Social Media Strategy for Scientists and Researchers: How to Create a Simple Social Media Strategy to Share Your Research, Results, and More

Four steps to help you think more strategically about social media, raise your profile and build your community.

How to Create a Simple Social Media Strategy to Share Your Research, Results, and More. For researchers, academics and scientists.

Creating a social media strategy might sound intimidating, but it’s really about aligning your purpose and goals with the needs of your audience. A good strategy helps you tailor your content to resonate with your community, saves you time, and works with social media algorithms to boost your visibility. When your content is relevant and authentic, it’s more likely to connect with people—and that’s what helps your research reach further.

Here’s a simple breakdown of what to think about when crafting a social media strategy for sharing your research.

Four steps to strategic success

1. WHO?

Who will follow you?
Your audience is key to shaping your content. Are you aiming to engage fellow researchers, students, potential collaborators, or even the general public? Knowing who’s likely to follow you helps ensure your posts resonate with them.

Who will YOU follow?
Building your network is just as important as growing your followers. Following other researchers, thought leaders, and institutions in your field keeps you in the loop and helps you learn from others’ approaches to science communication.

2. WHY?

What’s your purpose?
Understanding your purpose gives your social media strategy a clear direction. Whether you’re sharing research breakthroughs, promoting your lab, or fostering public understanding of your field, your goals will guide the tone and content of your posts.

This “why” will also help refine who your audience is and the kind of content that will be relevant to them. For example, if your goal is to foster collaboration, you might focus on showcasing ongoing projects or sharing behind-the-scenes insights into your research process.

3. WHAT?

What kind of content will you create?
At a high level, define the broad categories of content you plan to share. If your goal is to promote your research group, you might focus on things like:

  • Research updates and publications
  • Fieldwork or lab experiments
  • Team interviews or spotlights
  • Resources for students and aspiring researchers
  • Conference talks and event promotions

Thinking about content early on helps you plan what you need to gather and eliminates irrelevant content that doesn’t align with your purpose.

You might also want to think about what format might work best for different types of content. For example, would a team spotlight be formatted as an image with a description, or a video? This can help you think strategically about where your content might best be placed. Short-form, informal content is well-received on Instagram and TikTok, for example, whereas more of a text-based approach might be better in a series of X/Mastadon/Bluesky posts, or even a blog.

4. HOW?

The 3 Cs:

Content creation:
Where will you find or create the content you need? Who will be responsible for sourcing, creating, posting, and tracking it? For researchers, content could come from your latest paper, lab photos, conference presentations, or visual data like graphs. Think about the tools you’ll need—photo-editing software, video tools, or even collaboration with a designer.

Consistency:
Maintaining consistency builds credibility. This includes:

  • Visual consistency: colours, fonts, image styles
  • Content consistency: tone, language, and even hashtag usage
  • Posting consistency: how often you post and at what times

All of these factors help reduce cognitive overload for your audience and make your content feel reliable and trustworthy.

Community & connections:
Think about how you’ll grow your community. Will you rely solely on organic growth or will you promote your content to reach new audiences? Building your network might involve actively engaging with others by liking posts, commenting, and following back accounts relevant to your research.


Promotion

If you build it, they will NOT come… unless you tell them!
While social media offers some organic growth, you can do a lot to increase your visibility. Consider promoting your social media channels in your email signature, on your website, or in presentations. You can also use tools like newsletters or blog posts to direct people to your social profiles.

Other ways to promote your accounts:

  • Share your posts during conference presentations or lectures
  • Collaborate with other researchers or institutions who can share your work (Instagram even offers a Collabs feature!)
  • Feature your social media handles on any printed material, like posters or flyers at events

Measurement

How do you know what’s working?
Understanding which content your audience engages with is key to refining your strategy. Most social media platforms provide built-in analytics tools that show you what’s resonating (or not). Metrics like engagement rate, follower growth, and post reach help you understand when and how to tweak your approach.

The “Red Thread”

In German, it’s not uncommon to talk about the “red thread”, the common theme or idea that weaves its way through a story or a situation. We love this phrase and think it’s useful when thinking about your strategy, too. Your “WHY” and how it aligns with your audience is your red thread. As you’re thinking about your content types, and as you are creating your content, it’s a good idea to check back and ask yourself, “Is this content supporting my WHY in a way that will engage my WHO?”

If the answer is “yes”, congratulations! If not, you may want to think about whether your content is going to be useful in the context of social media.

And that’s it!

A social media strategy is more about thoughtful communication than complicated processes. With just an hour or two of planning, you can create a clear path forward. While a strategy alone won’t unlock social media’s algorithms, it will help you create meaningful content that your community will appreciate and engage with, which naturally helps you grow.

In German, it’s not uncommon to talk about the “red thread”, the common theme or idea that weaves its way through a story or a situation. We love this phrase and think it’s useful when thinking about your strategy, too. Your “WHY” and how it aligns with your audience is your red thread. As you’re thinking about your content types, and as you are creating your content, it’s a good idea to check back and ask yourself, “Is this content supporting my WHY in a way that will engage my WHO?”

If the answer is “yes”, congratulations! If not, you may want to think about whether your content is going to be useful in the context of social media.

Want some guidance in creating your own social media strategy to share your research?

Here at SciComm Success, we offer bite-sized workshops for teams and one-to-one coaching for individuals that make the process practical, fun, and accessible. Get in touch—we’d love to help you share your science more effectively!

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If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

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Suzanne Whitby