This article isn’t about which is better for you: faculty profile or LinkedIn profile. It would be great for your online presence if you had both. Hi, I’m Jennifer van Alstyne. I help Higher Education faculty, researchers, and scientists with their digital presence for academics.
I just got off a call with an Associate Professor client. We worked on both his LinkedIn profile and faculty profile together (which just went live, yay!). This professor is really an in-person networker. When we 1st met he said, “people know me,” but if you searched online? At the time there wasn’t a comprehensive academic profile or online presence that could help people know who he is now.
Are you “not really a social media person” too? I’ve written about how I still recommend having a filled out LinkedIn profile if you’re an academic who “doesn’t want to be on social media.” It’s okay to not post on social media. It’s okay to lurk. It’s okay to like or repost without sharing original posts yourself. There are many ways to be on social media as an academic. And what feels right for you now may change in the future too. While I love personal academic websites as a long-term solution for professors, researchers, and scientists, having a website isn’t right for everyone.
However you choose to have an online presence (if that’s a goal for you at all) is fine. There isn’t a one size fits all solution for academics and researchers online.
As an academic who wants to have a stronger online presence, it’s a best practice to update your faculty profile and your LinkedIn profile at least 1/year.
Faculty Profile
A few years ago I asked a professor client to reach out to his college to ask if they had specific guidelines for their faculty profiles. We were redoing his academic bio. His done for you bio writing package included a new faculty profile. When we got on our call to chat about it, he started laughing, because when the college replied to him, they’d sent back his own faculty profile as “a great example.” 🤣
You can have a “great example” of a faculty profile, and still feel like it doesn’t reflect who you are and what you value as an academic now.
We grinned because the profile we envisioned for him was such an improvement. I say that not to disregard or belittle the work he’d done on his own faculty profile. Like most professors, he’d only ever written his own bios. But the time we created to talk through who he is, his story, and the change he’s working to create in the world? It made such an impact for the words we ultimately chose to share.
Your faculty profile is the 1st place for many of your students, colleagues, and people in your field will go to learn more about you. Some faculty profiles are robust with space for things like your bio, teaching, research, awards, and university media mentions. Others are streamlined with the details people most need like your job title and department and recent publications. Most professors I’ve chatted with express a lack of enthusiasm for their faculty profile, “it’s there, but it isn’t exciting.” And that’s fine, your professor or researcher profile on your university’s website doesn’t have to be enhanced unless you want it to be.
Problems faculty have run into updating their faculty profiles
I really like the mix of having both your faculty profile and your LinkedIn profile because professors who come to me with help for their online presence have occasionally reached out in distress:
“No one knew who to ask. I don’t think any of my colleagues have updated their faculty profile in years.”
“The person in our department who knew how to update the faculty profiles left, no one’s been able to update their profile in over a year.”
“My university moved all our faculty profiles to an intranet…that was my whole online presence.”
“They said they’re updating the faculty profile system. There won’t be an option to update my faculty profile for months.”
“The IT people said no emails on faculty profiles, so they’re gone. How are people supposed to get in touch with me?”
That last one had me on high alert. When I ask professors, “How do people usually get in touch with you?” They typically say something like, “People look up my faculty profile, my emails right there.”
Some universities have removed email addresses from faculty profiles in hopes of limiting phishing emails. A few have eliminated faculty profiles altogether. I get that there are IT limitations and protection needs that sometimes force these decisions. But I also deeply mourn the loss of connection that happened to each of those faculty members overnight. What things were lost? What connection?
It’s the same way I feel about adjunct professors, lecturers, and staff who make such an impact on campus, but often aren’t given space on their university website beyond their listed name.
- You deserve a space online if you want one.
- You can choose to have a stronger online presence if you want one.
- You have agency in how you show up online.
Updating your faculty profile
The most frequent audience for your faculty profile is your students, colleagues, and people at your university. But those aren’t the only people who may visit your faculty profile. These are steps you can take to improve your faculty or researcher profile on your university’s website.
