Do you want to use your research to inspire others and raise awareness of your research field? Become a thought leader by building an engaging LinkedIn profile!

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been sharing insights and experience on why you should share your research on LinkedIn and what is LinkedIn all about. I also mentioned the importance of your profile and the content that you share with your network. 

But in this article, I want to focus on the nitty-gritty of using this platform to building through leadership via your posts, articles and videos. Want to have an idea of how you can become a recognised expert in your industry or research area? 

I’m sure after reading this article you’ll know where to start! Let’s get started! 

Who is a thought leader? 

Before I start sharing some of the strategies that I use to share my expertise with my audience, I want to explain who a thought leader is. 

If you haven’t heard this term, a thought leader is someone who shares their experience, knowledge and skills in a particular industry, business or research area to inspire others. You may also say that a thought leader is an influencer who supports the professional growth of others. Having said that, I tend not to use the word “influencer” as it may have some negative reputation – which is completely different to who a thought leader actually is. That person shares their experience with the sole goal to support others, not for their benefit. 

How to establish yourself as a thought leader in your research area? 

The first step you need to take on your way to building your thought leadership is to have a clear idea of what your research is about. 

You’re likely to know already what you do in your research and why you do it. Having a clear idea of the main messages you’d like to share with your audience will help you draft the content and engage with your social network.  

If you look at my LinkedIn profile, you’ll immediately notice that my work and expertise focuses on green energy transition. And that was my intention because I’m building my thought leadership around the key message that we need to act now to transition to a more green and sustainable future! 

Once you know how to describe your expertise concisely, it’s time to decide what message and content you want to share with your target audience.

Of course, you want to share your research in the form of original content. But it actually is a good idea to reshare the content of others. With so much information being produced every day, you shouldn’t have any issue finding relevant content to share with your network.

There are a couple of things to remember when sharing content. First of all, make sure that the information that you share with others is valuable and educational. After all, LinkedIn is all about engagement, professional growth and learning, as confirmed by my recent survey (90+ responses!). Never forget this! 

Secondly, resharing and reflecting on others content regularly is a great opportunity for you to keep developing your understanding of your field of study its wider implications on policies, society and industry.

Finally, connect and follow other leaders and researchers in your research area. It is to make sure that you engage in a creative process of collaboration and mentoring. Each one of us has a different perception of the world we live in. There is no single thought leadership strategy – that’s why engaging with others is a wonderful opportunity to learn and develop your skills.

As you can see, continuous learning is the beauty of the journey to thought leadership – it’s a road full of engagement, reflection, learning and relationship building. Make sure you never stop learning and keep on expanding your understanding of your research area. 

How to use LinkedIn to build thought leadership? 

Now that you know who a thought leader is and how to get there let’s discuss how LinkedIn can help you become a “go-to” expert in your research area. 

I already mentioned this, but LinkedIn is a highly engaged social media platform with the main focus on learning and professional development. Its users are hungry for educational content. Therefore, this is an ideal audience for researchers and academics like yourself to raise awareness of the problems and challenges that they’re solving via their research. 

How can you use the opportunity that this platform offers to build your thought leadership? 

First of all, make sure that you post regularly. This can be on a monthly, weekly or even daily basis, as on as you can produce valuable content for your network. And LinkedIn has gone a long way to support your content creation activities. You can now share various types of content, including: 

• posts – these are conventional posts you can see on other social media platforms but limited to 1300 characters. Make sure your posts are easy to read and include 2-3 hashtags 
• articles – if you don’t own a blog, LinkedIn has its publishing platform that allows you to share your expertise in the form of articles. These get indexed in Google, so sharing articles improve the searchability of your profile. There’s really no limit on the length of your article, but the editing options are rather basic, compared to what you can achieve with, for example, WordPress – which we’re using for our blog that you’re reading right now! 
• documents – I enjoy sharing this type of content the most. Why? Because I can share my presentations and documents in the form of PDF file, making them widely accessible to my audience. They can read or even download the PDF file. Just make sure that you have appropriate approvals to share such files. 
• videos – video content has become very popular recently. if you’re an eager user of YT or enjoy webinars, you may consider recording your videos. Just make sure that these are to the point, have a clear message and, ideally, include captions.

Sharing coherent content around your research expertise is crucial to building your thought leadership. You may have a list of content you want to produce over the next months and align it with your research plan. It would help you become more productive, reducing the time required to produce your content, making your content consistent. You’ll also never forget the exciting ideas you come up with!    

But there is an additional element to content creation that usually get omitted. Make sure that you ENGAGE with people who like or comment on your content. It creates two-way communication with people who actually find your work useful, helping you to build your recognition and relationship with your audience! And who knows what career opportunities will open to you as a result – do you dare to try?

I also recommend engaging with other experts in your research area by engaging with their content. If you have a piece of information that you can share to enhance the discussion, don’t worry. LinkedIn is about growing together! 

A final word…

Becoming a thought leader, aka. a “go-to” expert or influencer, in your research area is a long journey. As researchers and academics, we create new knowledge and enhance the understanding of our world. Remember that thought leadership is a journey of continuous learning, reflections and engagement. Find the main messages and research concept you want to be known for, and don’t worry about sharing your reflections with others!