When a professional’s goal is to be an industry thought leader, the natural first step is to get their ideas out into the world. For many, this means writing an article. But once you’ve written an article—or many, many articles—what else can you do to show off your expertise and connect with others in your space?
Thankfully, the journey to becoming a thought leader doesn’t end with writing, and there are a myriad of ways professionals can promote themselves online or in person. To offer their insights, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council each share one step a professional can take to become an industry thought leader and why these actions are so effective.
Young Entrepreneur Council members share their insights on becoming a thought leader.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Engage On LinkedIn
LinkedIn can be an incredible platform to connect with your business ecosystem and begin to establish yourself as a thought leader. But, it’s not a “one and done” activity each time you have an article to share. You need to be consistent with posting, engage with commenters and provide tips and pointers that serve your audience, not just your brand persona. – Swapnil Shinde, Zeni Inc.
2. Create A Personal Webpage
One way to promote yourself as an industry thought leader is to create a webpage that highlights your expertise. This can be used for all kinds of promotional purposes such as speaking engagements and guest blogging. However, this type of “online business card” serves one purpose above all others: It establishes credibility. – Baruch Labunski, Rank Secure
3. Try Guest Posting
Guest posting is one of the most effective ways to promote yourself as an industry thought leader. Guest posts allow you to share your thoughts and produce content around the interests and concerns of the respective audience. This helps you gain trust and makes your brand relatable. Soon, you will have a following and an audience that is genuinely interested in the content that you share. – Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms
4. Conduct Q&A Sessions
In order to promote yourself as a thought leader, you can conduct Q&A sessions via webinars or podcasts. This can show how you react to real-time problems and questions and more fully demonstrate your knowledge. It also allows you to be your true self in front of your target audience and helps build a better relationship with them. – Sujay Pawar, Astra
5. Get Invited To Someone Else’s Platform
This is the best way to get exposed to a different audience, especially when you are just starting out. Do some research to see where you can share your knowledge and expertise. Being featured as a guest on someone’s podcast or YouTube channel with a much bigger following than yours will help you grow your online presence much faster. – Samuel Thimothy, OneIMS
6. Leverage Pinterest
Pinterest isn’t nearly as saturated as the other social media sites. Professionals can use it to share their content for free. They can also pin images from their blog posts and write about them. Pinning images from other websites just helps you get more traffic to that website. – Kristin Kimberly Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC
7. Participate In Live Panels
By engaging in dialogue with fellow experts in a public forum, you will have a unique opportunity to demonstrate expertise while forming strong connections with fellow thought leaders. – Jack Perkins, CFO Hub
8. Get Involved In Online Communities
One of the best ways to establish yourself as an industry thought leader is to get involved in relevant conversations online. You can find countless forums and social media groups where industry experts get together and talk about new ideas, processes and the future. You’ll never make it in this group unless you’re willing to dive in and share your thoughts. – Chris Christoff, MonsterInsights
9. Focus On Authenticity And Value
Make your articles authentic and valuable. Share your own experience to show people how they can achieve their goals. In doing so, don’t just share your success stories. Talk about your mistakes, challenges and hardships too. This will help others learn from your mistakes, and they will look at you as a thought leader. – Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster
