6 | March 2021 Medical Writing | Volume 30 Number 1
Jennifer Bell
Ekrity Limited, Dundalk, Ireland
Correspondence to:
Jennifer Bell
Ekrity Limited
7 Seabrook, Commons Road, Dromiskin
Dundalk
Ireland A91 X974
JenBellWS@outlook.com
Abstract
When I was asked to write about using social
media for work and collaboration, one
“professional” social media platform immedi -
ately sprang to mind – LinkedIn. is article
discusses LinkedIn, one of many social media
platforms in a prosperous market. e
content of this article is about my personal
experience of using LinkedIn to get noticed
and get work over the last 10 years. I am not
an expert. Nothing I have wrien is denitive.
is article is intended to provoke thought.
I hope what I have shared of my own
experience is benecial.
When I sat down to write this article, I realised
there are so many more social media platforms
out there. And there are platforms you can use to
manage interactions with them. e global
revenue from social media was €39 billion in
2019.
1
Social media is a key driver in the growth
of content marketing. e content marketing
market is set to grow by USD 269.24 billion
during 2020–2024.
2
is growth is partly due to
a greater demand for digital magazines among
other things.
There are many places to
promote what you do
Facebook recorded c.2.8 billion active users per
month in 2020 Q4 – over a third of the global
population per month.
3
Businesses increasingly
promote themselves on platforms thought of as
“personal” social media sites (Table 1).
Yet, over 80% of lead generations are on
LinkedIn.
6
LinkedIn is the most eective
platform for business-to-business (B2B) lead
generation. Lead generation helps increase
potential customer numbers and can result in
paid work. So, keep in mind that the more prole
views you receive the beer. A few recruitment
consultants have told me that aracting work is a
numbers game.
My history with LinkedIn
I opened my LinkedIn account in 2010 for
professional networking, and I check it most
days. I use my prole as my electronic CV or
resume, I nd it a great place to receive
professional news, and I enjoy interacting with
my network. My network has grown organically
over the last 10 years. It is made up of people
from various experiences I have had over my
lifetime. I am even connected to
people I was in kindergarten with. My
network spans a wide community of
interest.
As a freelance medical writer there
is an ongoing discussion about the
importance of seing up a website.
When I set up my writing company, I learned a
lile about web development. I aended a Local
Enterprise Oce course where I live, and I
decided not to set up a website early on. I wanted
to apply what I learned to my online presence,
things like search engine optimisation (SEO),
post content devel op ment, target market
denition, and to identify my preferred sites to
follow and connect with.
I also took advice from Virginia Bautista.
She is a LinkedIn marketing consultant and
personal branding strategist. She posts content
on how to get noticed on LinkedIn. Her posts
help people increase the quality and quantity of
trac to their proles.
I am aware that LinkedIn has an option to
create a company page that is connected to your
prole, and I might use it in the future. Click on
the “work” grid at the top right of your prole and
scroll down to the boom to see how to begin
this process. I have thought about developing a
more systematic posting activity but, as I am a
freelance company of one, I don’t think it is
necessary at this stage.
e following proles give examples of where
company pages and website links have or have
not been used.
l
Karandeep Singh Badwal is a medical device
regulatory aairs and quality consul tant. He
uses his LinkedIn prole alone. He
posts videos related to medical device
quality and regulatory aairs on his
prole. His posts are nuggets of gold
and very topical as medical device
companies transition to new industry
regulations in Europe.
l
Paul Palmer helps pharmaceutical quality
directors achieve successful regulatory inspec -
tions by optimising processes. ere is a link
to his company page, Paul R Palmer, in his
LinkedIn prole. Recently he authored a
chapter in a best-selling book.
l
Yan Kugel is a good manufacturing practice
content architect and pharma podcast
producer. His LinkedIn company page,
Qualistery, is in his prole. From his company
page there is a buon linking to his Qualistery
website.
But it is work:
My perspective on social media
1. Facebook
2. YouTube
3. WhatsApp
4. Facebook Messenger
5. Weixin / WeChat
6. Instagram
7. QQ
8.Tumblr
9.Qzone
10. Tik Tok
11. Sina Weibo
12. Twier
13. Reddit
14. Baudu Tieba
15. LinkedIn
16. Viber
17. Snapchat
18. Pinterest
19. Line
20. Telegram
21. Medium
Table 1. Popular social media platforms that are increasingly used for marketing purposes.
