With more and more employers using Google to screen job candidates, establishing a strong online presence is now one of the most powerful ways to gain a competitive advantage in the job market. This presentation explores common concerns that prevent academics from promoting their research online, and outlines how to develop a communications strategy that will allow you to tell your story to a global audience, build a community around your research, and become an influencer in your discipline area.

1. Tell your story:
Promoting yourself
& your research.
Jo Hawkins
@History_punk
www.historypunk.com

2. What we’ll be talking about…
• What’s your story?
• How should you best tell your story?
– What do you want to achieve?
– Who do you want to talk to?
– How do you want to tell it?
• Barriers and misconceptions
– People will steal my ideas
– People will criticise my ideas
– How do I defend myself against Trolls?

3. Why is an online
presence essential
for academics?

4. Give yourself a competitive
advantage
1. Optimise your search engine rankings.
2. Bring your research to life.
3. Global networking.
4. Create a platform to promote your work.
5. Refine ideas, collect intelligence & collaborate
6. Improve writing skills.
7. Explore life as a public intellectual.
8. Erode the power that academic publishers have
over your reputation.
9. Increase the number of times your journal
articles are cited.

5. Do blogs lead to increased
dissemination of research papers?
Source: David McKenzie, Berk Özler, The Impact of Economics Blogs, Policy Research
Working Paper, The World Bank Development Research Group, August 2011

6. Is blogging and tweeting about
research papers worth it?
“You will see that 7 out of 10 of
the most downloaded papers
from my Department in the last
calendar year have me in the
author list. 27 out of the top 50
downloads in our department
in the last calendar year feature
me. My stuff isn't better than
my colleagues' work. They're all
doing wonderful things! But
I'm just the only one actively
promoting access to my research
papers.”
Source: Melissa Terras' Blog: Adventures in Digital Humanities and digital cultural
heritage, 'Is blogging and tweeting about research papers worth it? The Verdict', Tuesday, 3
April 2012, <http://melissaterras.blogspot.com.au>.

7. Source: Heather Piwowar, 'Altmetrics shows that citations can’t stand up to the full
31 flavours of research impact', Impact of Social Sciences blog, 4 April 2012,
<http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2012/04/04/31-flavours-research-
impact/>.

8. How to establish
an online presence.

9. Two steps
1. Create a content platform
2. Drive traffic to that content platform

10. What is Google looking for?

11. What is Google looking for?
• Popularity:
– How much traffic is the site getting?
• Authority:
– How many other sites link to this site?
• Frequency:
– How often is this site updated with new content?
• Key words:
– How well does this content match search queries?

12. First. You need a
strategy.

13. What are your objectives?
• Prove and improve your knowledge?
• Network or collaborate with other researchers?
• Establish yourself as a thought-leader and
innovator in a particular space?
• Get speaking engagements or writing gigs?
• Get a publishing deal?
• Become a public authority on a specific topic?
• Or perhaps explore an issue that is often
ignored by mainstream media?

14. Who is your audience?
• Academic
• Non-academic
– Public
– Practitioners
– Government
– Not for profit/ advocacy groups
• What are their needs, interests and concerns?
• How can you reach them?
• The better you know your audience, the more
effectively you can generate compelling content
that will get them excited.

15. What’s your story?
• What drives you? What are you passionate
about?
• What type of information would your
audience find interesting or useful?
• Who is already writing about it? Is there a
gap you can fill?
• Decide what your blog is about and stick to
it. A tight focus is the most effective way to
build an audience.

16. Single minded proposition
Your audience Your story
Your objectives

17. How will you measure success?
• Website traffic
• The size of your social network
• Higher search engine ranking
• How influential or engaged your community
is
– Number of comments on blog posts
– Number of re-tweets
– First time vs. returning visitors
• Mentions (set up a Google Alert)
• Increase in citations

18. Choose your tools.

19. Your content platform
• Blogs
• Tumblr
• Alternatives to blogging
– Static website
– Linkedin
– Academia.edu
– University staff webpage

20. Traffic drivers
• Online
– Twitter
– Facebook
– Youtube
– Guest blog posts
– Link, link, link!
• Offline
– Email sig
– Business cards
– Conference papers/ posters

21. Facebook vs. Twitter
• Facebook is for people you know.
• Twitter is for people you want to know.
Twitter
Australian users: 2 million
Global users 500 million
Facebook
Australian users: 11 million
Global users 950 million

22. Share useful information

23. Promote blog posts

24. Promote events

25. Promote your research project

26. Network

27. Network

28. Network IRL

29. Ask questions

30. Ask questions

31. Collaborate

32. Express your personality

33. Why don’t
academics blog and
tweet?

34. When I "reveal" my blogging to people in science, I'm faced
with several reactions. I will list the most common here,
starting with the most frequent:
1. You don't...*shudder*...put your own work on the
internet!?
2. You do this in your off time? Shouldn't you be writing
papers then? I'm concerned about your motivation.
3. You must not be a very good scientist (usually that's on
the internet, but once in a while it's said to my face).
Source: Scicurious, 'Blogging: Self-promotion and self-promotion', Neurotic
Physiology, 9 May 2012 , <http://scientopia.org/blogs/scicurious/>

35. I don’t have time
• Keep blog posts short
• Make blogging an extension of work you are
already doing
• When you blog about something new - make it
count
• Create a ‘content calendar’
• Multi-author blogs
• Technology embargos
• RSS feeds (Google Reader)
• You don’t need to be online to tweet.

