Social Media for Scientists: (re)launch & engage with confidence
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Social media in #science: virtual water cooler or rewarding essential? Quick session for scientists, researchers and universities in bio economy, agri-food, marine and forestry. We had a great discussion afterwards with panellists and audience during the CommBeBiz conference, London, 21-22/2/17
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Social Media for Scientists: (re)launch & engage with confidence
- 1. 1 Empowering scientists, researchers and projects Helping communicate and connect with your target audiences Bridging the gap between science and society @SciComms @ac_wlove #SciComms
- 2. 2 Social Media & Scientists… so what do you use? Research Gate Academia.edu LinkedIn Blog twitter Other?
- 3. 3 awareness impact transparency Interaction uptake trust exchangereputation Social and digital media is really one of the most effective, accessible and best referenced “oil” on these cogs between these parts AND digital and traditional media common understanding
- 4. 4 #MarchForScience #ScienceMarch London, UK – 22 April – UN Earth Day Need To Communicate?
- 5. 5 Usage: views, downloads, holdings, document delivery, ILL Captures: favourites, bookmarks, saves, readers Mentions: blog posts,Wikipedia articles, news stories, comments, reviews Social media: tweets, +1s, likes, shares, ratings Citation: Web of Science, Scopus,Google Scholar, PubMed, patents They are judging you…. 😱
- 7. 7
- 8. 8
- 9. 9 AWARE 100% INFORMED 40% ENGAGED 10% COMMITTED >1% GOAL >Where do you want to go? >Why do you use social media? >What do you want to achieve?
- 10. 10 GOAL >Who do you reach? >Who do you want to reach? >What does your audience look like? >What online relationship/interaction to target for each segment?
- 11. 11 > Where can you find your audience? >Which platforms do you use? >Where do you have to meet them online? >What are quick wins and which platforms require major investment? PLATFORM
- 12. 12 PLATFORM
- 13. 13 PLATFORM
- 14. 14 LAUNCH >What specific assets do you have? >What makes you stand out? >What does your research have to offer? > Anything unique about your work or working environment? > Do as a collective or department?
- 15. 15 LAUNCH >What are your core values? > Define your online persona and tone > Establish your character and credibility > Remember to have some fun as well
- 16. 16 LAUNCH
- 17. 17 > What will you do to turn a ‘passer by’ into a committed advocate? > How will you make a meaningful link between your assets and your audience? ENGAGE
- 18. 18 ENGAGE
- 20. 20 EVALUATE
Editor's Notes
- And by public: we can incorporate general public, politics and business publics How? Quality & targeted content: simple but engaging stories and factual articles about complex research, written using our network of 35+ specialist science-based journalists around Europe – they know how to develop a ‘hook’ and draw target audiences in Distribution and monitoring: a publication network of popular science, magazines and journals Engaging communications tools: info graphics, social media campaigns, print materials and events Professional videos, films and documentaries (our latest, the ‘Origami Code’ a multi-prize winning documentary about how origami and the art of folding is brining advances to multiple areas of of our lives) Enhance communication skills of scientists through professional training (including collaborating with Rhonda) Much of our work focuses on Illustrating the applications, benefits and impacts of publicly funded research
- OK – so we have had the scientific approach from Aine… but let’s just take a straw poll from you here today... How many use these social media with a professional or personal/professional capacity? Research Gate Academia.edu LinkedIn (Groups, publish articles... Not just have a profile) Bloggers ou there? (or have a website or sorts) Twitter account? Use their twitter account? Other? .... Instagram, FaceBook.. (If so, what kind of project?) Today we are going to focus more on the ‘PUBLIC’ social media with the following objectives: Practical tips & tricks A framework for approaching these types of social media more effectively Building awareness and stretching our minds on some of the platforms and communications trends coming down the pipeline Outcome: improved understanding of general good practice and increased cofidence/capacity to act
- The QUINTUPLE helix – the environment within which we operate I thought it was very revealing that these are – essentially – the same top stakeholders the respondents to Aine survey said. Social media is really one of the most effective, accessible and best referenced “oil” on these cogs: First of all it allows us to LISTEN really easily to individuals, thought leaders, organisations and marginal nutters from all of these environments really easily (must never forget the value of this. Not 100% obliged to be a savvy comms actor) Allows fellow researchers and cross-disciplinary researchers find out more about our work & facilitate interaction of people and ideas Funding bodies, VC’s, investors to assess and yes, judge if we merit further support or investigation Policy makers, analysts and other non-specialists who influence us look us up online (DON’T come and see us particularly). If you don’t exist online, you probably won’t exist for them at all… Finally, Citizen Science actively contribute to science either with their intellectual effort or surrounding knowledge or with their tools and resources. This open and participatory approach is gaining a renewed impulse thanks to the digital revolution
- An I’m not even going to speak about BREXIT… and the pervasive “sick of experts” mantra The public NEEDS you to hav a voice
- Its tough being a scientist! (I think you can be a pretty harsh bunch ;-) As if the world needing you to be more communicative is not enough, there is also a silent risk about having a low social media and online presence and level of activity…. Aine spoken about reinforcement and punishmentand a major barrier perceived by those who do not use social media is the lack of rewards. ALTMETRIC: Aine mentioned it – and I AM NOT VERY FAMILIAR with it; but basically, you are being judged on your social media performance already, even if you don’t know it. And this will only increase. Crunches all the impressions, click throughs, retweets, downloads, citations and mentions of your work online Social media heavy (twitter, digital news outlets, slideshare...) Also draws on academic social media Not sure exactly how the weighting and analytics are applied in altmetric and will be looking into it much more closely. ... Is anyone here familiar with Altmetric? ... Been highly scored on it?
