Post regularly.At least 2-3 times per week per social account. If you want to use social media to be the voice within your specialty, remember to frequently share content. The more you share, the more engaged your audience will be.

Save time managing your social media accounts.Use free tools like Buffer, buffer.com, to schedule

posts, track the performance of your content,

and manage all your accounts in one place.

Engage and use Altmetric to help you.Answer all comments and notifications. Your goal is to develop a conversation and an ongoing relationship with your followers. Even if you’re simply expressing gratitude for someone taking the time to comment. If a peer or an organization shares your article, like or favorite it, and comment to start a conversation.

Use Altmetric to track the conversation. Simply go to the "Details" menu along the right side of your article and view “Article Information - Metrics." Select "See more details” to bring up all online mentions of your article.

Universal Social Media Tips for AuthorsHow to build your influence and expand the reach of your paper on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn

Use these tips together to grow your following and social media influence while generating views and downloads of your paper .

www.ahajournals.org/socialmedia

Important! Don’t Just Post About Yourself. Humility is always a good approach.

• Yes, your research is excellent but keep in mind to craft your messages in a manner that is always humble, neutral, and engaging.

• Mix in articles that are related to your work, your peers work, or something you think your followers would like. Retweet and share colleagues work.

Remember, what you post on social media is how you’re viewed.• A social media channel is more than the content you share.

It’s a reflection of credibility.

• Your peers may generate their first impressions based upon the information, photos, and comments you make on your social sites.

Post pictures and links.Attach a relevant image to your posts to boost visibility, engagement, and shares. Please ensure you have the right to use the image you select.

Try short videos.Use “live” features on social media sites to talk about your findings or record a quick video using your mobile device and share it with your network.

Make the headlines of your posts work hard.Headlines that ask questions get answered in comments. Headlines that tease get clicks.

Have some fun.For instance, #TBT or “Throw Back Thursday” is the name of a weekly social media posting trend and hashtag game that people from all over the world use online to share and look back fondly on favorite memories and anything that happened in the past. Participate by posting something interesting about the history of the topic of your paper with #TBT included. You can also share quotes or even a fun GIF (animated image file) that relates to your research. People love a peek behind the scenes; share personal stories or photos of your lab or institution, for example, to help humanize your research.