36. People will steal my ideas
• When you communicate ideas online you don’t
earn money - you do earn authority.
• The best academic bloggers exude generosity and
abundance while retaining key elements of their
intellectual property.
• Top tip: It’s a balancing act. Watch & learn from
others.

37. People will criticize my ideas
• Academics are used to critique from their peers,
but blogging presents the risk of misinformation
and misinterpretation by a much broader (often
unqualified) audience.
• The intersection of academia and mass media is
often defined by conflicting communication
objectives.

38. Source: Daniel C. Hallin, The Uncensored War: The Media and the
Vietnam, Oxford University Press,1986 , p.117.

39. “The authority of the press to assume consensus,
define deviance and set the terms for legitimate
debate is weaker when people can connect
horizontally around and about the news.”
Source: Jay Rosen, 'Audience Atomization Overcome: Why the Internet Weakens
the Authority of the Press', Pressthink, 12 January, 2009 <http://
archive.pressthink.org/2009/01/12/atomization.html>

40. The opportunity.

41. “Digital technology and great new media ventures like The
Conversation mean academics can publish just as quickly,
just as tightly and just as relevantly as the most
contemporary tabloid hack, but with far greater authority
and without the commercially-driven compromises in which
journalism is used as a marketing arm for other content.”
Jim Parker, 'Why Journalists Fear Academics', The Failed Estate, 20 May 2012, <http://
thefailedestate.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/why-journalists-fear-academics.html>.

42. Don’t feed the trolls

44. What is a troll?
“A troll is someone who persistently seeks to
derail rational discourse through mindless
abuse, needling, hectoring, or even threats of
violence. A troll is not someone who disagrees
with you, dislikes your work or disapproves of
your moral choices.”
Source: Tim Dowling, 'Dealing with Trolls: a guide', The Guardian online, 12 June
2012, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jun/12/how-to-deal-with-trolls>.

45. Where do the ‘haters’ come from?
“Social psychologists have known for decades that, if
we reduce our sense of our own identity – a process
called deindividuation – we are less likely to stick to
social norms…the same thing happens with online
communication such as email. Psychologically, we
are “distant” from the person we’re talking to and
less focused on our own identity. As a result we’re
more prone to aggressive behavior.”
Source: Michael Marshall, Don't flame me, bro', New Scientist blog, 19 November
2007, <http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technology/>.

47. Actually, it’s already against the law
• The Commonwealth Criminal Code Act (the
Criminal Code) Part 10.6 can be used to prosecute
individuals who are “trolls”
• It regulates internet services – prohibiting the use
of a carriage service to menace, harass or cause an
offence to the reasonable person.
• Twitter, Facebook, Google will always hand over
private information to enable law enforcement
action.

48. Hope for the best,
prepare for the
worst.

49. Be respectful
• Use your real name.
• Be honest and transparent.
• Express opposing viewpoints respectfully.
• Never resort to personal attacks.
• Never post content that is offensive, defamatory,
vulgar or otherwise objectionable.
Source: ‘Social Media Guidelines’, Murdoch University Development and Communications Office, <http://
our.murdoch.edu.au/Development-and-Communications-Office/Working-with-us/Building-a-website/
Using-Social-Media/Social-Media-Guidelines/>, (September 2012)

50. Be responsible
• Protect sensitive, confidential or proprietary
information.
• Respect intellectual property and link to sources
whenever possible.
• If you make a mistake, be upfront and take
responsibility for it. Minor issues can often be
easily remedied with an apology or by posting a
correction.
• Use your best judgment and always think twice
before you hit publish - because it is you who is
ultimately responsible for what you write.

51. Be a leader
• Identify your position (and qualifications if
relevant) when participating in discussions related
to your area of expertise.
• Avoid commenting on unfamiliar topics
• Ensure your personal opinions are distinguished
from professional discourse.
• When commenting on a topic outside of your area
of expertise, include a disclaimer: ie:
“the postings on this site are my own and don't
necessarily represent the positions, strategies, or opinions
of the University of Western Australia”.

52. Set the ground rules
SAMPLE COMMENT POLICY
Rules of engagement
Views expressed on this blog are mine alone and do not represent the
views of the University of Western Australia. I welcome comments,
opinions, debate and discussion. However, in the spirit of community,
there are a few simple rules that I ask you to understand and abide by:
1. Keep it friendly; I will remove any content that is offensive,
defamatory, vulgar or otherwise objectionable.
2. You’re welcome to express an opposing viewpoint if you do so
peacefully and respectfully.
3. Ensure that the content you post complies with any applicable site
guidelines (e.g. Twitter’s Terms of Use) and respects intellectual
property and copyright.
Source: Adapted from ‘Social Media: Rules of Engagement’, Murdoch University Development and
Communications Office, <http://our.murdoch.edu.au/Development-and-Communications-Office/Working-
with-us/Building-a-website/Using-Social-Media/Rules-of-engagement/>, (September 2012)

53. Discover, evaluate, respond.
Guidelines for responding to social media and blog comments.
POSITIVE? NEGATIVE?
Do you want to Assess the Evaluate the
respond? message purpose
No
Yes
“Trolls”
No response Monitor only
Rant and raging.
No Yes
Can you add “Misguided” Are the facts Gently correct
value? Erroneous facts. correct? the facts.
Yes No
No Yes
“Unhappy
Explain what is
Compose a Thank the customer” Did you make a
being done to
reply. person. A negative mistake?
rectify the issue.
experience

54. Enforce the rules
• Moderate your blog (but don’t censor)
• What to remove?
– Comments that are offensive, defamatory or
vulgar
– Spam
• What to keep?
• Don’t rush. Take time to create a
thoughtful response.

55. Questions?