Creating an “authority” voice for a thought leadership brand

You are an expert and you know your subject inside out. However, in this digital world, you are only an authority if your audience says so.

If you are building your “authority” voice online you need people to talk about you.

Put a slightly different way, your authority does not come from you. Authority comes from your readers. And that, in Google’s eyes at least, manifests its existence through links, comments, shares, feedback and social media interactions. Like sniffer dogs, search engine robots follow these link trails to check your relevance, usefulness and authority.

Google’s stated aim is to deliver the best, most useful and most valuable results for any search. The algorithms are complex and I won’t even pretend to understand them. But one thing is clear, if people are engaging with you, then you are making a valuable contribution to your subject area.

• Know your audience.

  To have any kind of meaningful conversation, you have to know who you are talking to.  What problems and challenges can you help them overcome. Learn to walk a mile in your prospects’ shoes.

• Be provocative.

  Avoid the humdrum—the web is full of it. You need to rise above the ordinary and give readers something they don’t already have or know.

• Be prolific and consistent.

  When your goal is to publish for thought leadership, you need to behave like a quality magazine or newspaper. Publish regularly, consistently and always provide content that is useful, valuable and interesting so your readers anticipate and expect to hear from you. From email marketing services, to blogs and social media management platforms, there are many tools to help you streamline your brand content publishing schedule.

• Be yourself.

  Be true to your personal values and project your authentic voice to the world. Most people can quickly spot a phony and let’s face it; no one wants to spend time with that kind of person. The authentic you is rooted in your why. Why are you on this life path? What motivated you to become the lawyer, accountant, yoga teacher or IT professional you are today?