- When you Google your name, does your faculty profile show up? Tip: Use a private or incognito browser mode for results not personalized to you.
- Visit your faculty profile. What types of information are available? Does anything feel like it’s missing?
- Make list of what needs to be updated. For instance, are the keywords for your research out of date? Do your recent publications appear there, or is that section a few years old? What about your bio? Does it still reflect who you are now? Many professors have only filled out a portion of their faculty profile, leaving unused sections blank. This is a good opportunity to improve your online presence by thinking about which section may be helpful at add in. What might help your students or other researchers in your field long-term? You don’t have to do the work to make these changes now. Making a list of the updates you want will help you prioritize your time later.
- Find out who to contact about implementing your updates. You might do this before actually writing the updates in case you get word that “the system is changing” or “we’ll have a new format for faculty profiles soon.” I don’t want to you to makeover your faculty profile and then not be able to implement those changes. If you have the ability to make changes to your faculty profile yourself, skip this step.
- Add a time to your calendar to gather materials, writing, or any update you want to have on your faculty profile. Block more time on your calendar than you anticipate just in case.
Good luck with updating your faculty profile! If you can only focus on 1 thing to improve, choose your academic bio. Your bio is a living document that can adapt to fit your needs. I had a great conversation with Dr. Echo Rivera where I share my top tips for your academic bio. I hope you find it helpful.
Don’t want to write your own academic bio?
There are many ways to have a stronger online presence as a professor or researcher. You don’t need to work with me to be more intentional about how you show up online as an academic. Not sure where you should start? Join my free online presence course to help you know where to focus your time and energy.
I’m happy to help you if you want a done for you academic bio too. It’s hard to be introspective about yourself. It may feel “uncomfortable” or like it’s time “too focused on me.” It’s okay if your brain wants to focus on other things instead of writing a new bio for yourself. That’s okay!
When we work together on done for you bio writing, you’ll get general use bios at different word lengths so you always have something ready to go. It also includes a custom bio like your new faculty profile done for you so you have a document ready to send to the person who implements changes at your university. If you want a “template” easy for you to update and adapt to their academic life for years to come, let’s chat about working together.
LinkedIn Profile
I like LinkedIn profiles for academics because they have many more capabilities than your faculty profile. You’re not job searching. You may be wondering, “does LinkedIn still make sense for me?” Let’s find out.
LinkedIn is great for faculty and researchers to…
Which of these benefits of having a LinkedIn presence as an academic stand out to you?
- help people get in touch with you
- show up in internet search results with a profile you control
- share who they are and what they care about (in more engaging format than your CV)
- connect with people in your research / teaching field
- connect with your alma maters
- be in network with your past affiliations
- reconnect with former colleagues
- find the people you’re looking for (LinkedIn has advanced search features)
- connect with people across research fields and disciplines
- connect with people in other regions around the world
- invite deeper engagement with your research
- help your research find an audience that cares
- connect with editors and people in publishing
- reach people who your research helps most
- engage with the public
- reach policymakers and practitioners
- meet potential collaborators and partners
- meet with potential community partners
- meet potential corporate partners
- attract potential research funders
- be open to media requests and engagement
- invite aligned opportunities for yourself and your students
- help your students have a larger network
- share a short recommendation for your student
- connect with your alumni and former mentees with ease
- reshare posts your audience may find useful
- have conversations that invite people to participate (like in the comments of a post)
- have conversations privately, via messages or groups
- share media related to your Experiences and Education
- show a bit more of your story than faculty profiles typically allow
- start a newsletter
- publish articles
Whoa, that list got longer than I expected. That was just a short brainstorm session too.
Did 1 or more of those feel like a good reason for you to be more intentional about your LinkedIn presence as an academic?
P.S. If you’re finding this article helpful, save it to your bookmarks for later. Please share it as a resource if you think a friend or colleague would find it helpful.
