It is incredibly important for businesses to build public profiles that show they are an authority source. This gives them greater presence online and leads other people to seek them out. Achieving that position of leadership, however, takes quite a bit of work. A large element of that is content, but creating a public profile is just as vital.
“If you aren’t deliberately, systematically, methodically or rapidly and dramatically establishing yourself as a celebrity,” says Dan Kennedy, expert direct marketer, “then you are asleep at the wheel.”
Understanding how to create a public profile that establishes the business it represents as a celebrity is possible. The following steps are guidelines on the area that a public profile should focus on as much as possible.
1. Demonstrate Knowledge
Knowledge is demonstrated through high quality content. Only by offering this can a business create an authority profile. People need to come to the website because they believe they will receive up-to-date and accurate information. The downside of this step is that it will require a lot of work, but it will pay big dividends.
2. Blog
A blog is very important in order to create an authority hub and strong public profile. Each blog post should include an author’s bio, as this creates a profile for each individual blogger. This, in turn, demonstrates authority across the board. At the same time, guest blogging is also substantially important. What is essential is that the guest blog is in a niche that is relevant to the target audience. Becoming a regular contributor also builds a public profile and it takes this outside the realm of the business website on its own. Blogging, and guest blogging in particular, are unfortunately also time consuming tasks, not in the least because it means having to identify high authority sites to guest blog in.
3. Public Speaking
Public speaking is also a vital element in building authority, even if a business is, in the main, an online business. Attending conferences demonstrates real knowledge about certain topics and shows authority knowledge. Additionally, it shows a wider audience where to go in order to receive important and accurate information. Naturally, public speaking is something many people choose to avoid.
4. Use All Relevant Channels
A public profile can be built by using all the available hubs and channels, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and so on. This does also take a lot of work. However, there are now numerous platforms that allow you to upload a single piece of content or information to multiple hubs like Hootsuite 2.0.
5. Become a Contributor to Communities and Groups
All social networking sites have communities and groups and it is very important for a business to take part in discussions in these groups in order to build a public profile that speaks authority. Indeed, this is perhaps one of the most important ones, as it allows a business to present themselves as a true authority, without actually having to say it. By choosing the right types of groups and communities, they can, over time, actually attract people directly to them. This is also an opportunity to show others that the focus is on them, not on being profitable by necessity. As Robert Kiyosaki said, “Change your focus from making money to serving more people. Serving more people makes the money come in.”
Another type of community to look for is a Q&A network. This is a perfect opportunity to build authority, as people will actually come to a business with specific questions. When a potential customer asks a question and receives a prompt reply from a relevant person, this helps to instantly build authority.
It is likely, however, that a business will need to have a system in place in order to engage sufficiently with communities and groups. On the other hand, the exposure for a business across the variety of social networks is immeasurable and will build authority very quickly. It pushes an increase in traffic and makes many pieces of content a lot more visible as well.
Patrick Hurinenko
SBT Contributor