- Not actually sure exactly how the code the relevant “weight” attributed to each action – but very interesting to see the families they attribute. Out of all of these, social media/blogs/other sources is a “quick win” in my mind and hope to show you so.
- Other such platforms show this is a general and emerging (inescapable?) trend.
- To the practical part of the presentation! There are 100 different frameworks, content strategies, approaches towards social media. This example is simple, rather generic – but also full of basic common sense, good practice and stands well over most channels and communications practices: GOAL > PLATFORM > (RE)LAUNCH > ENGAGE > EVALUATE This framework example is completed with rather a commercial & public objectives, so we will break it down with some more science-focused examples. Nevertheless, good to go back through the slides and some additional ideas to consult later.
- GOAL – setting expectations and objectives Where do you want to go? What do you want to achieve? I have found this ratio to be useful in managing expectations and evaluating how effective social media practices, messages, calls to actions and content are. 100 > 40 > 10 > 1 committed. Means you do have to reach a pretty big audience to start with. Depending what your content is or platform chosen, these could be different; but this “online engagement funnel” seems to travel quite well. For example what does each category look like? Informed - could be read an article or blog post Engaged - could be following you on twitter and/or LinkedIn, blog subscriber Committed - could be paid for a paper download or promoted/evangelised about your work, 80 people attending an event or even a funding investment Thinking about what is important to you along this funnel will help define your presence online
- Who do you reach – and who do you want to reach? What does your audience look like? Nothing beats a simple stakeholder analysis to sharpen focus on your audience. But it is also essential for getting results and saving you time. (With reference to previous slide)… its GREAT that you have committed people in your digital and physical audiences. But not always great if the committed ones are a fan club of your old PhD mates who don’t have any money or influence. Highly appreciated, but not the final objective. Better to have quality rather than quantity. A small group of highly interested and influencial thought leaders in your field, a twinned research organisation or government agency that retweet or cite you very occasionally, than a fan club that repeatedly does it without question every time. DEFENDER example: A quick win could be making sure all your department and your university/RTOs social media team are aware you are becoming active on social media (or having new ambitions) and get them all following and signed up as your core “defenders”... PROMOTER example: journalist, thought leader, science writer, communicator, journal editoria board members.... Someone who could potentially take your work and give it a big boost!
- In the ‘public’ sphere of social media, you should all – in my opinion – be on: SlideShare: this is so easy, so fast… you’ve done the PPT anyway, make it count with a 5 minute post and some great, relevant tags LinkedIn groups: increasingly difficult to find a nicely balanced group and one with genuine interactive dimensions, but they do exist. Even if a ‘one-way’ group with news feed style postings can be good. Can’t hurt to make a sensible, catchy post to 35,000 members, right? Twitter: some people don’t appreciate it – and 140 characters can sound like torture to a scientist; but this is worht a try. Even if just to listen with some well maintained lists. Quick access to thoughtleaders, powerbroker institutions, influencial peers... Its the best companion for some more substantial exploration of thoughts and insights into your activities & methodologies on your Word Press (other platforms available, ie. WIX, squarespace etc) blog or website. Instagram: You may laugh now, but this is really becoming a ‘go to’ platform. Especially with their ‘stories’ features. The hashtagging is so rich, the public so large, that combined with some more editorial features that are emerging this could be a limited but highly effective public outreach channel (if the public was your goal).
- Some future platform trends to take almost all of you out of your comfort zone – and with the right objectives, some that have huge potential for successful outreach. for sharing your purpose, personality and value, social broadcasting is a fast and effective way of creating spaces where small groups can engage in high quality conversations. Video: 74% of all internet traffic in 2017 1/3 of all online activity is watching a video Mobile video consumption increases 100% every year Today you can achieve: Broad reach into public and non-specialist audiences Instant feedback and discussions Fast and cheap production Get ready….
- (N.B) Lucy – up next – will explore some storylines… and also give some very valuable ideas about how you can multi-purpose content across different platforms. (no need to be scared of fragmentation! ) These are some of the key questions and elements to consider: Show context “The Big Picture” What does your work mean for your stakeholders and different public(s)? Do you have a travel element? Exciting places, spaces? Can you share the ‘burden’ and make an organised effort on behalf of a department or organisation, not just an individual?
