After you have created awesome content the final step in your quest for maximize reach is to get it amplified by others with massive networks. These people, called “thought leaders,” are the best ones to approach to get help doing so. The trust and reputation they have built will greatly help to spread your content provided they are willing to reshare your content.
In this third and final blog series on using social media to help you maximize your content through thought leaders we will learn how to get the added boost you want to push your content out to your ideal demographic. If you have not already, catch up on our first two posts: How to Use Social Media to Find Thought Leaders and part two, How to Use Social Media to Network with Thought Leaders.
Create Top Tier Content
The thought leaders in your industry probably did not gain the reputations that they have by pushing out mediocre content. It is likely they got their credibility for being an awesome resource for information that provided an exceptional value-add for their audience.
The same way these thought leaders gained their stellar reputation is the same way you should approach content creation. Before your content has a chance of getting amplified it must first be worthy of being shared, retweeted, liked, emailed, pinned, etc. All the great relationships you have built along the way will mean nothing if you don’t produce something worthwhile for thought leaders to share.
Here is some advice for creating top tier content:
- Provide Value– The purpose of your content should always be to provide some sort of value or insight into your industry. Make sure your content is robust and provides a ton of resources, stats, references, links or other credible indicators that show that you have done your research and have provided something that is well-thought and reliable.
- Elegant Formatting– Most people are overwhelmed with all sorts of content so it makes sense to provide them content in easy-to-read formats. Break up your main ideas with subheadings, bullet points and bolded text to really grab the attention of the reader.
- Must Read Headlines– Work on getting your headlines to capture the attention of the reader so they don’t pass you by. After you get them to read the headline you can keep their attention with a great first sentence, second sentence, and so on. How-to’s, Top 10’s, Secret Tricks, and Are You’s are great attention-grabbing headlines. Check out this blog for more blog title formulas that can work for you.
Involve Thought Leaders in Your Content
How would you feel if a blogger reached out to you with the good news that they mentioned your latest article in their blog and tweeted it all over the internet? You’d probably answer “pretty good.” A great way to get thought leaders to reshare your content is to mention them in it. You can do this by quoting them, linking to an article they wrote, or referencing something that was published by their company.
Anytime you mention a thought leader in your content be sure to let them know about it. Thought leaders enjoy being acknowledged for their prowess and if you can utilize their knowledge and expand on it within your content there is a great chance that they might share what you have to say.
You can reach out to thought leaders by both email and social media sites like Twitter. The advantage of email is that you have a greater chance to get your message across and notify the thought leader why your content is worthy of being shared with their followers. Twitter on the other hand provides much less opportunity to chat at 140 characters but it does allow you to build a dialogue you might not get on email.
Finding, Networking and Utilizing Thought Leaders
The power of the social universe lies in your hands. If you can effectively learn how to find, connect and persuade thought leaders to share your content you will be able to expand your reach, generate more traffic, and possibly increase your rankings. After you have researched who you want to help you achieve these goals, build and nurture your relationships with thought leaders so that they are aware you too are a thought leader. When trust is built and you have established some credibility use the above advice to have them amplify your content and share your knowledge with their networks.