4,5
Listed in no particular order.
Attracting
work is a
numbers
game.
www.emwa.org Volume 30 Number 1 | Medical Writing March 2021 | 7
My posting activity is fairly organic. I post and
share what is on my mind and what I think is
benecial to the health of the wider community
from a profes sional perspective. I am connected
to past, present, and future colleagues around the
world who I want to keep safe and informed. I
like to think they have enough condence in me
to pay aention to what I highlight.
I am not bashful when it comes to connecting
on LinkedIn, nor am I overly selective about who
I connect with. One connection might move to
a job that is outside my work focus, and this does
not mean that I delete them from my network.
And, within reason, I will connect to people
outside my work focus, particularly if they send
me an invitation, because you never know.
Connecting to people on LinkedIn has
resulted in a phone call or video conference and
from there, some work (See Figure 1). I have had
work from imme diate connections. Some times
someone they know who knows someone else
has oered me work! I think net working is about
promoting trust as much as it is about promoting
what you have to oer. I like networking in
person, and a lot of what I might do in person can
be done with a global community on LinkedIn.
Learning about ways to get
noticed
I have played around with my prole as my
experience has grown over the last 10 years.
LinkedIn has provided a space for my online CV
or resume. When you submit your CV or resume
for a job, oen it goes through an algorithm that
picks up keywords. is helps your potential
employer identify whose experience best
matches a job description. Similarly this applies
to LinkedIn where people actively look for jobs
or job candidates based on keywords they use in
their description or prole. If you want to do
something that you haven’t done before, consider
describing how your experience ts with the
expectations of what you want to do to help steer
that type of work your way.
Good copywriting tactics
A LinkedIn prole is sectioned. Sections include
intro, about, featured, background, skills,
Bell – But it is work: My perspective on social media
Figure 1. A schematic diagram showing that the greater the numbers of views you receive the greater the likelihood of paid work.
Blue dots = posts
White dots = generated leads
Green dots = paid work
A. No paid work denotes a low number of posts and generated leads.
B. Paid work x 5 denotes a high number of posts and generated leads.
A. No paid work
B. Paid work x 5
8 | March 2021 Medical Writing | Volume 30 Number 1
accomplishments, additional infor mation, and
supported languages. When writing your prole,
it makes sense to use words that
your target audience is likely to
use. You can optimise your prole
keywords by paying aention to
the number of suggested terms
you get when you input words in
your prole search bar. e higher
the number of suggestions the
greater the number of hits that
word will receive. If you use that
word in your prole copy, your
prole will be among those hits.
In my opinion, keyword opti -
mi sation is intuitive to anybody
who opens a LinkedIn account. ey already
have a professional persona, and they know
where they are and where they want to be in the
short- to mid-term.
Aside from creating an online
CV, there are other activities that
raise your
LinkedIn prole. I did
some research and experi mented
on this while writing this article.
Search engine optimisation
(SEO) tactics
SEO is about increasing the
quantity and quality of trac to
your website or prole.
7
Quantity
relates to the “footfall” through
your prole. is can be seen in the
“who viewed your prole” record.
Quality relates to how likely the “footfall” wants
what you oer. is can be determined by
reviewing who has looked at your prole and
assessing if they are part of your target audience.
I’ve received prole views since I set up my
prole. Since experimenting with increasing
“footfall” to my prole, I have noted that my
prole views have increased as well as the
number of my connections.
Conversion copywriting tactics
Conversion copywriting is about geing
someone to read your prole and buy in to your
service or what you are saying.
8
If you post on
LinkedIn it is important to maintain the same
thread in your posts. Try to make your message
consistent with your prole and the services you
provide.
Virginia Bautista categorises some of the best
ways people can interact on LinkedIn to get
But it is work: My perspective on social media – Bell
I like
networking in
person, and a lot
of what I might
do in person can
be done with a
global
community on
LinkedIn.
Table 2. Results of my experiments with my LinkedIn prole.
