If the content you put out into the world isn't helping you, it's probably hurting you. Web and social media content are important tools. Do more than remind customers you’re there. Define your aesthetic, assert your personality, and create your tribe. Here’s why most companies are missing the mark.
Read MoreHow Adding Your Authentic Voice To Content Boosts Your Company
Fast Company's article What Most CEOs Get Wrong About Becoming Thought Leaders hits on why it's so important to take your content seriously- and how developing your own voice as a company CEO or leader can boost your content. Astoundingly, over 60% of CEOs don't have their own social media presence. A few key takeaways for CEOs (and everyone else):
First, sharing good content is about marketing AND a whole lot more:
Ideally, the content you generate isn't just a way of promoting your ideas, your business, and your work. It can actually change the nature of your industry. That requires setting a higher bar, but when you do, the content you produce as a thought leader can help raise the value of ideas and the spread of information in general within your space.
In other words, if you're really an effective thought leader, you aren't just slavishly self-promoting—just as your business aims to do with its products, you're helping your audience solve a problem or fill a need with your ideas.
Second, CEOs sometimes worry about detracting from their company's social media. But actually, the opposite is the case. CEOs sharing their own content puts a "human face" on their company:
The underlying premise of "thought leadership" itself, after all, is that the CEO got to where they are by collecting knowledge and skills, and developing the aptitude to oversee a company. That’s why most people don’t really want to hear from a marketing manager about what’s happening in the company.
Third, the authentic voice the CEO brings to social media and blogs should be part of an underlying, cohesive strategy:
While CEOs need to take the reins and establish an authentic voice on social media and elsewhere, companies still need to devote a portion of their overall content marketing plan on their leaders' messaging. They shouldn't be identical—readers can tell in an instant when they're being fed canned messages—but they should inform one another.
Give us a shout to learn more about how to use content marketing to boost your architecture, design, or real estate company.