thought leadership - Express Writers

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Establishing Yourself as a Thought Leader in Your Field

October 7, 2022October 7, 2022 by Rachel Moffett

By now, you’ve probably heard the phrase “thought leader” thrown around quite a bit. But what exactly is a thought leader? And how can you become one in your field? That’s what we talked about in this month’s #ContentWritingChat! So, if you’re ready to establish yourself as a well-known industry expert, keep reading for all the tips! #ContentWritingChat Recap: Establishing Yourself as a Thought Leader in Your Field Welcome to #ContentWritingChat! We're so excited to have you all here! 🥳 Today, we'll be talking all about how to establish yourself as a thought leader in your field. — Express Writers | Your Content Writing Partner (@ExpWriters) October 4, 2022 Our community offered some valuable advice in this month’s chat. It’s everything you need to know if you want people to see you as a go-to resource. Q1: In your opinion what does “thought leadership” actually mean? A1. Thought leadership is new and unique information that provides insight into an industry, process, product or strategy. #contentwritingchat https://t.co/fVyeRei2T1 — Andrew C. Belton, MBA (@AndrewCBelton) October 4, 2022 To establish yourself as a thought leader, you want to consistently offer new and unique information for your community to consume. A1: Thought leadership is proactively sharing your high-impact, innovative and/or useful ideas to show others how they can get involved with your work/movement. #ContentWritingChat — Ross Romano 🚢 (@RossBRomano) October 4, 2022 A huge element of thought leadership is sharing your ideas and encouraging others to get involved at the same time, so don’t be afraid to speak up! Q2: Why would someone want to establish themselves as a thought leader in their field? What benefits does it provide? A2: Establishing yourself as a thought leader is also a great way to showcase your expertise and ultimately build trust with your audience. And of course, the Know, Like, and Trust Factor is essential for driving sales. #ContentWritingChat — Rachel | Mindset Coach + NLP Practitioner (@rachmoffett) October 4, 2022 Building the Know, Like, and Trust Factor is crucial for creating success as a brand. When people view you as a thought leader in your industry, they have developed a trusting relationship with you and will be more inclined to support your business. A2. Becoming a thought leader in an industry is desirable because a level of credibility and respect in that sector. It can be helpful for being able to pursue new opportunities, make new contacts, discover helpful resources. #contentwritingchat https://t.co/6HP7gpXi4q — Andrew C. Belton, MBA (@AndrewCBelton) October 4, 2022 As a thought leader, you’ll have a certain level of credibility and respect in your field. This is great for getting your content shared widely, but it can also lead to tons of new opportunities for your brand. Q3: What are some of the top qualities you feel thought leaders typically possess? Q3: A desire to help others. Truly, to be a valuable thought leader, I believe you're motivated by the desire to share ideas/info that you believe will benefit those who hear them. #ContentWritingChat — Ross Romano 🚢 (@RossBRomano) October 4, 2022 Q3: Also confidence, willingness to be "wrong," willingness to rethink/adapt. Some things may be good ideas now but not stand up over time. If they're well considered, TLs will share them and be okay later to amend based on new evidence. #contentwritingchat — Ross Romano 🚢 (@RossBRomano) October 4, 2022 Thought leaders have a desire to help others through their content. They are also confident and willing to adapt over time. A3. Top qualities that leaders typically have are adaptability, flexibility, focus, accountability, willingness to teach and continuously learn. #contentwritingchat https://t.co/xQUbmuDjQ7 — Andrew C. Belton, MBA (@AndrewCBelton) October 4, 2022 Adaptability, flexibility, focus, and accountability are all characteristics you’ll want to have if you desire to be a thought leader. You also need to have a willingness to teach others, plus a desire to learn and grow. Q4: What are the first steps in building a thought leadership strategy? A4: Set goals based on your business and the needs of your audience. Research thought leaders in that space. Identify thought leaders in your company, prep them, and launch your perspective. #ContentWritingChat — Iron Horse (@ironhorseio) October 4, 2022 First, you need to set goals. What do you hope to achieve by becoming a thought leader? It’s also smart to research other thought leaders so you can learn from them. Q4:1. Identify your audience2. Identify their pain points3. Identify your expertise and your voice4. Find areas where 2 and 3 match up5. Consider what you want to say and why5. Build a plan/topic list. Then consider medium. Social, articles, podcast?#ContentWritingChat — Ross Romano 🚢 (@RossBRomano) October 4, 2022 Creating a thought leadership strategy starts with knowing who your audience is, what their pain points are, and what kind of expertise you have that will serve them. From there, you can begin creating content that appeals to their needs. A4: Start talking! IRL and go into spaces. Have conversations that help YOU figure out what you feel and what is important to you. #ContentWritingChat pic.twitter.com/TGUOLv3bN0 — DiKayo | dikayo.eth (@dikayodata) October 4, 2022 It’s important to have conversations with your community and other experts in your field. This is a powerful way to learn what others are looking for and what gaps currently exist in your industry that you can address. Q5: Creating high-quality content is an effective way to position yourself as a thought leader. Is there a certain content format that’s best for doing this? A5: The best content format for you is the one that plays to your strengths and appeals to your target audience. #ContentWritingChat — Rachel | Mindset Coach + NLP Practitioner (@rachmoffett) October 4, 2022 Always create content that showcases your strengths while also appealing to how your audience likes to consume content. You can also repurpose your content into multiple formats to reach a wider audience, as we all like to learn in different ways. A5: The types of content are flexible, according to audience … Read more

