Promote Your Project and Prompt Participation and Collaboration
Last updated on 2025-07-17 | Edit this page
Estimated time: 46 minutes
Overview
Questions
- What are the most effective strategies for promoting a project to a diverse and global audience?
- How do we foster multilingual and culturally diverse collaborations?
Objectives
- Identify and evaluate effective strategies to promote and increase visibility of your project among your diverse and global potential users.
- Learn how to encourage participation in your project and nurture collaborations that enhance its multilingual functionality, cultural diversity, and global usefulness.
- Develop an action plan to promote your project and encourage participation and collaboration.
Congratulations on developing a search and discovery system for data stored in a Google Sheet! This is an impressive achievement.
In this episode, you will explore how to develop and action plan to expand the impact of your project and encourage participation and collaboration. Let’s begin by exploring various strategies to increase the visibility of your project. Think about how you bring people in! How can you effectively promote your website to reach potential users who might find it valuable? While not all of these possibilities may be directly applicable to your specific situation, it’s valuable to consider a wide range of options. Use the following ideas to help you identify the most effective ways to promote your project.
Encourage Others to Link to Your Project and Reuse Your Data
Allow reuse of your data by selecting a creative commons license appropriate to your work. Also, share your data with similar projects so that you can reuse their content and they can reuse yours.
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Encourage librarians to link to your project in:
- E-resources/database finder platforms. Example: Library of Congress E-Resources Platform
- Library Guides. You can track those created using LibGuides, a content management and information sharing system, in this LibGuides Community website
Suggest other library projects or initiatives to include a metadata record for your project. Example: project LACLI in the Handbook of Latin American Studies and Resources for College Libraries (this database requires a subscription).
Disseminate Information via Organizations Listservs
These listservs could be from both library and subject related organizations. In the case of the project LACLI , we promote it in professional organizations such as the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials (SALALM), sections of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA),the ACRL’s European Studies Section (ESS), and the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking (REFORMA). In addition to national and international organizations, consider promoting it in regional and local organizations as well.
Build an Effective Social Media Strategy
- Create social media accounts/profiles in those social media services you consider more effective for your intended audience. At the beginning of your social media strategy, you might need to explore a wider net of social media platforms and narrow them down based on their analytics.
Callout
For example, Linkedin might be a good option to target professionals across various industries and career stages interested in networking. X (formerly known as Twitter) can be proven effective targeting media professionals and political discourse. Also consider age groups. TikTok is heavily used by younger users than Instagram. Consider the potential of others such as Reddit that is known for its diverse communities and discussions.
Follow organizations and people related to the subject of your project. Make sure you tag them when you create content related to something of their interest or that has been created by them. This is a low-maintenance way to start building connections with them by helping promote their own content or share with them related content connected to their interests. For example, in LACLI we create weekly posts featuring sources from our database. If we promote a source created by an organization, we tag it along with tags to potential individual users interested in it. This also expands the visibility of your posts to anyone that follows the account you are tagging.
Be strategic about the context, nature of the content and when you post it. For example, in LACLI we have featured content related to historical commemorations or celebrations. During the “back to school” period, we have promoted free OER resources. Make sure you use hashtags to increase the visibility of your posts. Also, use at least one hashtag that can bring all the posts related to a specific theme or focus together. For example, for LACLI we use the hashtag #LACLIresources to bring all the resources that we feature together. In terms of content, explore various tones depending on your audience but keep them short and to the point. In the case of LACLI, we focus on the value and uniqueness of each featured resource.
Checklist
When crafting your posts, carefully consider two key language aspects:
Choice of language: Decide whether to write in English, Spanish, or other languages based on your target audience.
Writing style: Adapt your tone and vocabulary to suit your specific readers, whether they’re academics, high school teachers, or other groups.
Promote your project by using hashtags such as #DataScience or #TidyTuesday so others can contribute content to your project or reuse it to create other digital objects such as visualizations.
