When you hear the term “Thought Leader”, who comes to mind? One of my favorites is Arianna Huffington. She started and grew a massive online news source (Huffington Post), cashed out and started a wellness and health enterprise geared towards stress relief (Thrive), wrote 15 books on topics from corporate greed to third-world problems in the United States, and then decided to be a thought leader on the benefits of sleep. The woman is amazingly knowledgeable on many levels.
Or maybe you think of a mentor who continuously gives you (and others like you) excellent advice because they’ve been in your shoes, have an endless knowledge of your sector, and have learned crucial lessons along the way that she happily shares. Although this person is most likely not worth millions of dollars or has written multiple books, they are just as much a thought leader as Arianna Huffington.
What is a Thought Leader?
Wikipedia defines thought leadership as an individual or firm recognized as an authority in a specialized field, and whose expertise is sought and often rewarded. “Sought” is the most important part of that definition. While it might feel good to be recognized as an expert, the real benefit is being a thought leader will enhance your credibility and your bottom line.
Why Should I Be a Thought Leader?
Becoming a thought leader in your industry is an excellent personal branding strategy AND an effective content marketing strategy. When leveraging this approach, you position yourself and your company as an authority on a topic or issue integral to success. You become the source for relevant insights, new data, great ideas, and big-picture strategies.
Arianna Huffington is an expert on the benefits of sleep. Your mentor is a thought leader in advancing your career. Both have built a personal brand around their knowledge and experiences.
The Tidal Wave is Here
A tidal wave of thought leadership happened during the pandemic. That was not necessarily a good thing. Many leaders say the abundance of low-quality thought leadership content diluted the perceived value. Is thought leadership content creation still a good business strategy?
A 2021 study by Edelman and LinkedIn, asked 3,600 B2B leaders how they viewed thought leadership. 58% spent one or more hours reading thought leadership per week. 55% reported they use thought leadership to vet potential vendors. 60% of the respondents said thought leadership convinced them to buy a product or service they weren’t previously considering.
Creating your own tidal wave of thought leadership content is a valuable branding strategy, as long as you produce high-quality and useful content that reinforces your expertise. Done right, thought leadership content creation is an effective way to differentiate your brand from the competition. But it takes more than having an opinion.
The Benefits of Thought Leadership Content Creation
Thought leadership content articulates your unique perspectives, experiences, and resources framed by your company’s services or products and your brand mission. When you share your expertise, you earn credibility, trust, and, most importantly, brand loyalty. This is corroborated in the Edelman study where 60% of B2B leaders think thought leadership builds authority. 63% also said thought leadership is important in showing experience and knowledge and can resolve typical industry pain points. In other words, it is crucial to brand awareness and your bottom line.
What Is Thought Leadership Content?
Thought leadership content creation is the strategy used to share valuable knowledge, expertise, and insights with an interested market and through an appropriate channel. The content must include your own experiences, lessons learned, best practices developed from said lessons, and all backed with data supporting your views or conclusion.
Types of thought leadership content include:
- Case studies
- Opinion articles
- Industry analysis
- Articles/blogs
- Applicable research and analysis
- Speaking engagements
- Public relations pitch
A best practice is to repurpose one piece of content into other forms. For example, a case study can also be a blog post, a speech, a PR pitch, and a LinkedIn article. Be strategic in how you share your content and always strive to get the highest and best use out of it.
Storytelling should almost always be the framework of thought leadership content creation. An engaging narrative brings your point to life and taps into the experiences of readers. Humans relate better to a story.
Thought leadership content is NOT a sales pitch. Your content should provide education and information, not sell your company’s products or services.
Thought leadership content should always reflect your brand, message, voice, and production, no matter what form it takes. A consistent brand message and voice will elevate your content and make your salient points memorable. A consistent brand look will help readers recognize and depend on your brand for the latest insights and perspectives.
Your thought leader content is valuable knowledge, a product of your brand’s uniqueness, and should be strategically shared with your target market.
Where Should I Share my Thought Leadership Content?
First and foremost, go where your target market is. For example, if you want to reach teachers, post content on educational association blogs or community forums; through “teacher influencers” on social media (yes, that is a thing!); on teacher-related podcasts; in education-related newsletters, trade publications, or digital news resources. In general, social media, podcasts, blogs, and websites hosted by people in your target market are effective channels to use.
Don’t forget your own channels. You can create a video for your YouTube channel or your website. You can host a webinar or submit your content for a speaking gig at a conference. You can post on your social media channels.
There are hundreds of both digital and analog channels to use. But that doesn’t mean you should use them all. Be strategic. Where will you have the most success in reaching your target market? Where will the subject of your content mean the most to readers? Try to use channels where your audience can discuss your content with you and each other. Engagement makes your content even more memorable.
Tips on Being a Good Thought Leader
We are all very cynical these days. It can be difficult to change minds, inspire engagement, and build trust. Most of us can see BS from a mile away, especially in the sector we work in.
A good thought leader should always portray themselves as a real person, not above all others. They should always be authentic. They should be knowledgeable in her topic, but willing to admit when they don’t know something or when they are wrong. No one is perfect.
The Edelman report bears this out. 64% of the respondents said they prefer thought leaders who communicate with a human, less formal tone of voice. Also, 67% said they relate better when an actual person shares the thought leader’s point of view instead of a company or brand.
As we discussed above, an effective thought leader should have excellent storytelling skills. We relate better when presented with a narrative that illustrates a point. Of course, we don’t want Moby Dick. She should also communicate in clear, concise, and accessible language.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this blog will help you create your very own thought leadership tidal wave. Be very intentional as you ride the wave. You must earn trust and loyalty.
I love this quote by Onyi Anyado, “Thought leadership is when a leader’s thoughts are being used by leaders to lead others.” I believe thought leadership is more than just a content creation marketing strategy. It is a privilege. Of course, thought leadership content creation is also a tactical way to build your personal brand and your business. But first and foremost, a thought leader influences people. And that is not a position to take lightly.