Thought leadership is an overused term—I die a little inside every time I use it. Still, it’s the best way to describe what you’re doing if you’re an expert who is building a brand around your expertise. You are leading people by sharing your thoughts and ideas.
And if you’re a thought leader, you must have a platform. This could be a platform you own, like your podcast or your blog, or one you borrow, like LinkedIn or YouTube. The big challenge here, of course, is to build your platform, you need a constant stream of content to share.
This much is true, but one of the mistakes aspiring thought leaders make is thinking that a constant stream of content is the only thing they need. In fact, the quality of your content matters far more than how much you’re generating when it comes to building a thought leadership platform (with apologies to ChatGPT). So let’s talk about what’s really going on if you are struggling to build your platform.
What’s Really Going On?
It may be overwhelming to hear that the reason your thought leadership platform is not taking off is because your content isn’t high quality—who has time to create high quality content? But hear me out. I’m not suggesting that you need to bend over backwards to improve your writing skills or start writing like a professor or even a professional writer.
What I am suggesting is that you need to take a closer look at the kind of content you’re creating. Are you creating content that every other business owner in your industry could create? Are you sharing surface-level tips and tricks? Could I differentiate your content from any other practitioner posting something on social media?
Consider Netflix as an illustration of this idea. Netflix became the most popular streaming service at first because they were basically the only game in town. Back in the early 2000’s, we were all blown away at the amount of content Netflix made available to its subscribers.
Now, with so many more options for streaming TV and movies, Netflix has to figure out how to differentiate itself by the type of content it makes available. It needs to figure out what Netflix subscribers want and give them more of that type of content.
The same is true of building your thought leadership platform. Back in the early 2000’s, or even 10 years ago, you could build a thought leadership platform simply by putting out more content than anyone else. The bar was pretty low.
Today, though, like Netflix, you’re competing with far more thought leaders than ever before. You need to find new and different ways to stand out. Sure, you can jump to Tiktok (or the next trendy social media game in town) where you might have fewer people to compete against for a second or two. Or you can focus on shifting the kind of content you’re creating.
In what follows, I share some possible diagnoses and what you can do to right the ship if one resonates with you.
Diagnosis #1: You’re Playing it Too Safe
I know that sharing new and innovative ideas is scary. You don’t know how people will react or perhaps whenever you’ve ventured to share something outside of your comfort zone, you’ve felt dismissed or worse.
Let’s be honest, it’s just easier to share “the top 10 tips for growing your small business,” than to step out on a limb. Still, if you’re playing it safe, that’s probably holding you back.
Now, I’m not suggesting that you need to jump from comfortably sharing best practices to picking fights with every bad actor in your industry. I’m not advocating for shock marketing here. Instead, I’m suggesting that you dip your toe in the controversial waters and see how it feels.
For example, if you never or rarely share a personal post, what would it feel like to get a little more vulnerable with your audience? What if you told a story about a mistake you made—preferably a mistake you made long ago that taught you some valuable lessons you can now share? Shaking up your content in this way just might renew interest in your thought leadership.
If you know you’ve been playing it too safe, check out this blog article with more ideas for how you can safely share your innovative ideas.
Diagnosis #2: You Aren’t Being Intentional
Another reason you may be struggling is because you aren’t being intentional with the content you create. I’ve been in this boat many times myself. I think it’s natural when you’re still trying to figure out your brand to create content that is all over the place.
I have tried various strategies to rein myself in, but until you get down to the core of your brand, it’s hard to be fully intentional. So here’s what I suggest: ask 3-5 trusted people what they think is most unique about you or your brand.
These conversations will lead to some fun, energizing new ideas and themes that you can take and run with. I used this strategy a few months ago and it has done wonders to bring focus to my content. Once you have found the core of your brand, generate content around that for a few months. Then, you’ll be able to play a bit more, finding variations on your theme.
Diagnosis #3: You Aren’t Connecting with Your Audience
If you’re not playing it too safe and you are being intentional with your content, then the quality issue might be about failing to connect with your audience. As your brand evolves, you may want to cater to a slightly different audience, for instance. It’s possible that your content hasn’t caught up with who you’re talking to.
First, do a gut check for yourself. Read a few pieces of content and ask yourself who those pieces of content are speaking to. Better yet, ask a few people you trust to try to identify the audience for a few different pieces of content. If something feels off, consider how you might better connect with your audience.
Also, you may have the audience right, but your content is not meeting them where they are. Earning their trust might require a gentler approach. Or maybe what your audience wants most is to really geek out with you, the expert. Perhaps you haven’t fully stepped into being the subject matter expert in your written content.
In this case, you can go deeper. Try putting one of your favorite ideas under the microscope. What about that idea excites you? How do you see your clients wrestling with this idea? When they implement one of your suggestions, what kind of results do they see? Cover all of this in a single blog article, or break it up into different social media posts.
Connecting with your audience is all about figuring out where they want you to pull back the curtain and inviting them deeper into your world.
Regardless of how I feel about the term “thought leadership,” the bottom line is that if your platform isn’t performing the way you’d like, you’ll want to take a hard look at your content. Especially if you are being consistent with how you’re using the platform, it may be that you need to shake things up and share some new ideas.
Instead of simply adding more content, play with the quality of your content and see what happens.
