For the past twenty years, I have heard the term thought leader used often in financial services. Most brands want to be perceived as one and many individuals strive to be seen in similar light.
But what does the term thought leader actually mean? At its core, thought leaders are able to express an informed opinion, whether in support of industry trends or contrary to popular belief. However, having an idea, thought or opinion is only half the battle, to become a true thought leader you need to be able to express your views in a way that resonates with your intended audience.
There are many ways to do this, but here are three ways to release your inner thought leadership and show the world why you are different via social media.
- Memes are a great way to express your ideas in a social friendly format. Create a series of short sayings or quotes that represent what you stand for and have them graphically designed. The quotes can be yours or ones that you admire and represent what you stand for. The more relevant they are the more people will ‘like’ them or share them with their network. The end result can open a gateway to thousands of people engaging with your brand and thought leadership.
- Promote your posts on twitter. If you are just starting out on Twitter it may take a while to get followers. In fact, they all say the first 100 are the hardest. Initially, a great way to gain some traction is to ‘follow’ relevant groups or people as they will often return the favour. Secondly, to maximise your reach ensure your posts are relevant, insightful and linked to useful content. You can even kick start your social strategy by investing money to ‘boost’ your posts. You’d be surprised how far a tailored $20 campaign will take your brand.
- Post your thoughts in LinkedIn Discussion Groups. Write something that poses questions about the future and some possible scenarios of how you see it playing out. Go into LinkedIn and find groups that are relevant to this conversation. Start to join the groups and post your thinking. Before you know it, there will be a conversation around it and you can become a key participant in a peer to peer conversation with like-minded professionals.
These are just three ideas to get you started on your way to establishing yourself as a thought leader in social media. It is not a short journey and demands time and attention over a prolonged period of time.
But if you put in the time, create some good, original content and keep experimenting, you will get a result.
Vanessa Stoykov is the creator of No More Practice, and founder of the parent company, evolution media group. She has over 20 years’ experience in financial services as both a journalist and business owner. She is an award winning chief executive who is passionate about creating education and communications to help the wealth industry and consumers fulfill their prosperity potential.
