The document discusses social media thought leadership and provides steps to establish oneself as a thought leader. It defines thought leaders as trusted experts who share innovative ideas to inspire others. It recommends using social media to amplify one's outreach and influence by sharing valuable insights through engaging conversations. It then outlines six steps to develop an effective social media thought leadership strategy, which includes defining one's personal brand and goals, establishing an online presence, building networks, curating and sharing relevant content, engaging with others, and measuring and refining one's approach.

1. The Road To Social Media Thought Leadership
1
Michael Durwin

2. Social selling is the art of using social
networks to find, connect with,
understand, and nurture sales prospects.
“
”

3. “Social media thought leadership is
the art of using social networks to
share valuable insights and
engage in conversation to increase
the cache of your personal brand.
”

4. Thought leaders
share their expertise & opinions

5. Thought Leaders are informed opinion leaders and the go-to people
in their field of expertise. They are trusted sources who move and
inspire people with innovative ideas.

6. Thought leaders leverage social media to
amplify their outreach & influence

7. 5 out of 6 c-level
executives use social
media to inform their
B2B buying decisions

8. 8
of B2B buyers conduct
more than half of their
research online before
making a purchase or
contacting a salesperson
74%

9. 9
Social Selling Index

10. 10
Social Selling Index

11. Social Media Thought Leadership
11
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12. 12
Define your personal brand and goals for
engagement
Establish your presence
Build your network
Build and share relevant content
Listen, engage, and respond
Measure results and refine your approach

13. Step 1
Define your personal brand and
goals for engagement What do you want to be known for?
What are you passionate about?
What do you want to accomplish?

14. Step 2
Establish your
presence
Set up and optimize your LinkedIn profile
• Make sure your profile is 100% complete
• Clearly define your role and expertise
• Include a professional picture
Set up a Twitter profile
• Provide a brief description of your role or “brand”
• Include interests and focus areas you will
be tweeting about
• Include a professional picture

15. 15
Social Selling Index

16. 16

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19. 19

20. Connect with partners and customers
via LinkedIn prior to your meetings
Join industry or other networking groups
Follow key thought leaders,
showcase pages, etc.
Use tools on LinkedIn and Twitter
to identify people you know
Step 3
Build your
network

21. Step 4
Build and share relevant content Decide on your focus
Leverage tools to identify interesting content
Establish your voice and curate your own content
Leverage tools to schedule content
Add commentary when you
retweet, don’t simply just
share

22. Monitor and comment on your contacts’
posts. Add value and insight on topics of
interest.
If you are in sales, monitor what is top of
mind for your key prospects. Use this
information to form relationships and address
topics that are important to them
If you receive inquiries, respond via 24 hours
Thank people for feedback
Step 5
Listen, engage,
and respond

23. Step 6
Measure results
and refine
your approach
Twitter: http://analytics.twitter.com
• Review demographic details about your followers
• Analyze results of your tweets— impressions, engagements, etc.
• Don’t be afraid to repost the same tweets,
especially those that were the most popular!
Potential Human Reach™: www.potentialhumanreach.com
• Monitor your Twitter score
• Use #hashtags to help increase the findability
of the content you are sharing
• Optimize when you share your content based on the activity level of
your audience (Klout will recommend
the top three times per day)
LinkedIn:
• Check your Social Selling Index
• Follow the guidance for improving your presence

24. Thought leaders
share their expertise & opinions
5 steps in 30 minutes

25. 25
Write what you know
Summarize your thoughts
Get busy
Build an archive
Stick to a schedule

26. 26
one more thing…

31. 31
Questions?