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The Reluctant Professor’s Guide to Social Media

By:

Charlyn David

Published: October 23, 2026

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Three black-and-white, halftone-style portraits of smiling adults appear beneath bright yellow social media icons on a dark navy blue background.

Tips on posting for faculty who would rather be doing literally anything else

Charlyn David is a marketing communications specialist at the Center for Academic Innovation.

“You want me to do what?”

Picture this: You’ve done the thing! Created the course, or published the book, or presented at the conference. And then you hear it.

“You should post about this on social media!”

Suddenly, you find yourself rehearsing a TikTok dance in your research lab, filming a “get ready with me” before your 9 a.m. class, or ending every lecture with “Be sure to smash that subscribe button for more!”

This is the panic I see flash across instructors’ eyes when I bring up social media. Fortunately, building an online presence doesn’t require becoming an influencer or adding the words “content creator” to your academic bio. Social media can just be another avenue to share the work you’re already doing with people who might otherwise never see it. But I know this idea raises both eyebrows and questions, so let’s get into it.

“Why bother?”

There was a time when social media could be dismissed as a fad or written off as a nuisance stealing students’ attention during class. Over the last several years, however, social media has grown into a legitimate marketing and communications channel where businesses, institutions, and individuals spend millions of dollars competing for attention. In 2026, if you have something worth saying, social media is increasingly difficult to ignore as an outlet.

Why does this apply to you? Let’s face it — you’re already doing the work. You’re publishing, presenting, and teaching learners every day. By sharing your expertise on social media, you’re extending the life and reach of that work.

The benefits of engaging on social media include:

Expanding the reach of your scholarship
Connecting with other professionals
Making your expertise more discoverable
Shaping public discourse
Creating professional relationships and opportunities
Supporting the work of peers

Publishing your paper might feel like the finish line, but taking the extra step of getting it in front of the right people brings a whole new set of benefits.

“So, where should I start?”

I always suggest starting out with the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Subject-matter-expert! You don’t need to be everywhere. In fact, please don’t try to be everywhere. Pick one platform as your home base, get comfortable there, and see what happens. Every platform has its own personality, audience, and best practices, and the best one for you depends on what you want to say and how you want to say it.

LinkedIn was created as a space for working professionals to network, post about their experience online, and share thought leadership. It works particularly well for turning your expertise into approachable and professional commentary.

A good example is U-M School of Information lecturer, John Thompson, who’s built an audience of nearly 30,000 followers by consistently sharing his expertise on artificial intelligence.

Good fit if: You like writing, have opinions about your field, and want to connect with colleagues, alumni, professionals, or prospective learners.

YouTube

If you’re the type of person who thinks, “This would be so much easier if I could just explain this in person,” when drafting emails, YouTube may be your platform.

YouTube gives you room to really teach. Picture demonstrations, lectures, interviews, walkthroughs, or answers to the frequent flyer questions you get every semester.

Check out Prerak Juthani’s channel, for example. An internal medicine physician at Stanford University, Juthani has built an audience of over 40,000 subscribers by making medical education approachable online.

Good fit if: You’re a natural explainer, enjoy being on camera, or work in a subject where people benefit from seeing or hearing demonstrations. The tradeoff? Video generally takes more effort to plan, record, and edit (for real, the EDITING).

Instagram

Instagram is where you can let your personality shine. It’s a visual platform built around photos, short-form videos (Reels), videos available for only 24 hours (Stories), and carousels, making it a great place to share your expertise while giving people a glimpse of the human behind it.

Professional photography or video isn’t necessary; a quick video created on your phone can do everything you need here.

Marcus Collins, clinical professor of marketing at U-M’s Ross School of Business, uses Instagram to share his expertise in marketing, culture, and human behavior to a broad audience of over 39,000 followers.

Good fit if: You’re comfortable sharing photos or short videos, enjoy boiling down complex ideas into approachable content, and want to connect with people through a mix of professional expertise and personality.

X (formerly Twitter)

X is where conversations move fast, opinions fly freely, and people aren’t exactly shy about telling you when they disagree. This can be a great place for faculty to weigh in on breaking news, share research, offer expert perspectives, and engage in real-time conversations. Posts are typically short, so being able to communicate ideas clearly and concisely is a valuable skill here.

