Source: http://www.sagepub.com/journalgateway/usage.htm

10 Ways to Increase Usage and Citation of your Article Using Social Media
  

As readers' expectations change, it
is important that your article is visible where the user starts their
search. Below are some of the social media sites that SAGE recommends
for promoting your article and other channels that will offer a direct
way to reach your readership.

1. Contribute to Wikipedia

We
recognize that many students are increasingly using Wikipedia as the
starting pointfor their research. If there are pages that relate to
themes, subjects or research that your article covers, add your article
as a reference, with a link to it on SAGE Journals Online. If there
isn't a page in existence, why not create one. You can find out how
here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Your_first_article


 

2. Join Twitter

Twitter
is a micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read
messages known as tweets. Authors are increasingly promoting their
content via twitter which is then picked up by other researchers and
practitioners depending on their search parameters. Look at the example
here.
Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or,
by default, allow open access. Twitter allows you to set up search
terms to enable you to monitor what is being talked about in your areas
of interest: You can then comment on the relevant conversations. The
more you engage, the more people will follow you to listen to your
comments and recommendations. As followers come to you, rather than you
approaching them, Twitter is an ideal way to reach new audiences.


SAGE's guidelines for how to use Twitter are available here.

3. Add content to YouTube

Content
is, of course, no longer as narrow as text and figures. It also
includes user-generated content and multi-media content such as
podcasts and videos. We are seeing an increasing amount of traffic to
our journal sites via YouTube as students use video as an initial way
of researching a topic. If you already have video content relating to
your specific journal article, please let us know and we will add it to
our SAGE YouTube channel.

4. Start blogging

Wondering what to write about? How about:

1. Your area of research and papers that you have
   published – and/or other related papers in your field of research.
   Don't forget to link to them from your blog!
2. Conferences and training events that you're due to speak at.
3. Your last conference – were there any interesting questions that came up?
4. What do you think of any recent press coverage of your subject area?
5. Ask your colleagues and co-researchers to guest blog and stimulate debate.

The more you write, the higher your page will appear in
search engine results pageswhen researchers are searching for content –
especially as they are increasingly using Google Scholar. SAGE will
provide a blogging template and guidelines – please contact us if you
would like further information.

5. Join academic social networking sites

Academics, researchers and practitioners are increasingly
using social communities as a way of meeting and conversing with
people who share the same research interests. These sites offer an
immediate way to monitor what other people are looking at in your field
of research or as a way to commission papers around online
conversations you think are interesting. If there aren't any groups
talking about your research interests – set one up. Take a look at MyNetReseach , Academia and Academici for example. There are others too, perhaps you can ask your colleagues which they are part of to decide what suits you best.

6. Create your own website

Do you have your own website? If not, create one! You
can create a very clean and simple site using Google sites. SAGE will
provide guidelines on how to engage with your audience using social
media functionality.

7. Utilize social bookmarking with CiteULike

CiteULike
is a free service to help you to store, organize and share the
scholarly papers you are reading. When you see a paper on the web that
interests you, you can click one button and have it added to your
personal library.CiteULike automatically extracts the citation details,
so there's no need to type them in yourself. It all works from within
your web browser so there's no need to install any software. Because
your library is stored on the server, you can access it from any
computer with an Internet connection.

8. Join Methodspace

Sponsored
by SAGE, Methodspace is an online community for researchmethods. On the
site, you can connect with other researchers, discuss methodology
issues and controversies, Discover and review new resources, find
relevant conferences and events, and share and solve methodology
problems.  SAGE has also launched community spaces in criminology (Crimspace) and communication studies (Communicationspace).

9. Join LinkedIn

LinkedIn
is an interconnected network of experienced professionals from around
the world with over 55 million members. It is not just for career
opportunities. When you create your profile that summarizes your
professional expertise and accomplishments, why not include a mention
of your articles?

10. Join Facebook

Facebook
lets users add friends and send them messages, and update their
personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. Additionally,
users can join networks organized by city, workplace, and school or
college. You can also join and create groups according to your
interests or areas of expertise.





While social media is increasing in importance, there are
other options to draw attention to your latest work: email your
networks or post on listservs and websites about your recent
publication, and add your article to your course reading list (if
appropriate).



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