10 Key Ways To Stand Out From The Crowd & Be A Thought Leader

December 31, 2020December 7, 2015 by Sarah Shade

To be a “thought leader” is one of the most sought-after titles a marketer can hope for. Thought leaders are influential individuals who play a huge role in informing the public, leading the direction of the industry, presenting new information and breaking barriers. Theirs is the content that is loved; shared; read; and sought-after. You can’t just go to school to be a thought leader, though. It requires the careful cultivation of a set of particular skills, strengths and networks. It’s not enough to simply be intelligent, hard working or interested: you also need to be passionate, unique and unafraid of pushing the boundaries of possibility. What is a True Online Thought Leader? Thought leaders are many things but, to put it simply, they’re the people to whom everyone else goes for new ideas and key questions. They are informed individuals who offer valuable opinions and inspiration for the people who learn from them and they serve the amazingly important purpose of turning intangible ideas into solid realities. Thought leaders make things happen and, more often than not, they undertake the task of transforming industries and instigating great change across varieties of platforms. Thought leaders in the content marketing world include Brian Clark, the CEO of CopyBlogger; Brian Halligan, the Co-Founder of HubSpot and Joe Pulizzi, the Founder of Content Marketing Institute. How to Be a Thought Leader: 10 Solid Tips Becoming a thought leader is a little bit like becoming a unicorn: it takes a lot of effort and just a little bit of magic. Fortunately, you’re totally capable of both of those things. In the world of content marketing, the process of becoming a thought leader boils down to having unique ideas, expounding upon them in a unique way and offering people real, tangible value. Follow these 10 tips to become a thought leader in your industry. 1) Be Authentic Although it’s part of a thought leader’s job description to create high-level content that answers tough questions and provides real value for readers, it’s also important to know yourself and know your audience. This is especially difficult when you take into account the external pressure that is exerted on though leaders all the time. While it can be tough to avoid becoming distracted by things like the analytics attached to your blog, it’s important to remember that those things don’t provide a real window the to the big picture. Additionally, they make it hard to remember that there are actually people behind all those swoopy lines and numbers. Because of this, the first step to becoming a thought leader is to be authentic, both to yourself and your audience. You came to this business because some aspect of it was interesting to you. Therefore, there is very little that is more important than continuing to chase that interest. By writing what you know and are passionate about, your content will already have an edge over a great deal of content available on the Internet. Additionally, doing this will allow you to draw a series of followers who genuinely care about your topic. How We’re Being Authentic (On Social) One way we’re working on our authenticity is bringing a new level of transparency in our social media. In August 2015 we opened an Instagram account. We’ve started to feature a weekly #virtualworkforceculture post about our remote writers, with a picture of their faces, in their location: and our CEO has been traveling weekly to local businesses for a #localbusiness feature. among other things. Here’s a glimpse: Featured #virtualworkforceculture of the week – our full time creative #writer, Oana G, based in Milano, Italy: “As you can see, I’m fighting a lost battle with clutter. To be honest, I like to surround myself with eclectic, odd, one-of-a-kind things that offer me the highest dosage of inspiration and energy. I love to connect objects with places and experiences, and I adore my job, because it allows me to get creative in my own environment.” #workfromhome #homeoffice #copywriter #copywriting #writing #marketing #SEO #contentmarketing #blogging #SMM #content #inboundmarketing #growthhacking #marketing #webtraffic #success #sales #expresswriters #photooftheday #loveit #selfie #instadaily #picoftheday #igers #instacool A photo posted by Express Writers (@expwriters) on Nov 5, 2015 at 6:49pm PST This is the start to a very transparent social account that shows just what we’re up to in the office, and ties together faces in our work-at-home based team. 2) Seek to be a Hub of Information Nobody wants another loudmouth marketer who takes over a huge portion of the Internet by hawking products or hard-selling readers. For this reason, one of the most important steps in becoming a thought leader is to dedicate yourself to being a hub of information rather than a blaring siren. Business and personal blogs should act as platforms for reader engagement and should seek, primarily, to offer value to customers. Additionally, these platforms should offer a place for people to gather and engage in conversation via blog comments, tweets and re-tweets or social media shares. By doing that, you serve the most important purpose of a thought leader: inspiring ideas and facilitating cohesion. 3) Inspire Action One of the most important purposes your content can serve is to inspire action within your readers. Your content should be so irresistible that people want to share it on social media, read the book you mentioned, try their hand at something new or travel to the exotic locale outlined in your most recent post. The goal can vary but the outcome should be the same: in order to be a thought leader, your content needs to move people to action. 4) Cultivate Your “Breakthrough Idea” One of the traits of thought leaders everywhere is that they’re associated with a breakthrough idea. Depending upon your niche, your breakthrough idea could be an area of expertise or a particular approach to an old topic. Whatever your breakthrough idea is, it should inform the rest of your content. For example, if you’re going to run a blog … Read more