6 Ways to Build Your Authority on Social Media

Wouldn’t you love to be the go-to person in your industry that people follow and tell all their friends about? Well, the way to do this is to build your authority online so people see that you are someone who adds value and knows what they’re talking about.

But if you’re not sure how exactly to showcase your authority, this post has six tips that will help you do just that. This way, you can start becoming a go-to resource for your community!

Why You Want to Position Yourself as an Authority

When people view you as an authority in your niche, they consider you to be a reliable and credible source of information. They know they can count on you to provide amazing content because you know what you’re talking about. You’ve shown to them that you have expertise and experience that they’ll find to be valuable. Not only that, but as an authority, people consider you to be someone worth listening to. And it also indicates that you have built up a level of trust and respect within your industry and community.

Being an authority will ultimately help generate awareness for your brand, allowing you to grow your audience online. Plus, it will also help you drive sales to your products and services as well. Because, guess what? People buy from those they trust. And when they see you as a trustworthy authority figure in your field, they’ll feel confident buying what you offer. That is, of course, essential to building a successful brand and business online these days.

6 Ways to Build Your Authority on Social Media

So, now that you see the value in positioning yourself as an authority figure in your field, you might be wondering how to do that. Here are some tips that will help you make it happen:

1. Be Patient & Consistent

First and foremost, you need to have patience if you want to build your authority on social media. This is something that will take some time and will not happen overnight. You have to be in it for the long-run if you truly want to create success. That’s why it’s crucial you show up consistently on the platforms you’re using online. By showing up regularly, you increase your chances of gaining exposure and people grow accustomed to seeing your content. But you don’t want to just post any old content on these platforms, which brings me to my next tip…

2. Always Provide Value

Give people a reason to follow you and stick around by sharing content that they’ll find intriguing and helpful. If you find yourself wondering what you should be posting, consider who your target audience is. What are they struggling with the most and how are you able to help them based on the knowledge and experience that you have?

People want to find solutions to their biggest problems. And if you have the solution, you should absolutely deliver it! Make sure the content you share adds value by helping to ease the most common pain points of your target audience.

3. Use a Variety of Content Formats to Showcase Your Authority

As you build your authority on social media, you have plenty of opportunities to get creative with the content you share. For instance, you don’t have to post the same old content all the time. You can change it up and experiment with different styles to see what your audience actually responds to. On social media, that can be posts with quick and easy tips, links to content you published on your website, pictures or videos, custom GIFs (my fave!) and so much more.

Not only that, but you don’t have to be a blogger to build your authority. You can have a podcast, a YouTube channel, or anything else that showcases your skills. Things like interviews for other creators and even case studies can do wonders for showcasing who you are and what you’re all about.

4. Learn From Other Industry Experts

Before we dive into this tip, it’s important to stress that you don’t want to copy what someone else is doing online. But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn from them! Check out some of the experts in your industry and just see what they’re up to. What topics are they covering? Which content formats do they rely on? Are there any tips or tricks they’re sharing that you haven’t tried yet? Draw inspiration from them!

You can create content around the hot topics they’re discussing on their websites or social media. If you see that video posts are doing really well for them, you might want to consider experimenting with video to see if it’s something that works for you. And you can try out any tips they share and then later talk about how it worked for you and what kind of results it delivered (if any). Just find a way to put your own spin on it.

P.S. It would be helpful to follow some of your industry favorites through a Twitter List! Learn how to create a list in this post.

5. Don’t Shy Away From Sharing Your Opinions

Building off of that last tip, it’s so important that you feel confident about sharing your thoughts and opinions with the world. Thought leaders don’t hesitate to share how they feel about something, nor are they afraid to talk about some of their personal experiences if they know others will learn and benefit from it.

So, open up! Share your opinions with your online community because it can be an incredible way to generate new conversations. For example, if you share a piece of content from another creator’s blog on social media, don’t just post the link. Add your own thoughts so people can see your opinion on the topic at hand. Something like this is simple, but it really shows that you have a lot to say about topics within your industry.

6. Showcase Any Social Proof You Have

Social proof is any kind of testimonial that you’ve received from a happy customer or client within your brand. Did someone send you an awesome DM or email raving about something you created? Save it and share it to your website and other social media platforms (with their permission, of course).

This just validates your work and tells people that you really know your stuff. When people see that you’ve had plenty of other happy customers, they’ll be more inclined to follow you, join your list, buy from you, etc. And that really makes a difference!