Be aware of the limitations of social media. When you rely solely on social media platforms, you’re not necessarily casting the widest possible net for your audience. While some individuals engage deeply with content and actively participate in discussions, many others interact differently. Furthermore, numerous individuals confine their social media use strictly to personal matters, avoiding professional or project-related content entirely. A significant portion of users tend to passively consume content. This passive consumption can limit the meaningful interactions and collaborations you might be hoping to achieve for your project.
Use Analytics and AI Tools
Use Analytics Tools to figure out aspects such as:
Type of content with more views and reactions
Visitor metrics
Best day and time to post your content
Google Analytics is the tool we use to monitor how people interact with the LACLI website. This tool provides various metrics, but we find the information about users’ geographical locations especially valuable. This data helps us tailor our outreach strategies more effectively. Also take advantage of the built-in analytics tools offered by various social media platforms.
You can also use AI tools to undertake additional types of analysis. For example, if you want to compare your project with similar projects, you could use this prompt: Compare [name of your project] to other similar online repositories specialized in [specify your subject(s)] Always ask follow-up questions when using AI tools. This helps you get more accurate and relevant answers.
Apply for Awards and Grants
Apply for Awards and Grants that could bring both recognition and financial support.
For this type of content, you’ll find several specialized databases that can be particularly helpful:
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Subscription-based (it might include some partial access under some circumstances):
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Free access:
Consider applying to awards and grants by organizations that support digital projects such as:
International organizations such as the Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services (Scoss), a network of organizations committed to helping secure OA and OS infrastructure. It provides funding for open infrastructure
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National organizations. The ones below are US-based. Think of any available in the country where you develop your project.
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The NEH Office of Digital Humanities offers several grant programs specifically for digital projects. These grants support various stages of digital projects, from early development to implementation and evaluation.
American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). Digital Extension Grants
Professional organizations For example, in the case of LACLI, it was awarded the award for best public project by LASA’s Archives, Libraries, and Digital Scholarship section and the SALALM Award for Institutional Collaborative Initiatives. Beyond prestige, these awards bring visibility to your project in specific communities interested in your content. It can also encourage others to explore collaborations. In the case of the SALALM, this award recognizes international collaborations. In addition to professional organizations at the national level, please also consider those at the international level (e.g. the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations (ADHO)), regional and local level.
Beyond organization-specific awards, there are independent recognition programs for digital humanities and scholarship projects, such as the Digital Humanities Awards. While these may not offer financial support, they can significantly boost your project’s visibility and recognition in the field.
Now, let’s proceed to our second objective: we will explore strategies to increase user engagement in your project and foster partnerships that improve your web-based tool’s ability to support multiple languages and its overall global usefulness.
Organize an Edit-a-thon
What is an Edit-a-thon?
It is a collaborative event where people come together to create, update or improve content on a specific project. For example, there is a long tradition of edit-a-thons to contribute content to Wikipedia. These events usually have a specific focus, such as adding content related to a certain subject area, addressing content gaps, or focusing on underrepresented topics, cultures, or perspectives. Edit-a-thons are typically organized for a set period and include a training component, making them suitable for both experienced editors and newcomers. While traditionally held as in-person events, edit-a-thons can also be conducted virtually, allowing for wider participation.
Community building is an important aspect of these events as they often serve as networking venues for people with similar interests and help build a sense of community among participants. This can translate into future collaborative partnerships. Edit-a-thons have become popular tools for institutions, organizations, and communities to engage people in content creation and improvement while promoting digital literacy and collaborative knowledge sharing. Ultimately, edit-a-thons can be a perfect venue to increase multilingual content and global reach by organizing edit-a-thons that can focus on a specific language, country etc. The underlying concept is that your project’s quality and effectiveness will significantly improve through diverse contributions from individuals representing various cultural backgrounds, linguistic groups, and nationalities. This approach will ensure that the content included in your project is respectful of different values and perspectives. We learn together, we contribute together. Nobody holds the whole knowledge on one topic. This diversity of perspectives and experiences enhances the project’s overall scope, relevance, and applicability across different contexts. Global collaboration enables projects to become more comprehensive, inclusive, and diverse by incorporating knowledge and perspectives from people worldwide.
