The pandemic is forcing us to change how we work. Travel is restricted, conferences and tradeshows are cancelled, and universities and offices are closed. According to a recent survey of 3,000 ResearchGate members, nearly 70% of researchers report working from home, while nearly 70% of researchers report spending less time attending conferences and research events than before the pandemic.
Nonetheless, researchers’ work is not slowing down, it’s just being redistributed. Because they don't have access to their labs and facilities, researchers are now focusing more on top-of-funnel activities, like discovering and consuming new research publications, and writing more papers. According to our recent survey, nearly 50% of researchers report spending more time with scientific literature than before the pandemic started, with nearly 45% spending more time writing research papers.
So, how can marketers working in the scientific sector rise to the occasion, and make the most of a world under relative lockdown, with an increase in research discovery and consumption?
Consider the fact that scientists are now spending more time online — ResearchGate proprietary data indicates that engagement among ResearchGate’s 18 million global members is increasing, with a 35% increase in the number of publication pages consumed, year on year. We’ve also seen a 24% increase in signups since the pandemic hit, with a 34% increase in time onsite. What’s more, there has been a 213% increase in ad slot interactions on ResearchGate, year on year.
The obvious solution is that traditional marketing strategies need to evolve to meet the moment, and take into account scientific researchers’ new ways of working. Marketers in STEM need to double-down on proven digital strategies that help them best connect with scientists where they do their research.
On ResearchGate, we’ve seen that educational content marketing outperforms classic product advertising. Furthermore, native advertising formats outperform non-native advertising formats — because native ads more seamlessly blend into the conversations taking place on the ResearchGate platform. Finally, researchers are hungry to connect and overcome their current pandemic-imposed isolation — and video content is the most engaging format to do this.
Events on ResearchGate is a new solution for promoting your webinar or digital event to scientists where they do their research.
With new event lead-generation forms optimized for conversion, you can generate leads with auto-populated contact information, based on a researcher’s professional email address. Auto-populated forms can result in up to 15% higher likelihood of registration, with leads automatically forwarded to your CRM (Salesforce or Marketo) — so you can begin actioning your freshly qualified leads right away.
Your event promotion also benefits from new native Events emails and native Events ads that look and feel more like they’re part of the ResearchGate ecosystem — which can increase engagement and trust. Your webinar or digital event is broadcast to scientists while they’re in a high-intent discovery mode on ResearchGate, so your event promotion is contextually relevant to their current research work. This helps your target audience more readily understand the connection between your webinar and their professional interests, which can help increase quality and volume of registrations.
Another exciting feature of Events on ResearchGate is the new “social proof” feature, which allows a researcher to see if their colleagues or peers (who are ResearchGate members) are attending an event. Researchers we interviewed report that seeing a list of attendees, including their names and profile pictures, increases their interest in an event while also creating a sense of community around a topic. Social proof boosts the promotion of your webinar, and can result in higher registration rates and, ultimately, a high-quality audience for your digital event.
In a STEM marketing landscape that has been radically altered by COVID-19, traditional marketing strategies will benefit from a digital-first approach that targets scientists where they do their research. With 18 million members worldwide, ResearchGate is uniquely positioned to facilitate the promotion of your webinar in order to help your business build brand, generate demand, and get fresh leads.
Interested in promoting your webinar on ResearchGate? Click here to learn more about generating demand and high-quality leads by broadcasting your events to an active, engaged community of millions of scientists online.
