How To Become THE “Authority” In Your Market Through Social Media

With so many businesses competing for a finite amount of custom, setting out your stall as the best of the best is the only way to achieve success in these tough times.

But becoming the best of the best takes a lot of hard work, not just in terms of holding the necessary information to be considered a market leader but also in proving to potential customers that they should choose you and not someone else.

If you’re looking to become THE authority in your market, social media can be an invaluable tool.

Here are seven tips to help you on your way.

1. Understand What It Is You Do

The advent of the internet has seen an astronomical rise in the number of people blagging it. So many so-called online experts have barely dipped a toe into the waters of their niche yet claim to be an all-knowing oracle. Some go undetected while others are quickly sniffed out as a fraud.

If you want to be considered THE authority in your market, you had better be THE authority.

Understanding your market inside out is the bare minimum you’ll get away with here. Being able to difficult answer questions relating to the market is essential. Knowing how your market works and how it is going to progress over the next few years is a desired skill. Being aware or your competitors, how they operate and their strengths and weaknesses is also recommended.

It’s also vital you understand the aims and targets of your social media campaign and how this relates to your market. You can be an expert but if your campaign is poorly run you won’t be succeeding anytime soon.

Put all of this together and you might stand a chance of being considered numero uno. Failure to do so will see you dismissed as just another wannabe.

2. Understand Your Audience

Whatever business you’re in, understanding your audience is essential. You need to know who it is you want to reach out to and what it is they want.

When it comes to the social media aspect of business, it’s better to find 100 followers interested in what you are doing than 1,000 that couldn’t care less. Take the time to locate social media users that fall into the demographic you’re looking for. Then find out what makes them tick.

Your audience stretches beyond your potential customers too.

If you want to truly be considered an authority within your market, you need to schmooze with those already plying their trade. Search out your competitors and see what they’re doing. See if you can help them, and in turn they may help you. Create your own network of influencers and place yourself firmly amongst them. That way, when their followers are looking around, they’ll come across you also.

3. Take Care In Your Appearance

For most of us, appearance is very important in the business world, whether we like to admit it or not. You wouldn’t turn up to an important meeting looking like you’re heading to the beach or just dragged yourself out of bed and you shouldn’t treat your social media campaign like that.

Internet users are generally more likely to have faith in a business if the company features a shiny website. Indeed, a professional website can be an excellent tool as well as a status symbol.

Make sure your company website, blog and social media pages look the part. Where you can, tailor social media pages to fit your corporate branding. For example, don’t use the default Twitter layout; create a bespoke design that echoes your credibility.

Also, take care with what you post (see below) and how it is presented. People generally prefer to look at, and will spend more time on a website that is neat and tidy.

4. Create Top-Notch Share-Friendly Content

It might not be the quickest way to get noticed as an authority within your market but creating high-quality content is the best way to establish yourself as a force to be reckoned with.

The internet is full of noise and only the very best content makes an impact, which means it’s essential you pay close attention to what you publish.

From status updates and pictures to blog links and recommendations, there’s a wealth of information you can post on social media. Read this article to learn more about ‘what’ to post on social media.

Whatever you choose to post though, you should make sure it is relevant, interesting, and attention-grabbing. If you can create something that others will share, excellent. The more your content is shared, the further your influence stretches. And once your influence stretches, so does your reputation as an authoritative figure.

Also ensure that you publish new content regularly and respond to all engagement. It may be necessary to create a new social media strategy to ensure you keep on top of what needs publishing when.

5. Be Inventive With Your Social Media Campaign

Those considered the very best often break free from the shackles of conformity and blaze their own trail. This remains true in the world of social media.

If you want to make an impact and increase your standing amongst your peers, you could do worse that to think outside of the box. Make your social media campaign unique and inventive to the extent that people will want to talk about it, even if they don’t fall in the typical demographic you’re looking for.

This means more inventive competitions, original media, and evocative / provocative content.

6. Compliment Your Social Media Presence

When it comes to establishing yourself as a market leader, social media can only take you so far. If you really want to shine like a diamond you’ll need to compliment your campaign with alternative marketing methods.

The spectrum for achieving this is particularly broad, which is good news for everyone. Here are some of the tactics you can employ to your advantage:

• Speak at an event
• Publish or self-publish a book
• Create a DVD
• Host a workshop
• Write guest posts for other websites

All of the above can be used to establish yourself as an expert and market leader. Of course, you’ll need to provide content relevant to your particular niche; there’s little point publishing a romantic thriller when you’re looking to promote your pensions advice service.

Whatever shape or form it takes, relevant and high-quality content is the key to first being taken seriously and then being considered the authority.

7. Don’t Be Afraid To “Humblebrag”

Finally, if you want to be the authoritative voice in your market, you need to indulge in a spot of self-promotion.

Now, before you login and begin posting boastful descriptions of yourself and your company, this self-promotion needs to be carefully considered beforehand. In fact, those landing on your page shouldn’t even identify it as self-promotion.

At the ground floor level, feel free to share customer recommendations you’ve received, posting them as status updates, Tweets or including them on your bio. You might even want to create a nice graphic to show off.

Next up, if you or your business has been featured in the media, let people know. Plenty of companies use the “As featured in…” tag to create an authoritative stance, so if you’ve been quoted in newspapers, television, radio or mainstream websites, get the word out. If you’re going to be featured, broadcast the fact ahead of time.