You know how it can benefit your business and why, but what you might not know is HOW to go about thought leadership content marketing. And that’s where we come in!
To get started, we’re going to go over the bare essentials of thought leadership content marketing.
#1 Be “In the Know” When it Comes to Your Audience
Perhaps you’ve heard the popular saying: “the more you know, the more you realize you don’t know” and this is true no matter what industry or audience you’re working with.
It’s important to remember that while you may “know” your audience, you should always be willing and ready to listen and learn more about them. Not only because your audience is constantly shifting and changing, but also because it’s constantly growing.
Your entire audience won’t react to everything the same way, and each group requires different messaging and care.
Start simple and consider what the motivating factors, pain points, fear, inspires and gets your audience fired up and use that knowledge to your advantage when it comes to when and what to share.
You can find this kind of information easily by checking out competitors profiles, customer reviews, message boards, social media communities and other popular gathering spots for your competitors and your audience.
Getting active and staying active on social media plays a crucial role in effective thought leadership content marketing.
It allows you to interact with your target audience through comments, communities, groups, tags, the opportunities are endless once you’ve gotten started!
It’s also a fabulous way to promote your brand in a non-sales-y way that gives your customers insight and education around your brand.
#3 Spread the Social Love Around
Thought leadership content should always be visible wherever YOUR target audience resides. This means that if your audience is on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, that’s where you need to be spending the majority of your time.
Publishing a podcast, hosting webinars and co-hosting online events is another great way to spread the word about your personal brand.
#4 Measure, Analyze, Improve
Here’s another awesome inside secret when it comes to thought leadership content marketing: always analyze and improve upon your competitors content efforts.
Ask yourself: where are they spending the majority of their time? What are they doing on those platforms? What are they sharing and commenting?
When you’ve narrowed down what your competitors are doing and how, you’ll be able to better tell what they’re NOT doing: which will help you fill in the gaps and provide everything they don’t. 😏😉
#5 Embrace a Genuine Voice and Tone
One of the most IMPORTANT rules of thought leadership content marketing is that you MUST always embrace a genuine voice and tone when addressing your audience.
This is both because your audience will be looking to you as a trustworthy resource for information about your industry, and because overly promotional content can drive your audience away, even as you actively try to connect with them.
#6 Create and Distribute Creative, Original Content
If you’re going to be a strong voice in your industry, you have to take initiative when it comes to the content you’re creating and distributing.
You want it to be creative, original and engaging content that will ultimately build trust and transparency, as well as pave a way to through-provoking and educational conversations.
