How much thought leadership content have you produced this month? A little bit? None at all?

Here’s the thing: It’s hard to produce a steady stream of fresh content on a regular basis. While it’s crucial to keep your audience fully engaged, it takes many hours of precious time to be a thought leader.

You have a family. Friends. Hobbies. Events. Once in a while, you even like to sleep. Creating more content would simply crush your schedule.

That’s why 11outof11 created this handy how-to content generation guide. Read on to see the short version or click the link below to download the full ebook.

How to Become a Thought Leader

A thought leader is a person or organization with rock-solid authority and credibility in their field. Thought leaders are the go-to gurus for new insights and inspiration on key topics. They make you think, “Wow. I want to learn more from this person. I need to follow them on social media.”

Thought leaders are not only respected among their colleagues, peers, and customers, but also among internet search engines. That’s right - great thought leaders even know how to charm Google.

How do they do it? Here’s the secret: content creation. They churn out compelling, eye-popping, easily shareable content - and they do it constantly. A talented thought leader can seem like a content-sharing machine, chug-chug-chugging out fresh ideas with unstoppable energy.

But behind the scenes, they’re relying on a combo of smart helpers and smart habits. So let’s take a peek behind the curtain at how a typical thought leader handles content creation.

Assign Content Roles and Tasks

First, you’ll need to decide who’s in charge of your content other than you. (Remember, you’re too busy for content creation, so you’ll need to give up a bit of control here.)

Choose a content director who will oversee your plan. It can be an employee, a freelancer, a content expert at an agency like 11outof11 - it just needs to be a trustworthy person who has the skills and talent to pull it off.

Think of this person as your own personal magazine editor. They’re the daily guardian of your content, always making sure everything looks sharp and appealing to your audience.

Prioritize Certain Formats/Channels

Now it’s time to narrow down your focus and decide which content format/channel will be your priority. Start with what you’re most comfortable with. 

• Blog posts
• Email newsletters
• Podcasts
• YouTube videos
• LinkedIn
• Webinars
• Workshops/events

If you’re completely inexperienced with content creation, we recommend starting with blog posts and/or email newsletters. They allow easy control of the message while you get used to generating content.

Bring in the Experts

A smart thought leader knows when they’re in over their head. Sometimes it’s a good idea to involve talented outsiders, even if you have an employee as the point person for your content plan.

So if you’re struggling with any of the following, consider hiring a content marketing professional to help launch your content plan and get it off to a great start.

• Blog post ideas and writing
• Email list management
• Video/podcast production
• Live event hosting
• Social media posting
• Whitepaper/ebook development
• Gated content

Stick to the Topic: Your Angle

Your content topics impact your online reputation, your local search visibility, and even how much you appeal to random people on social media. That’s why it’s so important to have an angle.

Try to “own” a niche topic online. Give this question some thought: What’s your thought leadership angle? Or, to put it another way, what unique point are you trying to make to your audience that no other competitor is addressing? From there, you can start to develop content pieces based on your angle. 

If your company is in Boston and works with first-time home buyers, your angle could be “helping local people overcome their initial fear of home buying.” Now you can move on to blog post topics like, “Boston’s Five Best Tips for First Time Home Buyers” and “How This Boston Couple Overcame Their Fear of Home Ownership.”

Download Your Free Copy of the Ebook: Create Thought-Leadership Content Every Week (Without Crushing your Schedule)

Stay in the Rhythm

Finally, let’s talk about your publishing schedule. Frequency and consistency are critical factors in staying relevant online. Publish too infrequently and you’ll drop down, down, down in the Google rankings until you’re practically invisible on the internet.

A successful thought leader stays in a constant rhythm of content creation. Week after week, month after month, they relentlessly publish new blog posts, ebooks, white papers, testimonials, and more. Their fans begin to rely on them almost like a news source.

Wouldn’t it be amazing to be that kind of thought leader? You can be! And 11outof11 is here to help. We do it all, from overall content strategy development to daily content writing. Let’s talk about your needs today.