Thought Leader? Don’t Miss Your Opportunity.

Are you a thought leader? If so, what kind?

Katie Levinson from LinkedIn identifies three types of thought leaders in her recent blog post, How Employee Advocacy Can Lift Your Thought Leadership.

• Industry: Your organization is knowledgeable about news and trends. Employees have a viewpoint on the future of the industry and a plan to shape that future.
• Product: Your organization has extensive knowledge of your product in the context of how it solves problems for your audience. It’s less about knowing every feature and more about knowing how it fits in the narrative of your audience’s lives.
• Organizational: Your organization has a strong point of view about the way it does business, how it treats employees, and how it develops and encourages talent.

Thought leaders share their insight and perspective with others and build their credibility, digital platform, and influence. Would you and your business and career benefit from increased influence?

Many ask me how to get their original content on LinkedIn Pulse. It’s not that easy. LinkedIn’s Algorithm and how well received (engagement) determines whether your post is featured on Pulse.
Learn what LinkedIn says about getting on Pulse.

In my opinion, more important than being featured on Pulse is making sure your network notices your posts. If your connections include clients, prospects, influencers, and referral sources, and you write relevant posts that educate, entertain and inspire you to have a great opportunity to make an impression, stand out and differentiate. Remember, LinkedIn is going to serve up good content to people they think will be interested in the topic. Not everything goes to everyone.

Are you or do you want to be a thought leader? If so, make sure to:

• Determine what type of thought leader you are or will be.
• Shape your content to match your thought leadership style.
• Add value to your network and your network will respond.
• Read Pulse posts to see how they are written.
• Study them and try to increase the value of your posts with what you see on the posts featured on Pulse.

Check out our post on Publishing Original Content on LinkedIn.

Being or becoming a thought leader takes time. You earn it and need to always try to add valuable insight, inspiration or learning. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Don’t be left in the dust, get moving.