This article was first released on the Hive Research Blog. Please find more examples of their excellent work here.
Grappling with our PhDs can make doctoral students feel isolated from the professional world and current affairs.
However, due to the competitive job market, PhD students face immense pressure to present their work and get published while working on their theses and juggling busy social lives, part-time jobs and other responsibilities.
We also are under pressure to develop our researcher brands to show the impact of our work. While this is extra effort, it can raise our profile and credibility, amplify our research, enhance the impact of our work, increase our employability, impress potential funders and build our networks.
That being said, having a strategy is essential to make it worthwhile. To support the development of your researcher brand, here’s a few things to consider:
1. What is researcher branding and how to build your own?
As Dr. Nader Ale Ebrahim says researcher branding “involves creating a unique professional identity that encapsulates a researcher’s expertise, contributions and values. This identity aids in communicating their story and research, making their work more accessible and engaging.”
To build your researcher brand, he advises to first define it, which requires thinking through your strengths, research interests and what change you to bring about. Similarly, Wendy Parker, a public relations expert, suggests that a crucial first step is to reflect on what you have to offer. Start by writing down everything you want your brand to personify, then find the connections and finally write it up until you have a statement you really like.
A useful starting point to build your brand is the Elements website, which is an ideal space to tell your story about why you decided to explore your PhD journey.
2. Who are my key audience(s)?
You can’t communicate with everyone. Therefore, having a think about the key audiences you want either to support or engage with your research is vital. These might include fellow researchers, journalists, policymakers, grant makers, civil society groups, the public, research end-users or business and industry folks. Carving out a list with the key information on those folks and organisations you want to reach is a useful step.
Connecting with those people via LinkedIn or Twitter can also be effective to build your brand. Having worked out which people you want to focus on will help you select an ideal space to post and develop content. Alternatively, attempting to engage with your target audiences and community through attending conferences, webinars and events can help you to connect.
3. Which communication channels and social media platforms should I use?
There are multiple spaces to communicate and engage with our key audiences. These may include blogs, social media posts, interviews, presentations, podcasts, video, newsletters and webinars. There are also academic sites (Elements, Google Scholar etc) where we can share and update our profiles and research outputs. Deciding which to prioritise will depend on your target audience and what type of spaces they frequent.
LinkedIn is more policy and research orientated but still more texted and image based. Twitter is more political but has turned into somewhat of a dark rancid cesspit where only those with a blue tick will get noticed. Instagram and TikTok are big on video content and are popular with younger folks, which could mean potentially more engagement but less from policy, research, or funder types. Facebook feels a bit old but is great if you want to share with family and friends.
But bear in mind when choosing a platform that “fighting the algorithms is exhausting” as Kerry Velez, a friend who works as a communications expert for a global aid organisation, told me. Each platform has its own way of sharing your posts so it can mean lots of work to keep up-to-date with how best to stay visible and get more views. Focusing on one or two platforms is plenty.
4. What should I post and how often?
Creating compelling content is tough especially when there is no guarantee that anyone will see or engage with it. In the attention economy this is an unfortunate reality.
As Wendy Parker says it is necessary to focus on explaining and promoting our research and taking our audience on a narrative journey. This means talking through the challenges, key obstacles and big milestones. It is also an option to develop content on an issue of importance to you such as a specific campaign.
Deciding on your content will depend on your preferred platform and key audience. Whether it’s sharing and commenting on a new paper, posting an anecdote from your fieldwork or creating a video on how your research is developing, it should be targeted at your key audience.
If it’s academics you’re trying to reach then using academic language is preferable whereas policymakers like more direct messages. Consistency also matters. Developing a schedule and posting content once per week or every two weeks or whenever you decide is important for building experience and generating an audience. Also, keep in mind that posting at busy times such as on weekdays around lunchtime and going home time will increase the chances of being seen.
5. Do I need my own website or newsletter?
Probably not right now. There are so many newsletters that most people are oversaturated. Similarly, building a personal website is a great medium to long-term goal yet for those short on time, there are other faster routes. Having a well-developed Elements page and some other sites (Google Scholar, ResearchGate etc.) are great places to start. Plus if you decide to post on social media, that is a similar, albeit shorter way of engaging with your audiences than a newsletter.
Final thoughts
Building a researcher brand can be a gradual process. Just remember that PhD students tend to underestimate their knowledge and the potential audience for it. The question therefore is how to build a bridge to them. A researcher branding strategy could be the way to reach them, offers potential benefits for our careers and contributes to the generation of knowledge more generally.
