By Jasmine Salik
A thought leader is a person or organization that becomes an authority on a subject by sharing educational content with their audience. The idea is to help people learn and make informed decisions, without strictly promoting the thought leader’s own products and services. It’s one of the best ways to build trust with your customers and potential clients.
Here’s why creating thought-leadership content is so powerful:
You Become Part of the Conversation
Early in their purchasing journey, consumers typically research the best ways to meet their needs. If you can provide valuable content that helps them with that process, you’re presenting your company as a viable option to invest in. You also gain authority by offering genuinely useful information that isn’t obviously self-promotional.
Your Audience Gets to Know Your Business
If your thought-leader information is among the first your customers come across, you’ll likely be top of mind as they consider what products or services to buy. The quality of the content can help frame your business’ reputation in the mind of the consumer, so it’s important to make sure it’s accurate and appropriate for your industry.
Your Brand Gains Exposure
The more high-value information you put out, the more people will begin to associate you with a particular market. Brand awareness and reach are important for lead generation. You won’t get any customers if no one knows about you. Thought leadership is a great way to introduce yourself or your company to the world and get your brand out there.
You Become More Engaged In Your Industry
From an industry standpoint, it never hurts to have your peers regard you as an authority in your field. When other companies see that you’re knowledgeable and capable, you earn their respect and attention. That can lead to partnerships, referrals, and greater exposure.
So how do you become a thought leader? Here are three ways you can position yourself as an authority within your industry:
1. Share news, make announcements and celebrate success
Communicating news about what’s happening within your company demonstrates transparency and builds trust with your audience. Through press releases and/or your own blog, you can share news about changes to company leadership, the opening of new business locations, or the acquisition of a new brand, for example. You can even use your blog as a platform to explain the reasons behind big decisions at your company, or to share and celebrate in the success of your customers and partners. This communication makes your company appear more accessible and personable, helping your customers view you as more than a transaction.
2. Engage with industry audiences via social media
Social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter allow both companies and individuals to engage in discussions about industry current events, challenges, and solutions. You can use these platforms to routinely post your own content, and to actively participate in social media conversations by reacting to, commenting on, and sharing posts from other people and brands within your network. Get your audience engaged in conversations about your content by asking for their opinions, responding to their questions, and developing additional content based on topics that come up.
Sharing corporate blog posts and individual posts from thought leaders in your company and within your industry can also help build a community. You can use social media to showcase your team’s expertise, including when they present at industry events and when they are mentioned in the press. Be consistent with your posting schedule and produce new content regularly. Posting once every three months, for example, won't be enough to build a reputation as a thought leader.
3. Create content that’s about more than you
Amazing content is key to excellent thought leadership. Thought leaders don’t just talk about themselves, they generate content that is relevant to their target audiences even if it’s not directly relevant to their product or service. Examples of this include blogging about trends and upcoming challenges within your industry or providing actionable advice on how to solve a common problem many of your clients face.
To attract your target audience, make sure your content is valuable, educational, accurate, and entertaining. Your “angle” can be simple. You can take a stand against a common assumption that plagues your industry, make predictions about the future, or provide a new perspective on a regularly discussed topic. Whatever you write about, contribute to the ongoing dialogue in your field – either adding nuance to the discussion or taking it in a new direction entirely. This will usually require some research on your part to uncover an area where your voice can stand out.
Thought leadership shouldn’t be your entire content strategy – you’ll still need to create day-to-day promotional materials such as short blog posts and videos about your product or service, for example. Nevertheless, becoming a thought leader can take you and your business to a new level, and is worth the time and effort involved. Deep, insightful content of this kind can help you steer and even reframe industry discussions on terms that ultimately support you and your business.