MY ACTIVITY*
Months My Text Hyperlink Hashtags# I liked I shared
ago post only original
1 Community of experts 24 7 7 n/a n/a 3 7
2 Plastic-eating protein 24 7 7 n/a n/a 3 7
3 The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult 24 7 7 n/a n/a 3 7
… … … … … … …
4 EMWA Vienna 2019 attendee post DR 12 7 7 n/a n/a 3 7
5 Alfred Russel Wallace 12 7 7 n/a n/a 3 7
6 Medical Communications Day 12 3 7 n/a n/a n/a n/a
… … … … … … …
7 Support businesses during Covid-19 4 7 7 n/a n/a 7 7
8 COVID-19 clinical readouts 4 7 7 n/a n/a 3 7
9 COVID-19 hackathon 4 7 7 n/a n/a 3 3
10 Where's Waldo (social distancing edition) 4 7 7 n/a n/a 3 3
11 COVID-19 face covering or mask 4 3 3 n/a n/a n/a n/a
… … … … … … …
12 COVID-19 politics 2 7 7 n/a n/a 3 7
13 Employment search 2 7 7 n/a n/a 3 3
14 COVID-19 science 2 7 7 n/a n/a 3 3
… … … … … … …
15 Biological drugs are not chemical drugs (3 min) 1 3 7 7 2 7 7
16 Biological drugs are not chemical drugs (2 min) Not in my LinkedIn activity feed? Although there is a comment referring to it. It is not my
17 Biological drugs are not chemical drugs (15 secs) 0.5 3 7 7 2 7 7
… … … … … … …
18 Supply chain risk management article 0.25 3 7 7 8 7 7
19 Should we call chemical drugs non-biologicals? article 0.25 3 7 7 0 7 7
20 Pre-clinical testing article 0.25 3 3 3 13 7 7
21 CER assessment template for notified bodies 0.25 3 7 7 0 7 7
22 CER rough template 0.12 3 7 7 1 7 7
*My LinkedIn activity data was collected on July 28, 2020 and collected again on **November 14, 2020.
POST SUBJECT
www.emwa.org Volume 30 Number 1 | Medical Writing March 2021 | 9
noticed.
9
Each interaction converts your content
into likes and shares and maybe even jobs:
l
Content creators publish original content to
help their network succeed.
l
Content curators share useful third-party
content with their network.
l
Engagement champions like,
comment or share what is useful.
l
Super connectors introduce
conn ections to each other to help
them get an opportunity.
l
Community builders foster mutually bene -
cial relationships to help each other grow.
l
Inuencers, motivators and inspirers get
people to act by sharing their content.
My social media experimental methods
While writing this article I decided to take the
opportunity to look at my activity history
(Table 2; Rows 1–14) and to consciously play in
LinkedIn to see what works for me (Table 2;
Rows 15–22). My posts were set up with
increased and decreased video content, a hyper -
link, and hashtags (Table 2; Rows 15–22).
I also followed guidance from my
Twier account, which I use to a lesser
extent compared to LinkedIn. For
example, Twier allows a 280 maxi -
mum character count per post in my
region. You can include up to four photos or a
video with a maximum duration of two minutes,
although 15 seconds is recom mended. If you
follow the most restrictive posting guidance from
a number of social media sites, you can use the
same post in multiple places without needing to
modify your post in any way.
Increased and decreased video content
I have an informative animation called “Biological
drugs are not chemical drugs. It is important to
consider how these molecules dier during their
manufacture and distribution” (Table 2; lines 15, 16
and 17). It features at three minutes in LinkedIn
(June 24, 2020). I shortened the animation to two
minutes for LinkedIn and Twier (July 6, 2020).
en I shortened it to 15 seconds and posted it on
LinkedIn and Twier (July 14, 2020) keeping the
original captions and hashtags the same.
e three-minute post accumulated 885
views, the two-minute post seemed to disappear,
and the 15- second post accumulated 221 views
about four months aer posting them. Perhaps if
I had posted the 15 second animation rst it
would have received 885 views. In this case, it
does not seem that less is more.
Bell – But it is work: My perspective on social media
Sometimes
less is
more.
