, speaking at a conference, etc. In addition, if articles are published on your personal account, keep a balance between private and professional life.
11. Join discussions.
Do not be afraid of negative comments and discussions on social networks. On the contrary, it is a great way to attract attention to your work. If you have negative comments, answer them and explain your idea. This means that the material has already "caught on" with some readers. Perhaps, during the discussion, you would come to a decision that will be a scientific breakthrough! In addition, posts with a large number of comments are better displayed in a personalised social media feed.
12. Identify your target audience.
Think about who your readers are, who are interested in your publications. Speak to them in the same language. Understanding what your audience wants helps to improve the quality of your profile and increase reader engagement.
13. Highlight keywords and hashtags.
Hashtags are no longer very popular on some platforms, but, for example, on Twitter, they remain an important search tool. Therefore, identify the key hashtags for your materials. This would help the audience to search for publications faster and more efficiently.
14. Focus on visual content.
Focus not only on text publications, but also on the visual component. An interesting infographic, a slide from a conference, a table, or a cover can attract much more attention from the audience.
15. Try making a video.
Video content is becoming increasingly important in the world of social networks and in scientometrics. For example, some authors widely use video annotations. Almost anyone can use this format. Tell about yourself, about your study, or publish a speech from the conference. This will greatly diversify your content and help in attracting an audience.
16. Analyse the results.
On a regular basis, for example once a month, monitor your publications. Pay attention to the number of likes, comments, link clicks, and other metrics. This would help you to determine which content your audience likes more and improve your profile metrics.
17. Collect "feedback".
Carefully read the reactions of your audience, ask colleagues to critically evaluate your profile, this would help to determine the areas for growth and development in social networks.
18. Collaborate with publishers.
Before publishing an article, check out the profile of the journal on social networks. Some journals are very active in this area and regularly publish materials by specific authors. This creates additional "PR" for the scientist and is beneficial to both the author and the editorial board of the journal. After all, the increase in scientometric indicators of articles directly affects the authority of the publication.
19. Synchronise your social media pages.
Leave a link or QR code to your social networks on your own business cards, conference materials, and presentations. If you have more than one profile, for example on Facebook, leave your profile details on Twitter and LinkedIn. Do not forget to synchronise social networks with the author's profiles, for example in ORCID.
20. Experiment!
The promotion of scientific materials in social networks is a creative process. Recently, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have provided many tools for such self-realisation. For example, post stories, comment, join discussions. You can use other methods of promotion: blogs, Youtube, Instagram, and even TikTok. Why not? You can never know for sure what your target audience will like. Therefore, experiment and create new approaches in the popularisation of scientific articles.
In turn, the Scientific Publications company will always be a reliable partner in promoting your materials and implementing scientific goals. Leave a request on the website and we will contact you during the working day. We will be glad to cooperate!
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