Perhaps you’re unfamiliar with the term, but the opportunity to become a thought leader in your field has never been more accessible, thanks to the abundance of digital tools at your fingertips. In this blog you will learn 10 strategies for building thought leadership, audience engagement, blogging tips, content repurposing, SEO strategies, live videos, personal branding, database building, PR strategy and overall influence-building.
Leadership is influence. Whether it’s in the workplace, within a community or through personal projects, we are all leaders to some degree. Our ability to inspire, guide or connect with others shapes our influence and our leadership. Personally I don’t see myself as an influencer or thought leader as yet, however we are all experts in our fields. And there are many ways today to give our expertise a greater voice.
Thought leadership is the practice of positioning yourself or your brand as an authority in a specific field or industry by sharing insightful, innovative and valuable ideas. Thought leaders inspire trust and credibility by offering unique perspectives, solving problems and engaging in meaningful discussions that educate and influence their audience.
In essence, a thought leader is someone others turn to for guidance, expertise and forward-thinking opinions on relevant topics, often shaping trends and driving conversations in their area of specialisation. Here are 10 key points I’ve identified that are shaping my own journey and might help you on yours:
Become a thought leader / expert in your field.
1. Have something to say
- Share your learnings – Start by embracing a culture of constant learning where you ‘Learn more to earn more’. Then freely provide others with the golden nuggets your have discovered or the processes and strategies you find work for you. This is all about providing helpful answers and solutions to practical challenges the people you know or work with are facing. Read widely, attend conferences and events and be constantly updating your technical knowledge as new apps / trends emerge.
- An immediate response I often hear on becoming a thought leaders is “I don’t have time”. And that is a valid, however if you work at it gradually you will be surprised by the results. Especially since there are many AI tools at your fingertips today that can help you repurpose content for maximum effect. However you must have a message to share along with a thorough understanding of your industry and current factors affecting it. Keep a notebook of things that inspire, ideas or messages worth resharing.
2. Start by speaking up wherever possible
- This builds confidence. This could be in meetings, group gatherings or other opportunities like networking groups. In groups such as BNI, members are given 60 seconds per week to provide a pitch for their company. This helps one to fine tune your message, be clear on the referrals you are looking for and your public speaking skills improve week on week.
- This does take stepping out of one’s comfort zone but it is well worth it. And you can repurpose the content you have prepared for other things. For example this blog started out as a talk I gave to the staff of Academic Summer on how they could develop their personal interests to become a thought leader and how this could benefit the company with cross sharing of social posts and backlinks from blog posts etc.
3. Create a social media presence
- Start with a personal account, share a mix of personal content, humour, posts about your work etc. Invite colleagues to become friends.
- Create a public figure page and promote it through your personal account. (eg this could be an author, musician, business page). Invite friends to like your page and cross share posts from your page on your personal account and in appropriate groups. This all builds exposure.
- Choose your platforms wisely: Facebook is still the biggest with some 3 billion people so it shouldn’t be dismissed outright. Whereas LinkedIn is definitely the business leaders’ platform and gives you many marketplace tools including the ability to present authoritative and collaborative articles. Other platforms include Instagram and YouTube which offer various opportunities to reach people in visual ways. For some wouldbe thought leaders X can be good place to start especially if you use the Premium version which comes with Grok AI. This also has good monetisation opportunities.
- Share a broad mix of content. From work-related posts to funny memes, or inspirational content. Intersperse this by answering questions from an expert perspective.
4. Know your audience
- Develop content for a specific audience. In marketing terms, think of avatars: Who are you speaking to, and what do they need to know?
- Focus on their pain points and how you can address them.
5. Fine-tune your messaging
- Answer the public’s questions. Use tools like Answer the Public to identify what your audience is asking. Shape your content to provide clear, concise answers. Read They Ask You Answer by Marcus Sheridan and discover how content marketing can build trust by eliminating any form of doubt.
6. Start blogging
- Platforms like Medium, WordPress, or Tumblr are good starting points as they are completely free and your only outlay is your time.
- Register a personal web domain (e.g., .co.uk or .com) and eventually, move your content to your own dedicated blog site.
- Perhaps you feel you have nothing to blog about. Armed with the questions people in your industry need answers for, you will always have something to say. And these days you can always use AI for ideas.
- For those who are tech savvy, get the premium version of Chat GPT and create a custom GPT for your business. You do this by adding diverse content about your business from interview transcripts to pdfs of brochures etc. You can also instruct your GPT to provide content in a particular tone of voice, using only British English and terminology and avoiding many of the tell tale signs of AI generated copy.
- If you use AI always remember to add golden nuggets and tidbits of information that retain the reader’s interest.
7. Embrace SEO
- Focus on generating organic traffic. Use keywords and optimise your content for search engines. WordPress is great for this as there are two excellent plugins that provide a simple check list to meet. These are Yoast and Rankmath.
- Though SEO is ever changing the fundamentals of highlighting keywords remain ever green. Even in a 60-second video or social media post you want to ensure you don’t leave out the most important keywords.
8. Build a database
- Why? To communicate with your followers directly without relying on a social media following. It’s probably more important to develop this than your social media, though both have a role to play. The more you share your articles, and the more clicks they receive the higher their ranking will be. Tools like Mailchimp or Zoho can help you manage your email list and provide effective campaigns.
- Incorporate a name acquisition device, such as a newsletter sign-up on your website to facilitate new names and email addresses.
- Begin sending regular emails to highlight your latest blogs and updates. This could be a regular newsletter that highlights your latest posts, tips etc.
9. Repurpose content
- Once you have themed blogs, you can use them to create many other things. For example:
- turn them into an eBook. (each post could be a chapter) You then use the eBook as a lead magnet to grow your email database.
- create a printed book. This takes you up a notch in your journey to become a thought leader. This could be submitted to a publisher or you could self publish through Amazon Kindle. Countdown Creative has assisted with two such projects this year.
- use the material to start a podcast.
- repurpose them for video content or a LinkedIn LIVE / Facebook LIVE broadcast.
10. Engage with local media
- Volunteer to be a spokesperson in your area of expertise with media outlets. This may start out by being a guest on a business podcast.
- Often broadcasters need to air insights and opinions on a particular field of interest. Position yourself as a go to media spokesperson.
- For best results, this requires PR support – consider getting help from a publicist to refine your strategy.
Becoming a thought leader is not just a career milestone; it’s a commitment to growth, sharing and influence. By embracing these 10 strategies – from speaking up and blogging to leveraging social media and engaging with media outlets – you can carve out your place as an authority in your field. Thought leadership isn’t reserved for the elite; it’s a journey accessible to anyone willing to share their expertise, inspire others and provide real value. Start small, stay consistent and let your voice make an impact in the spaces where it’s needed most.
Also read: Unlock the power of copywriting services in Exeter: A guide for local businesses