Participate in Academic/Professional Events
When presenting your work, tailor your approach to each venue’s unique opportunities. At a conference presentation, your goal might be broad visibility for your project. In contrast, a roundtable could be ideal for in-depth discussions on specific initiatives or for sharing user experiences. By matching your expectations to the event type, you’ll maximize the impact of your event and make the most of each opportunity to showcase your work. Events that target a highly specific community can also be very effective. For example, if you want to promote your content among scholars in Latin American film, a good place to start would be the LASA’s Film Studies section. This event could also turn into a edit-a-thon in the future.
Apply Research Methods to Meet Your Specific Goals
Focus groups is a pertinent qualitative research method that involves gathering a small group of carefully selected participants to engage in an open discussion about a specific topic, project, or idea. Another useful one could be surveys that would allow you to collect data, analyze, and interpret data. Think creatively about surveys. For example, you could design a survey that asks participants to identify which resources they consider most essential to your project. Sharing the survey results could promote your content and help potential users discover the gems included in your collection.
Explore Collaborations to Provide a Global Dimension to Your Project
Beyond the usual networking opportunities (conferences, online platforms, etc.), look for relevant international research grants that require cross-country collaborations. This type of initiative offers an exceptional opportunity to build meaningful connections. Our experience with the LACLI project serves as an example of this strategy’s success. We took the initiative to reach out to two prestigious institutions: Colegio de México and Fundação Getulio Vargas. Our efforts paid off when we were awarded a grant aimed at enhancing the multilingual content of our project. The grant, initially seen as a means to an end, transformed into a long-term collaboration. It provided us with a structured environment, understanding each other’s working styles, learning the intricacies of effective international cooperation, and identifying areas where our combined expertise (language, cultural knowledge etc.) could bring solutions to any initiative related to our project. This experience laid a solid foundation for our partnership and opened doors to possibilities for future joint ventures.
Don’t limit yourself to long-term partnerships. Be open to seeking help for specific challenges as they arise. When faced with a technical problem you can’t solve, don’t hesitate to reach out to experts or organizations with the right knowledge. This targeted approach can quickly provide you with the solutions you need. For example, LACLI found an efficient solution for multilingual subject access by collaborating with the Hispanic American Periodicals Index (HAPI). Instead of creating our own controlled vocabulary from scratch, LACLI adopted HAPI’s existing thesaurus, which includes terms in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. This partnership not only saved time and resources but also ensured consistency in terminology across platforms. HAPI regularly shares updates to their vocabulary, and both organizations maintain open communication to address any term-related issues. While LACLI occasionally added new terms to meet specific needs, this collaboration significantly streamlined our ability to provide multilingual access to content without duplicating efforts.
In the spirit of avoiding redundant work, seek out opportunities to collaborate with similar projects to share metadata. Additionally, think about using a Creative Commons license for your project. Such a license can make it easier and more straightforward for others to use and build upon your work, fostering a culture of open collaboration and shared resources.
Design Experiential Learning Opportunities
Experiential learning offers numerous advantages for students and creators of projects. This hands-on approach to education provides an engaging learning environment that goes beyond traditional classroom instruction. Students develop a wide range of skills that are valuable in both academic and professional settings. By engaging in real-world challenges, students learn to approach problems creatively and think outside the box. If you develop one of these opportunities, make sure you clearly articulate the following in your position announcement: your learning objectives, skills required, benefits, outcomes, and mentorship provided.
Activity - Authentic Assessment
Apply what you have learned so far in this episode! Now it is your turn to come up with your own plan. Develop an action plan that:
- Identifies and evaluates effective strategies to promote and increase visibility of your project among your diverse and global potential users.
- Encourages participation in your project and nurture collaborations that enhance the multilingual functionality, cultural diversity, and global usefulness of your project.
Note: Use the two checklists below to guide your thinking process as you design your action plan.