Here are 3 ways to get your LinkedIn profile if you want to do-it-yourself
In workshops for grad students and faculty, I’ve recommended blocking your calendar, to set time aside in your agenda for your LinkedIn profile. I’m someone who likes deep focused work, so that big chunk of time is often the best way for me to focus. How about you?
Here are 3 other possibilities to explore when it comes to fitting your LinkedIn profile into your academic life:
- Do it section-by-section. When I 1st release my LinkedIn Profile for Professors and Researchers course, it was a challenge. Each week a new lesson was released helping you update just 1 section of your LinkedIn profile. Breaking your LinkedIn profile into smaller chunks let’s to create transformation for your online presence in a schedule that works for your life. Don’t feel like you need to change everything all at once. Any small change or improvement you make can help people better connect with your online presence as an academic.
- Set a time to co-work on your LinkedIn profile. Are you someone that likes co-working? Get some friends, colleagues, or even your students together for a LinkedIn co-working session. You can each update your profiles, and even organize a quick review of each other’s at the end to check for typos. This can be virtual or in person, whatever you prefer.
- Create intentional space for your lab, department, or school. Even though this is more work, you may have better motivation or more positive feelings about the time you take for your LinkedIn profile if you’re helping other people. You don’t need me to come in for a workshop at your university to create a professional development opportunity for LinkedIn you can all benefit from.
It’s okay if none of these work for you. If you’re someone who’s been wanting to do it yourself and you just haven’t? It’s okay to get support. Each of my professor clients who’ve chosen a done for you LinkedIn profile had the capability to do it themselves. Some even took my LinkedIn Profile course and found “I just can’t make the time,” and “I just want it done for me.” You can have a stronger online presence through LinkedIn, and we can totally work together on this.
For those of you wanting to DIY your LinkedIn profile as an academic, I hope these tips for your LinkedIn profile help you:
Don’t have the time for your LinkedIn profile?
Need to prioritize other things in your academic life? I totally understand. First, it’s totally okay if LinkedIn isn’t a goal for you right now. You don’t need a stronger online presence unless you want one.
Find free resources to help you on The Social Academic blog, podcast, and YouTube channel. You’ve got this (whenever you’re ready)! 🌟
My professor clients can do their own LinkedIn profile, for sure. They just don’t have the time. They’re not job searching. They want a stronger online presence. They’re busy academics who want to feel better connected with people in their field and reach people their research/teaching/leadership supports. They need to focus on their academic priorities and their personal ones, like their family.
You don’t have to do it yourself if you don’t want to. I’ll build your academic LinkedIn profile for you on your VIP Day. We’ll have a planning meeting to talk about your CV, review your existing profile, and chat about your goals. Then, on your VIP Day your LinkedIn profile will be fully done-for-you. After, we’ll meet on Zoom for your Review and Training Meeting, make any needed changes in real time. We’ll build your capacity and practice using LinkedIn for your specific needs. What works for one professor may not be a good fit for you, so we’ll talk about solutions personalized for your life/goals.
Who do I typically work with on the LinkedIn VIP Days service? You may want a done-for-you profile if you just don’t have the time to do it yourself (or you don’t want to). My LinkedIn profile clients have been
- Mid career academics
- Senior academics
- Higher Ed administrators
- Principal Investigators (PIs)
Early career researchers, we may create a greater impact for your academic life by partnering on done for you bio writing instead. Not that I wouldn’t be happy to do your LinkedIn profile for you. Just know that you don’t need to work with me for a great LinkedIn profile. I promise you can do this yourself if you want to.
If you’re like, “actually I don’t got this.” Or, “I know I’m not gonna do this on my own.” That’s okay. I’m Jennifer van Alstyne. I’ve been helping professors feel confident when showing up online since 2018 through personal websites and social media. I’m here to help you too.
Let’s chat on a no pressure Zoom call about your LinkedIn VIP Day for a done-for-you profile. Or, a 1 hour LinkedIn consultation with me. Schedule a time on my online calendar.