Take Barb McQuade, lecturer at Michigan Law. As a law professor, former U.S. attorney appointed by President Barack Obama, and legal analyst on NBC News and MSNBC, McQuade provides sharp, accessible legal breakdowns of current events, national security, and high-profile court cases.

Good fit if: You enjoy a lively debate, have strong opinions backed by expertise, can communicate in a few punchy sentences, and have a reasonably thick skin.

TikTok

Before you say “ABSOLUTELY NOT,” hear me out. TikTok has become a surprisingly popular place to learn. From quick science experiments to creepy history facts and raps outlining the human anatomy, there’s an audience for just about every subject.

TikTok is built around short-form videos that are entertaining, educational, or, ideally, a little of both.

When Leah Barlow, a professor at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, started posting her course content on TikTok, she probably wasn’t expecting half a million people to show up to class. But her introductory African American Studies video went viral, attracting more than 550,000 followers in a single week!

Good fit if: You enjoy explaining things in short, engaging bursts, aren’t afraid to experiment with video, and want to reach audiences who might never set foot in your classroom.

And that’s just scratching the surface. Depending on your goals and interests, your audience could be hanging out on Bluesky, Substack, Reddit, Discord, or somewhere else entirely. The trick is finding a platform that feels like a natural fit for both you and the people you want to reach.

Before you commit to a platform, ask yourself three questions:

Who do I want to reach? Fellow academics, students, industry professionals, or the general public?
What do I want to be known for? Sharing research, offering expert commentary, making complex topics accessible, or something else?
What kind of posting schedule can I realistically maintain? Daily posts, a weekly video, or the occasional update when inspiration strikes?

These answers will help provide you with a starting point. Which brings us to your next question:

“What do I actually post?”

Regardless of platform, social media is a place where you can share what makes you uniquely you. What do you talk about with colleagues over coffee? What research keeps you in a flow state? If your kids roll their eyes every time you bring up a scholarly topic, you can be sure there’s an online audience for that.

Next, choose from this easily referable, highly repeatable menu of post types:

Share your work: “Here’s something I’ve been studying!”
Explain something: “One misconception I always hear about is…”
Share what you’ve been learning: “I’ve read a fascinating take on _ that I can’t get out of my head.”
Go behind the scenes: “Here’s what researching _ actually looks like.”
React to something in your field: “This development matters because…”
Bring your teaching into it: “My students asked a great question today…”
Celebrate someone’s work: “My colleague just launched a course on Michigan Online!”

You don’t need a groundbreaking idea to post on social media. As an expert in your field, posting about something routine to you can be a new and interesting concept to people outside your field. Just aim to keep your posts authentic, concise, and relatable.

Things you don’t need to do

Have I talked you off the sidelines yet? If not, this might help. Here’s what you don’t need to do to make an impact on social media:

Post every day
Comment on every trending topic
Share about your personal life
Understand every social media platform feature
Go viral
Turn every professional accomplishment into a post
Dance. Although there’s precedent for that, if you’re so inclined. (Believe me, you want to experience this TikTok account from Thuận Nguyễn, California State University, Fullerton lecturer for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.)

Ready. Set. Post!

So you’ve decided on your social media channel, opened an account, you know who you want to communicate with, what you want to talk about, and how often you want to post. There’s nothing left to do but start drafting!

Think about something you’ve done in the past month. Maybe you led an interesting class discussion, attended a conference, or made some headway on a project. Got something in mind? Great! Now run through this quick checklist:

Picture your audience. Create with that person in mind.
Lead with the juicy stuff. Start with something interesting that makes people want to keep watching or reading.
Tell them why it matters. What’s the takeaway, and why should people care?
Skip the jargon. Explain it like you’re talking to a person outside your discipline.
Add visuals if it helps. A photo, video, or graphic can help bring your story to life.
Give them somewhere to go. Direct folks to a place where they can learn more, if applicable.
Give it one last look. Check for typos, take a deep breath, and hit “Post”!

Bonus Tip: Too busy to create on a post-by-post basis? Use a social media scheduling tool to schedule your posts in bulk for a set-it-and-forget-it approach. Buffer, for example, is a free and intuitive scheduling site that supports major platforms like Instagram, Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

And that’s it! You don’t need a content calendar, a ring light, or deep knowledge of Taylor Swift’s discography to start connecting with an online audience. You already have the most important feature you need: knowledge worth sharing.