Part 4 of the 5-Part Series: Why Member Engagement No Longer Means Face-to-Face
Tactic #4: Driving Engagement Through Thought Leadership
Thought leadership is simply positioning yourself, or your organization, as a voice of knowledge and expertise in the marketplace of ideas. This is critical in helping people connect your association with specific topics when looking for information, especially if they are trying to solve a problem.
Your association has information and offers services. You are an expert. People want to hear from authorities. If you can provide knowledge, why not position yourself as an expert and drive greater awareness to your organization and its mission?
The rule of a self-fulfilling prophecy is also at play here. If your communication highlights your organization’s expertise, people will believe it. As more people start to think of your organization as the expert, more people will begin to look to your organization for information. In addition, people will repeat what you say and even post links to your information or retweet your comments. There can be a viral element to your messaging where it spreads apart from your own efforts. This is the goal of your online thought leadership activity.
The internet opens the door to building thought leadership for your organization in a variety of ways. In addition to the content discussed in prior posts, you can leverage tools like webinars (online seminars and presentations) and public relations activities like press releases or media outreach.
Another powerful tool is to align yourselves with other thought leaders in your market by reposting their content. Or even better, get permission to repurpose their content via your own online properties like your website and social media. Since video content is a powerful draw, use it liberally. The next time someone in your organization speaks at an event, post the video online in short segments. All of these things will help build thought leadership for your organization.
Again, this all comes back to helping the public find information from content that you already have. Thought leadership is a powerful way to help you drive member engagement and attract new prospects, allowing you to achieve your mission.
SEE ALSO: Part 1 of the 5-Part Series: Why Member Engagement No Longer Means Face-to-Face | Part 2 of the 5-Part Series: Why Member Engagement No Longer Means Face-to-Face | Part 3 of the 5-Part Series: Why Member Engagement No Longer Means Face-to-Face | Part 5 of the 5-Part Series: Why Member Engagement No Longer Means Face-to-Face