MY ACTIVITY INTERACTIONS
I commented Degree of Connection Connections Connections Views of Views of my activity
connection liked commented shared my activity c. 4 months later**
7 2 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
7 1 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
7 1 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
… … … … … … … …
7 1 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
7 1 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
7 n/a 6 n/a û 580 582
… … … … … … … …
7 n/a 5 1 û 778 783
7 1 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
7 2 3 0 0 230 233
7 n/a 5 0 0 195 199
3 n/a 4 0 0 427 435
… … … … … … … …
3 1 4 0 0 n/a n/a
7 1 9 2 0 817 823
7 not connected 2 0 0 269 274
… … … … … … … …
3 n/a 12 1 1 879 885
imagination that it was there once.
3 n/a 10 2 0 211 221
… … … … … … … …
3 n/a 9 2 0 818 852
3 n/a 1 3 0 353 386
3 n/a 0 0 0 163 228
3 n/a
Initially 7, after
3 0 672 750
4 months 8
3 n/a
Initially 19; after
3 0 951 1566
4 months 23
10 | March 2021 Medical Writing | Volume 30 Number 1
Posts with links
At the time of writing this article, apparently less
is oen more in a LinkedIn post. Text posts
without links will go further as the LinkedIn
algorithm holds back posts that contain a link.
9
I tried it out and saw my text-only post received
189 views on day one. Using the same text,
I added a link and saw the post received 101
views on day one. So, it could have been held
back. Equally, my connections might not have
been as interested in seeing the same post a
second time, albeit with a link.
Using hashtags
Hashtags help to identify messages on a
particular subject and can help your post reach a
more dened audience (Table 2; Rows 15–22).
I have not consistently applied hashtags to my
posts. However, I have learned the importance of
making sure the hashtag I want to use exists in
LinkedIn.
10
Select “add #hashtag” when you are
posting something and start writing #<whatever
comes to mind>. ere is a list of the most popular
LinkedIn hashtags that you might like to use,
11
a list that might help you to create your own.
Once I select my hashtags, I check the content
of each hashtag to make sure it is consistent with
my message and that it has a reasonable number
of followers (one hashtag might have three
followers while another hashtag has thousands of
followers). And just because you think a hashtag
represents your audience of choice, your
assumption is not always correct.
As I tuned in to my writing inspirations,
I gained clearer focus on how to project myself
and my service consistently. I remain a fan of
meeting people face-to-face, which can be done
by video conferencing using Zoom, Facetime,
WhatsApp and whatever other platform you have
at your ngertips.
Conclusion
I think the greatest measure of the success of a
post is in line with engagement – how many
shares, comments, likes, and views it receives. My
medical device clinical evaluation report rough
template post received more views compared to
any of my other posts. is post provided
something useful to the community. At the same
time, the numbers of views my posts receive are
small considering there is potential for a post to
receive thousands of views on day one. Clearly,
there is more that I could do to develop my own
LinkedIn activity. I am not a social media expert,
and I am open to hearing what tweaks (not
Tweets) I can make to my own LinkedIn prole.
I take everything I read about geing noticed
on LinkedIn with a pinch of salt. ere are
strategies to make your post go further. Yet, I do
think the message that is being conveyed is more
important. If your negative post receives a lot of
views, maybe you should start watching your back.
I try to be clear about what I oer. I support
pharmaceutical and medical device industries as
far as LinkedIn is concerned. I do not support
drug and device services. I don’t want those
unversed in the pharmaceutical and medical
device industries to be confused about what
I oer.
e discussion in this article is fairly loose but
should help you hone how to use your LinkedIn
account if you are inclined to do so. LinkedIn is a
rm favourite of mine and is likely to remain that
way for some time to come.
Disclaimers
e opinions expressed in this article are the
author’s own and not necessarily shared by her
employer or EMWA.
Conflicts of interest
e author declares no conicts of interest.
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But it is work: My perspective on social media – Bell
www.emwa.org Volume 30 Number 1 | Medical Writing March 2021 | 11
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Bell – But it is work: My perspective on social media
Author information
Jennifer Bell worked in quality management roles in medical
device and pharmaceutical manufacturing, and clinical trial sectors
from 2010 to 2018. She holds a PhD in molecular microbiology
and an MSc in pharmaceutical manufacturing technology. She is
passionate about the potential for biotechnology to improve lives.
Today she is a freelance medical writer.
