I was on a networking call with a future podcast guest the other day. It had been over a year since we caught up. She’s a cool Marketing Strategist in Higher Education. She asked: What are the struggles or problems academics experience with their online presence?

The one that came to mind right away? Many are too busy.

If you’ve seen my posts on social media inviting folks to work with my on their academic website for instance, you may notice I tend to share things like:

• “You don’t have to work with me”
• “You can do this yourself.”
• I’ve got resources to help you on The Social Academic blog and podcast.

But when you’re too busy? The fact that you can do it yourself has that stipulation, if I had the time / when I get a chance. The knowledge you can do it yourself has held people back from achieving their dream of having an online presence that better reflects who you are and what you care about.

This blog post is about types of academics who want a stronger online presence. I also share my top recommendation for each. Since 2018, I’ve supported faculty and researchers with how they show up online. These stories are from their experiences. I wonder, will one of these stories resonate with you?

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Too Busy

You may be ‘too busy’ to do it yourself for your online presence. Do you relate to one of these examples?

• You’re a faculty, grad student, or researcher who wants a website or online presence. You need to focus on other priorities. You don’t have time to do-it-yourself in the near future.
• You’re principal investigator who wants to make impact with your research for people around the world. You want people to be able to engage with you and your research outputs online. You don’t have capacity to add website to your plate.
• You have the time, skills, and experience. You don’t wanna do it yourself.
• You want a portfolio to grow from. You’re too busy or have too much stuff for your portfolio at this time. You feel like doing it yourself is not the best use of your energy.
• You want to focus on your family / personal life with your time, not on your website / online presence. That’s okay.
• You need to focus on your family / health / childcare / elder care / other responsibilities. You still want an online presence that can help you stay connected while your focus is on other things.
• You run a lab and want to create space for that online. You and your lab want support or done for you set up and training to keep it going.
• You’ve taken your online presence as far as you feel you can go on your own. While you can learn new skills or platforms, you want to be strategic about your time and energy. You’d like a partner in having an online presence that meets your goals. You know you don’t want to do this particular project on your own.

Top recommendation: If you’re too busy, just sign up for a call with me. Hi, I’m Jennifer van Alstyne. I promise I’ll help you in the right direction even if we don’t work together 😄

P.S. Yes, our chat is at no cost. It’s a free way for us to meet and chat about your unique needs.

Tell my story

You may be someone who wants support to ‘tell your story.’ Like many of my clients, you’ve probably written your own bio for years. Does your online presence still feel like you? It’s okay to get support in sharing your story online.

Folks who reach out to me about wanting to ‘tell my story’ through their website or social media are sometimes prompted to seek support because

• You’ve transitioned to a new role, leadership position, or have a new research focus.
• You’re on the academic job market.
• You’re an academic who also does consulting or speaking. You want your online presence to be attractive for potential clients or event organizers.
• You are considering a consulting or other professional role post retirement (you’re open to paid work after you leave academia).
• You want to leave academia. You want to be intentional about sharing your story with people. And, you don’t want to hide the research, teaching, and leadership you’re proud of.
• You want a website and online presence that brings together the parts of your story into an academic hub.

Top recommendations:

• Interviews on the Social Academic Podcast. Our guests literally share how they’ve told their stories online that may be helpful for you. Resources: Explore episodes of the podcast on the blog. Or, you can watch on YouTube or Spotify.
• My favorite way for academics to have an online presence is through your website. But your bio? It reaches far more people than academics expect. Resource: Watch my interview with Dr. Echo Rivera. She asks for my top tips about bio writing (especially for when you’re speaking at a conference or event).

Get connected

You may be an academic who wants to be better ‘connected’ with your scholarly community. Or, to invite meaningful partnerships, collaborations, and relationships across fields or beyond academia.

While the connection, the person who is connecting with people is you…Your online presence can support how people get to know you. We can help them share your work with people, and invite them to engage with your research in deeper ways.