- Important to find a pitch, tone and personality that is appropriate; but also reflects you. Strong peer 2 peer and personal ethics in science that already shape and guide you; but in the online world you can also be playful and personal. You need to find your own recipe! Look at other accounts, find out what you like, think about what you are prepared to do – in sharing, but also technically (ie. Graphics, video etc) tone: #FollowFriday, #throwbackthursday Online as in life, TRUST is really the glue that bonds together a successful social media presence. The graphic on the left is – I find – a nice pointer on the “anatomy of trust” and you may want to make sure that your content and posts reflect or embrace a balanced approach to some or all of these points.
- I was going to mask this slide – but this is just a quick mention and indeed, reassurance, that being of social media successfully does not have to be 100% all or nothing… not only a question of zero or hero. As with many other things, participation in an online community has many different roles. You don’t join a sports club and immediately become treasurer, captain and social secretary... This table called the 4C’s of online community building. There is some slightly dorogatory vocabulary along the bottom; but every part of the online (and offline) ecosystem has a valuable role to play. Can be very effective if you are clear about how much time and energy you want to invest. A ‘niche’ for a constructive and capabable ‘Commenter’ is always welcomed. Some people have very successful twitter accounts whose sole defined purpose is to only RT selected extracts on a particular subject. But they are a brilliant listener and become a recognised source of informed listening.
- This is an example of a calendar of different events in principal and secondary sectors to a science launch. By identifying these events – conferences, happenings, public awareness days… - we try to tap into conversations that are established, and have an audience. Events chosen will give excellent platforms for additional reach and engagement with new audiences, as they generate their own interest and buzz for relevant GNSS content and social media actions to piggyback on. In this case, New and known high profile professional academic and industry events have been added to the calendar. The major new proposition is to better hook into internationally recognised public awareness initiatives. These generate considerable online exposure and news interest. We also managed to identify links to try and launch into an otherwise unexplored horizontal topic. > Major contemporary issue attracting interest and engagement from politics, industry, NGOs, academia and broader civil society – as well as significant media attention > Crosses many different sectors and themes where GNSS powered applications may be developed or are already being applied, from IoT to mapping to farming and beyond… You cannot dictate you research output time line – but make sure you have a decent blog update before a major conference at least.
- Develop lists by topic/segment Organise accounts followed into segments Group ‘horizontal’ actors into useful groups (i.e. fellow research projects, essential RTO’s, Thought Leaders & journalisits) Follow key companies in each segment and listen to them closely Informed, reactive – and possibly fun - use of hashtags and references: Figure out which hashtags influencers are using with www.twitonomy.com/ (some of this might seem too playful for some) Mine the hashtags used by your ‘power users’ and key stakeholders in each segment – ## RESEARCH ## Better use of ‘trending’ hashtags to tap into high volume and reach topics (i.e. #DayofFacts) Consider adding some more playful – but still appropriate – hashtags (i.e. #avgeek is a high volume tag linked to #aviation) Try recognising/thanking/endorsing influences in your audience with a #FollowFriday shout Explore some old(er) content with #OTD, #TBT or #weekinreview Attractive content: Images (with text/layout) SO easy to do on your phone.. Info graphics (Picktogram & Canva) GIFs Videos - Loads of free to use image banks
- First of all, as scientists who are infinitely more rigorous than I am, you will no doubt look to measure against your original goals. I would also suggest that for the vast majority of users, the in-built analytics provided by different platforms can give plenty enough information. Only annoying factor is they are fragmented across different channels; but these results can always be brought together monthly in an excel file template. (some people do this in a very sophisticated manner and do all sorts of data mining) For example twitter: AWARE – number of impressions INFORMED – total engagements ENGAGED – link clicks & retweets COMMITTED – would be if the link is through to a blog post with a downloadable report (check stats from blog/micro-site platform) or if a Slide share, you can evaluate readership and downloads There are of course expensive, license-based analytics programs. Not sure this is essential.
- Another useful way to evaluate your progress – especially if evaluating to tweak and improve your IMPACT: Try to see if you are using, reaching and engaging with: All your CONTENT options to have lively and interesting social media presence Have you identified and seeking to contact the right people in your ‘influence landscape’? (after using social media for a while the number and profile of INFLUENCERS (or totally new types of influencers) will have evolved NETWORKS you could use better? Is there a membership to an association your agency holds that is collecting dust? An EU, national or regional funding group that you can now engage with because of your online profile & content? New MECHANISMS to give a try – experiment with facebook live or lobby to feature as a guest lecturer on a MOOC for instance Communications is lazy – use the high volume audiences and build THEIR – don’t go off and create new and start from zero. If you are relatively new to social media, your influence landscape and comms mechanisms will be changing considerably from more traditional and offline sphere.