In order to build an effective academic brand, and be able to constantly curate that brand, you have to actively manage your on-line presence. What happens when you google your name? If you have an unusual name, you are in luck, since it will require less work for you to maintain your academic brand on-line. If you are blessed with a name like mine (Smith), well, those are the breaks.
It is tough to be a Smith on-line.
What are your options?
There are many different approaches to managing your on-line presence. Some people maintain that you should have one profile, on one social media site (besides your institutional affiliation) and that is all you need. Do one thing well.
I’m not a fan of this approach simply because of the way algorithms on Google stack pages. The more (consistent) social media presence you have, the easier it is to build a brand. You don’t have to do everything but the more you do, the more your profile will be at the top of the list on Google.
First make sure you have a on-line list of your publications. Whether you choose Academia.edu, Google Scholar or ResearchGate to list your publications, make sure it is kept up to date. I have ResearchGate and Google Scholar because these are very searchable platforms and free, and they take a lot of the work of updating away from you. I am not active on these platforms and I don’t use them for research per se. I update them once a year, so they are not particularly onerous. I don’t share publications over these platforms due to potential copyright issues, and I don’t post draft work due to the possibility of it being stolen (it happens).
There are certainly better ways to engage with peers through these platforms than I do. But this doesn’t matter. These pages help tie my profile together and rank highly on Google. I also have a LinkedIn profile to reach an entirely different (mainly industry) audience, but still with the consistent information about who I am and my publications list.
Institutional profiles
You probably have an institutional webpage that lists your publications. In the UK, it is compulsory for REF purposes to have such a thing. Do not let this be your only online presence. These are usually clunky, ugly and badly maintained, and they unnecessarily tie your profile to your employer. Your brand is not where you work remember. In my experience, it takes several weeks and many forms filled in triplicate to alter anything on these pages. It is just not worth the effort.
Should you have your own webpage?
I think you should. These can be cheap (or free depending on the platform) and are within your sole control in terms of style, how you present yourself and the different ways you can engage with your peers, be it through podcasting, blogs or video abstracts (blogs on how to do this later). Your personal webpage (with your name as the domain) offers a whole host of possibilities to curate your online presence and your academic brand in a way that you see fit.
Video content and podcasting are also listed first by Google in searches, so one way to increase your visibility online is to make some content using this media. This would be impossible to post on your institutional webpage, but easy when you have your own.
The idea of running your own webpage may sound a little intimidating and also alot of work. But maintaining a webpage for research projects is increasingly common (and sometimes a requirement of funders) so it is never too early (or late) to try and learn how to do this. Typically, academics use Wordpress (ugly), or sometimes Wix (nicer) to build pages, but there are many other platforms out there.*
This sounds like work
Well it is a bit, but it is not too bad. Building a webpage can take a couple of days or a week if you are learning for the first time. I use a social media management platform to manage Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. The joy or your own webpage is that all of this is totally integrated. I can post to LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo and so on all from my webpage. So once it is set up, it is a good way to take control of how you present yourself, rather than relying on the dusty, fusty institutional dungeon to show your wares.
However you choose to do it, it is wise to show an awareness that the first thing people do when they hear about you, or meet you (or potentially think about hiring you) is to Google your name. Make sure what they see reflects your brand.
*My websites are all hosted on Squarespace which is stylish, but not for beginners.