You may feel like you want more connection with your online presence if

• You loved Twitter but haven’t found new community online. This is so many people. It’s come up a bunch on the podcast this year.
• You’re the lone academic in in your field at your institution. You see people at conferences, but want to get connected with people in and around your field.
• You’ve never been on socials, but have something you care about sharing with people now (e.g. book, research project).
• You don’t want to be on social media but you want an online presence for my research / teaching.
• You have community partnerships and collaborations for your research, and want to attract new potential collaborators too.
• You’re seeking or are open to attracting industry or corporate partnerships and collaborations for your research.

Top recommendation:

• Share your online presence in person (literally say “I have a website at JenniferVanAlstyne.com” or “Connect with me on LinkedIn”). If you’re meeting virtually, it’s a great opportunity to not just share it aloud, but to literally drop the link in the chat for people. Ooh resources to share with you re: Conferences and Events, specifically
  • Resource: Tips for Academics Attending and Presenting at Conferences
  • Resource: Attending A Virtual Event, Academics?
• If there’s someone you’d love to have a conversion with, say it out loud. “I’d love to connect with you further.” Or, “Would you be open to meeting up on Zoom sometime for a chat?” If you’re open with your interest 1st, people know that you’re open to a reciprocal conversation. This is true for groups of friends or collaborators too. Maybe eventually you’ll connect on LinkedIn and create a group or start a shared Slack. But you won’t know what it would look like until you start the conversation. Ooh, one more thing about that. Don’t assume just because someone has 5k+ followers on Instagram means that they only spend time on Instagram. You can check in with them to see what’s best for them. You might say, “I love your IG profile, can I message you there or do you prefer email?”
  • Resource: Connect through Direct Messaging on Social Media

DIY’ers and DI-Did’ers

Are you a do-it-yourself-er for your online presence? This section is about people who did it themselves but don’t want to anymore. People in this category love building skills and increasing their capacity to do more for themselves. They’re often proud of what they’ve created. And because of that, they are aware of their own limitations and the time / effort investment if they did this too themselves.

DIYers have reached out when they want support in an area they don’t want to do themselves. Then there’s my favorites: DI-Did’ers, the “I made my website years ago” folks who are ready for a redesign and don’t want to tackle it on their own.

• You have a podcast or YouTube but that’s the area they’ve put focus and energy into. You want other areas of your online presence to reflect that too.
• You’re proud of your social media presence but you feel like your online presence overall isn’t where you want it to be. For example, you still want a website.
• You want to build your website / online presence. You’re excited to do it yourself and build your skills in this area. Because of that you want support in the right direction so you make the best use of your time / energy. You’d like a partner at the start, or along the way.
• You’ve created a website, it was great. But it no longer meets your needs. While you’ve done it yourself in the past, at this time you may also be in the Too Busy category too.
• You’ve been on LinkedIn for a decade. Your profile hasn’t been updated since then, and you want someone to do it for you.

Top recommendation:

• If you need a quick and simple website solution, I highly recommend Owlstown. You don’t need to work with me to have agency in your online presence. P.S. Resource: Here’s all the website guides on The Social Academic for you.
• It’s okay to get help at any point! It doesn’t have to be now. But just because you are good at DIY-ing something or want to grow in that way does not mean you have to do it alone.
  1. I’m Jennifer van Alstyne. Hi! It’s nice to meet you. I may not always be the right person to support you. Maybe what you need is an expert in slide design or a videographer. Is there something you dream about but you’re not sure how to get there? That may be an area where you’d like support.
  2. Know what you love to do yourself, and what you’re open to outsourcing or teaming up with the right partner on. 
• Tons of DIY resources on The Social Academic blog, and you can search by category too.

Subscribe to The Social Academic blog.

The form above subscribes you to new posts published on The Social Academic blog.
Want emails from Jennifer on building your online presence? Subscribe to her email list.
Looking for the podcast? Subscribe on Spotify.
Prefer to watch videos? Subscribe on YouTube.

Thank you

Other interviews on The Social Academic podcast will go up here on the blog before the end of the year. But, this is my last blog post of 2025.

There’s many ways to have a stronger online presence. I even have a guide of you on for what to do next for your digital footprint when you need it updated fast. I wish you all the best for your online presence.

I’m grateful for each of you. I appreciate you! Thank you for visiting the resources on The Social Academic blog, and sharing them with a friend or colleague who may find one helpful too.

I’m cheering you on. Best wishes for you and your online presence in the new year.