Where do you line up when it comes to industry knowledge? Do you have a steady flow of people who consume your content, who rely on you for useful, accurate, and valuable information? When it comes to positioning yourself as an authority in your space, you should be providing consistent and quality information to your audience. While that does sound easier said than done (and a full time job in itself!), we’ve got three simple strategies to help you build up your authority and credibility.
Work To Involve Yourself In Relevant Conversations
Dedicate time to responding and seeking out conversations online. Give yourself a set period of time to scroll through your notifications and respond to posts where you have been tagged, and to scroll through your feeds to seek out threads where you can add value.
Regardless of what social platforms you choose to use, each has its own opportunity for engagement and conversation. On Instagram, for example, when you are tagged or mentioned in a conversation, be sure to respond, and to do so thoughtfully. A thumbs up emoji won’t add anything helpful to conversation. Replying with a well thought out answer – or ones that helps to further the conversation – will show that you are engaged with what is happening. You can highlight your expertise on the subject matter with these comments, and even bring more people into the conversation to keep it going.
Platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook make it easier to seek out relevant conversations where you can dive in and start asking the right questions to help move a conversation forward, or else provide more information on the subject matter.
The most important aspect to involving yourself in conversations is to make sure that you provide relevant information.
Be A Giver
Do research to find out what pain points your ideal client is having and what questions they need answered. Using this information will to help you to create and source content that assists with these issues. When you share content that is both helpful and valuable to your target audience, they are more apt to share it with someone else, who in turn could then be directed towards you. When you give away free content that is actually has some weight to it your audience will come to understand that anything you charge for is going to be well worth the investment. Don’t be afraid to repurpose, dice up, and revamp old content to put a fresh new take on it. While you want to be giving out the good stuff, you do want to make sure you aren’t spending all your time creating free content.
Share The Wealth
There is a ton of great content out there. Don’t be afraid to share content that compliments what you do and speaks to the pain points and issues of your target audience. Link to articles posted by other reliable sources (but not competitors!) to help you to further position yourself as a go-to expert in your field. A good rule of thumb is the 80/20 rule. If you are into sharing a lot of content, focus on 80% repurposed, 20% original. You can use content aggregators to help you collect articles that you can later share. As an example, over the course of a week, a business coach might share her own blog post, an article about time management, a review on a new workflow management tool, and an article about recent updates to Facebook ads. Over time, her audience will come to know that she keeps on top of trends, is knowledgeable about her space, and shows care for her audience.
The three actions above not only help to establish yourself as an authority in your space, but it also adds to the value of your brand. Your brand isn’t just a one-time-only statement of what you stand for, it has to be constantly nurtured and you need to show evidence with your actions.
