If you’re a digital marketer today, chances are executives in your company have an opportunity to connect with B2B clients and showcase their expertise as thought leaders. This is a craveable space for many in the C-suite, and it’s important to effectively represent your brand in order to position it for business opportunities.
Many business leaders seek content published by thought leaders when looking for ideas, inspiration, and solutions. One of the most sought-after channels in which to do this is LinkedIn.
Not only has LinkedIn established itself as the most trusted social network for five years in a row, but it has also created a place where executives and other decision-makers can turn for insight into making better business decisions.
Now let’s explore five ways you can establish yourself as a thought leader on LinkedIn.
1. What’s Your Edge?
Finding your area of specialty－or your niche－ is an important first step in the process of achieving LinkedIn thought leadership success. First, you have to identify where the gaps are. What are other experts in your area posting? What hashtags bring you to the kind of content you can see yourself contributing?
When figuring out the path for you, you first need to see what’s already happening in the space in which you wish to occupy. Then differentiate. What unique value proposition do you bring to the table? What insight do you offer that few others have? Narrow your focus.
Some stepping stones as you get started might include discerning industry trends that impact your industry, maximizing operational performance with an unconventional approach or customer service solutions your company has implemented effectively.
Define your edge, demonstrate your credibility and display confidence. You’ll make a good case for why people should listen to you.
2. Pump Up Your Profile
Now that you’ve got some research under your belt, it’s time to position yourself as the thought leader you are. Review your current LinkedIn profile and give it a facelift. Be sure to pump up your profile with your expertise, including things like:
- Awards
- Speaking engagements
- White papers or case studies
- Key sponsorships
- Blog posts
And if you have indeed written an impressive white paper, case study or even an eBook, did you know you can utilize LinkedIn’s Publications to showcase it? As one of the most underused elements of LinkedIn, using Publications is a great way to set yourself apart from the crowd. It also helps you grab eyeballs for existing thought leadership content on your profile.
3. Creating Content that Performs
As a thought leader, creating original content is a must. After all, that’s why people are tuning into you. They want your take on the latest industry trend, your solutions for customer pain points … your anecdotes, your humor, your voice. Make your voice stand out by humanizing technical content, offering illustrative examples and keeping it crisp, concise and actionable. Or at least ponderable. We love a good pondering.
The good news is you’re not alone. You have your internal teams to tap into for content. Is your IT team synthesizing robust performance data that you use to power your business decisions? Brag about it. Is your company improving time to market with automated supply chain processes? Share the wealth. You don’t have to do it all to write about it, you just have to tap into the brilliant brains around you.
4. Curate, Curate, Curate
Sharing content is another way to round out your feed with top-notch content you don’t have to create from scratch. Repost others’ thought leadership content or general industry updates, but add your thoughts on it, some kudos or other commentary to ensure you are always offering a new angle or insight－aka creating value for your audience.
Curating your feed by posting and sharing great content is one thing, but you can also curate by following a set of hashtags that work for your niche. Stay tuned to your notifications and be sure to click through if there’s a great trending post you want to share.
5. Tap into Your Network
When you first started out on this journey, you researched to find other thought leaders and/or topics to consider honing in on for your feed. Connect with them, comment on their posts, ask questions, share their posts and otherwise engage with your fellow experts.
Building these peer networks not only builds your audience, it also builds your credibility. Furthermore, it gives you a curated feed of other experts you can learn from, challenge yourself by and grow. Engaging with other thought leaders’ content can also help direct their followers’ eyeballs your way, so it’s truly a win-win.
Now that you have five ways to establish yourself as a thought leader on LinkedIn, what are you going to write about in 2023?