We are often asked by our clients – and we ask ourselves when creating a website strategy – How do I help my customers find me? How do I differentiate my business from my competition, so they’ll come to me first? In other words, how do we win in the current (very noisy) media landscape? There are many nuanced answers to these questions, but it comes down to being “findable.”
Establishing your business as an industry thought leader and subject matter expert (SME) is a proven strategy to make you more findable. When your customer is out there looking for you in the vastness of the internet like a needle in a haystack, they’re going to find you much faster if they’re looking at the right haystack, and you put hundreds of needles in there for them to find. The needles are your thought leadership and SME content.
What is Thought Leadership?
The Semrush blog article Thought Leadership: What It Is and How to Master It in 2024 defines it this way: “Thought leadership is the delivery of authentic and genuine content that uses the expertise, insight and experience of the author, with the goal of sharing that wisdom with others. According to our research, thought leadership is all about sharing inspirational, research-driven content that drives change and creates educational value.”
In today’s business landscape, thought leadership is all about establishing credibility. And the way to establish credibility is by putting your expertise out on multiple platforms, which ultimately makes you more findable than your competitors. The way people connect to your message has evolved in recent years, and it pays to understand the subtle differences.
Repetition Across Platforms Makes You More Findable
In his latest book, Gary Vaynerchuk argues that social media platforms distribute content based on what users are interested in, rather than who they follow. He helps his readers understand attention and how to produce relevant, strategic content.
You may start to feel like a broken record as you consistently share your differentiators across channels, but in this case, repetition is a good thing. You want to be heard and recognized for your depth of knowledge with your potential customers, and there are people out there answering your exact question in video format or some other accessible way. Spreading your content across several platforms provides a roadmap for where the attention is and makes sure you find the bullseye to get in front of the people who need to see and hear your message.
Check out our blog Social Media Engagement: What It Is and How To Get More Interactions to learn more about the strategies we use to increase social media engagement including creating high-quality, relevant content and collaborating with influencers.
How Do Your Customers Search?
When deciding what content will be most valuable to your audience, remember YouTube is the second most used search engine behind Google. People also search for specific interests on their social networks and platforms like Reddit. What questions are people asking? What are they interested in and how is it related to your product or service? Answering these questions will help you create findable content across multiple channels.
So, knowing that you need to target multiple platforms for your message to reach the right folks, how do you begin to create compelling content that will establish you as an expert in the field? Some tips for establishing your business as an industry thought leader/SME include:
1. Start Small
There’s no need to try to boil the ocean but do have a long-range plan that you can build up to implementing one step at a time. Business owners may believe that only elite content creators are creating unique, compelling content perfectly targeted to multiple channels and platforms, but that’s not true.
For example, you can start small by creating a short video or blog post simply addressing a frequently asked question. Post it in short bites. Rinse and repeat. You can create 10 small content nuggets in one day, and then schedule them to post in advance. Suddenly, a couple of hours of work turn into a month’s worth of thought leadership content.
2. Share Industry Trends
If you want to be the best realtor/plumber/wealth manager in your area, figure out what it means to be an expert in your industry. It’s incumbent upon you to actively learn and share the trends in your industry. People crave knowledge about what’s coming, and you can position yourself as the “go to” person when they have questions.
In addition, it shows you’re constantly improving your industry knowledge so you can help others. Be generous with this knowledge and give it away for free. It’s an investment in your position in your customer’s mind as an expert in the field.
3. Seek Testimonials
You can talk about yourself all day long, but authentic positive reviews are the proof that you’re creating real results for your customers. Proactively and consistently seek reviews from clients on third-party platforms such as Google Business, Yelp and Facebook, which will be more credible than posting testimonials on your website.
Trust is the most overlooked word in marketing, in my opinion. Taking the next step from being a thought leader to a trusted advisor, translates into conversions.
4. Seek Opportunities to Speak (IRL)
Everything happens online these days, and the ability of AI to create content quicker and in bulk means you can find just about anything you want in the digital world. But we can’t forget the value and impact of “In Real Life” interactions.
Speaking engagements give you the ability to connect with people one-on-one, and they also double as a treasure trove of content after the fact. Record your presentation or the Q&A afterward and convert it into punchy, informative reels or video clips for social media. This builds your reputation as someone both authentic and with a breadth of experience. Again, be very generous with your knowledge and position yourself as a helper.
5. Showcase Your Knowledge
Like third-party reviews, thoughtful and thorough case studies show proof of results and your ability to provide solutions to real-life customers. Case studies establish that you have a track record of success and allow you to showcase data-driven results.
A video testimonial from the customer in the case study can be highly impactful. Break case studies into smaller bites and post them as content on multiple channels over time.
6. Start a Podcast
Another great outlet to show your worth as a thought leader is podcasts. Either seek opportunities to be a guest on podcasts or think about starting your own podcast. Record your podcasts and post noteworthy clips on social media using Instagram reels, TikTok and YouTube shorts. Podcasts are another place full of golden nuggets for thought leadership content.
The truth is, posting content used to be enough, and now it’s not. People used to search for a plumber on Yelp or Google, but they no longer trust the results they receive from those queries, which algorithms can manipulate. They are looking for trusted advisors, and there are 100 different ways they can find you.
It’s up to businesses to be creative, to be everywhere and to know what content is drawing the attention of their potential customers. Know who is listening and what questions they’re asking so you can show your value in the most targeted way.
Resources
- Thought Leadership: What It Is and How to Master It in 2024 – Semrush
- Day Trading Attention: How to Actually Build Brand and Sales in the New Social Media World – Gary Vaynerchuk
- Social Media Engagement: What It Is and How To Get More Interactions – GreenMellen Media
- Audience Research: 8 Proven Tactics and Tools To Understand Your People – GreenMellen Media
- 5 Step Method to Get a Blog Post to Rank Well Organically – GreenMellen Media
- Case Studies: Telling Client Stories To Help Build Brand Awareness – GreenMellen Media
- 5 Benefits of a Podcast for Your Business – GreenMellen Media
If you need help establishing yourself as an industry thought leader, our team at GreenMellen would love to talk about how we can help you.
