How to be an Expert
Do you want to be seen as an Expert in your Industry? Are you an expert? Can you become one? There are three things you need to be known as the expert.
They are:
Credible
Knowledgeable
Visible
What makes you an expert? Why should someone listen to you?
Do you have the education, life experience, or skills to be an expert? If you have certifications, awards, work experience, examples of your work, or simply have the knowledge about the topic, you will have to communicate your credentials to your target audience.
For example, I have 20 years experience in marketing, sales, customer relations, and writing. I also have a Bachelor of Arts in economics and certifications from the online companies, Google, Hubspot, Hootsuite, and Moz. Along with this statement I have a portfolio of work on my website and a number of social media platforms showcasing my skills and talents.
Determine your credibility and communicate your credentials succinctly and visually when possible.
Are there any courses you could take, credentials you can work towards, or any skills you can work to improve upon? Once you have a solid answer to why someone should listen to you, you can establish yourself as an expert.
Like me, you may have a wide general knowledge of a topic or industry, however, to start establishing yourself online choose one or two topics to write about, tweet about, video about, podcast about. Once you have exhausted everything you know about that topic, go on to the next one.
By tackling one topic at a time, you are creating a resource online that will provide solid keywords for SEO and you can connect all your content easily from social media posts to blog posts on the topic.
Take the topic, How to be an Expert, as an example. I have a video on YouTube and Facebook entitled, How to be an Expert. I share this video on social media and link it back to this article for more information. I also have various graphic posts with quotes on being an expert, tips on How to be an expert and third party “expert” articles on the subject to share on social media all week long. Each post links back to this article where I have established my credentials, have links to my portfolio, and more information on other marketing tips.
Be deep with your knowledge. The more you can teach someone about a narrow topic, the more credible you become on the topic. The more content on the topic you have to share, the more visible you become online.
Think about the people you believe to be ‘Experts’ online. Why did you start paying attention to them in the first place? They probably showed up in front of your eyeballs more than once for you to pay attention. In fact, I bet you saw their name, face, or logo over ten times before you began to see if they were someone worth listening to.
There are plenty of times I go to an event or even to rent a kayak at the beach where someone I’ve never met knows my name. They don’t always know what I do, but my name is familiar. My name also dominates the first three pages of Google. Don’t believe me? Go ahead, Google Shannon Peel Marketing and see how many of the links are about me. They aren’t all about my marketing services, however, I am more than just a marketing professional, I am a professional storyteller.
It takes work. It takes time. It takes focus to be seen as an ‘Expert’ in your field online. There are so many people trying to be the next big name in your industry that the noise can be overwhelming, however, if you start with narrow topics and work out from there you will your credibility and then before you know it, you’ll be seen as the one to follow.
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