While you tirelessly research the most pressing societal challenges, your work often goes unnoticed outside of the university, meaning it’s not making the desired impact. To help you overcome this issue, I have created a short blog series on how to ensure you are strategically set up on the most impactful platforms for positioning yourself online. The platforms I will explore are Linkedin, X, and other online opportunities for broader reach with professionals and fellow academics.
In the second blog of this series, I explore X.
Your X account can become a dynamic platform for sharing your opinions and recent publications, with instant feedback possible from colleagues around the world. X can help position you as an expert in your field and become a solid way to disseminate your work and engage with global communities.
But you need a focused profile – and a bit of a strategy.
If you don’t already have an account, create one and at least give it a try for a few weeks. And if you already have one, then it’s time to optimise it to position yourself as a thought leader.
Here are some steps to ensure your X profile is at its best and to help you grow your followers:
Optimise Your X Profile
Decide your focus
Before doing anything else, decide why you want to use Twitter. If it’s just to stay updated, follow relevant accounts and you do not need to do much more. But if you are joining to position yourself as a thought leader, you must first identify your niche and build everything from this foundation.
Profile picture and banner
Use a professional photo for your profile picture and a relevant banner image that represents your field of research. Ensure your profile picture is easily recognisable and you look friendly. For your banner, make the most of Canva’s free library of Twitter banner templates. This is a good place to state what you stand for, such as “Stop gender-based violence” or “Free Palestine”.
Perfect your bio one-liner
Write a concise, keyword-rich bio that includes your work credentials, tagging your university and any affiliations to establish credibility, and your research focus. Adding an industry-specific hashtag can make your profile more searchable. Ensure your bio reflects both your expertise and a touch of your personality, an easy way to add your personality is by stating something that you love – it can be coffee or your pet Labradoodle.
Include a website link
If you have a personal website, add it to your profile (do this so it doesn’t use your character limit by putting it in your bio). Otherwise, link to your university page or LinkedIn profile.
Pin a tweet
Pin a tweet that showcases your most significant research, achievement, or introduces who you are and what you do. This ensures visitors see your most important content first.
Build your following
Maintain your content focus
Twitter is about education and staying updated. Share useful, accurate, and interesting content related to your field. Followers will appreciate valuable insights and information about the focus you promised.
Tweet regularly
It’s a good idea to tweet regularly, even if you are just retweeting other people’s tweets. However, also add your own content. Tweet about your research progress and published work with links to the full papers, or retweet a news event with a thought-provoking question. Consistency and focus help build a loyal following.
Be strategic to boost visibility
Use trending hashtags and tag relevant accounts in every tweet to boost visibility. For example, if your latest research is published in a journal, tag the journal, your institution, co-authors, and any other collaborators.
Engage with others
Retweet, comment, and like posts from colleagues, institutions, and influencers in your field. Your engagement with others is key to growing your network.
Join communities and other discussions
Participating in communities such as Academic Twitter can help you engage with other scholars, share your insights, and stay updated on the latest developments in your field. There are thousands of communities – make sure to do some research so you easily stay in the loop.
While X is an excellent platform for helping to position you as an expert and grow a following, it’s primarily geared towards sharing opinions and today’s knowledge. You might tweet your latest research, but only those active on X that hour might see it. And seeing doesn’t mean they will read it. Additionally, it takes consistent effort to grow an established following, and it is unlikely for your tweet to gain momentum without one.
For more targeted impact, join Acume. Acume is designed specifically for academics to share a practical summary of their latest research so that the exact policymaker or practitioner who can use it in their work, finds it and uses it.
By creating a free account on Acume, you can post your latest research summaries and connect your findings directly with those who can apply them in practical, impactful ways, thereby enhancing your social impact.
