Blog

7 Strategies for Using Social Media to Grow Thought Leadership

Posted on by Rosica Communications

Does your organization have the reputation of being a true innovator in your field? Maybe there’s a person in your company who is a true subject matter expert, possibly one of your C-level executives, product/service specialists, or another key opinion leader.

In his forthcoming book entitled The Power of B2B Social Media, The Marketing Strategy You Can’t Afford to Ignore, Rosica Communications’ President Chris Rosica defines a thought leader as “an individual, brand, or company that has the reputation of being an authority in its field, one with specialized expertise; a trusted and highly sought-after resource with credible, trustworthy subject matter experts or key opinion leaders.”

When aiming to become a thought leader, it’s important to remember that thought leadership is not about being known, it’s about being known for something.

Here are seven thought leadership strategies that will help grow your social media presence:

1. Pinpoint your positioning and messaging

In a CBS This Morning interview, New York Times best-selling author and educator, Simon Sinek said, “If you don’t know why you do what you do…then how will you get people to be loyal?” Identifying a groundbreaking new positioning that differs from what your competitors are focused on, should be at the core of your organizational and marketing strategies and matrixes.

After you define your positioning statement, it is important to develop audience-specific messages, and back them up with statistics and valid reasons to believe them. Conveying these beliefs to your sales, marketing, customer service, and other internal staff members is crucial so messages to stakeholders are consistent. Then, regularly disseminate these messages through social and other channels.

2. Generate earned media to bolster social

Earned media is the (non-paid) media coverage you receive through pitching stories to targeted reporters and media outlets. In the realm of thought leadership, opportunities like television interviews, bylined articles, and op-eds are excellent ways to share your organization’s beliefs and positioning. Since media outlets typically have large social followings through earned media, you gain the ability to reach a large audience of stakeholders across multiple social channels including YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. In addition, you can synopsize the media attention you receive and syndicate it on social channels to build credibility and engage followers.

3. Leverage social media to manage perception

Social media is a prime channel for reaching stakeholders. On these platforms, you can completely control the narrative. As mentioned, social media is great for sharing relevant articles, industry news, and trends, as well as the key messages developed during your positioning and messaging exercise. According to Business Insider, “since 2018 social platforms have seen explosive growth around innovative video formats like Stories,” so it’s important to leverage tools like this to manage perception, educate your stakeholders, and engage customers.

4. Strengthen your content marketing efforts on social channels

It is important to generate earned media through high-quality content posted on social channels. This includes thought leadership pieces like white papers, infographics, news releases, survey data and clinical studies, and other quality content. The content you create must be authentic and relatable, even more so on social channels — where transparency and authenticity rule. Of course, it must resonate with stakeholders you’re trying to reach. It’s important to remember it should not look like an advertisement, and instead, should be more organic.

Disseminating these attention-getting assets should be systematic. Customizing content for tradeshows, social, and email is a must to strengthen your overall marketing efforts.

5. Remember that people create thought leadership

People not only serve as the conduit by which you secure earned media coverage, but their expertise promotes trust and credibility. Key opinion leaders (KOLs) and subject matter experts (SMEs) should be developed from within organizations — rather than overreliance on outside sources.

While people have their individual LinkedIn profiles and Facebook pages, company profiles are vital in the social thought leadership and branding process. Leverage your network and that of your staff and partners to tell the story and position your organization as experts through social.

6. Repurpose and leverage earned media content on social

It’s important to know you need to repurpose and cater content to fit the needs of each social platform. While it’s great to share worthy news on all social channels, it’s important to tweak them to fit the needs of each. For example, you wouldn’t post a two-minute video made for YouTube on Instagram. Instagram videos typically should be about 15-30 seconds long.

Earned and original content can and should be syndicated and promoted. Practicing this can help bolster SEO, social media, direct marketing, online reputation management, and your conference marketing activities.

7. Connect with influencers on social channels

Engaging with influencers on social channels helps your organization gain followers in return. When you know the influencers you interact with, as well as like and share their posts, you garner their attention and begin the relationship-building process.

An effective way of building thought leadership on social media is to build relationships with and follow other thought leaders. This approach can help you build your following along with credibility, connectivity, online presence, and engagement.

 

To learn more about building thought leadership through social media, email pr@rosica.com.

Blog

Social Media Marketing Trends for 2020

Posted on by Rosica Communications

A new year means new technology, and with new technology comes the need to evolve. This is necessary in order to capitalize on the vast opportunities that come with new social tech tools and practices. We live in a world where trending apps and social channels change regularly. Every year, it seems a new social media platform comes along that dramatically changes the communication landscape. In 2019, the App in the spotlight was TikTok. How do you stay ahead of the curve? How do you take advantage of the latest social tools? And, what does this mean for your business?

Here are 5 tips for upgrading your social media marketing this year:

1. Use AI to your advantage

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a great way to help your customers get the information they need in an easy and convenient way. Many businesses in the healthcare, food, and nonprofit arenas have introduced AI to their marketing efforts through chatbots and online scheduling options. Integrating this technology into your organization, whether through a website, social media campaign, or online marketing effort, is beneficial to both your company and your customers and stakeholders.

2. Establish relationships with influencers

Connecting with influencers and having them talk you up is worth the time, cost and energy. This process, which is an integral part of public relations today, benefits your organization due to the importance of the influencer’s audience/reach and how they are perceived and respected. A vlogger with 300,000 followers on their YouTube channel or an Instagram account with 500,000 followers, can go far to promote your company and/or products.

3. Establish your brand’s identity

Establishing an image or guidelines for your brand helps characterize your organization. It’s not just about an interesting logo, compelling color scheme, contemporary website. It’s about standing for something and creating powerful messaging — then conducting effective marketing so you are known a key differentiator. It’s about having a unique social voice, which sets you apart, and enables you to be known for something.

4. Use video

According to a recent HootSuite report, frequent TikTok consumers watched on average 46 minutes a day of content. This is noteworthy, because TikTok videos are only 15 seconds long. While the targeted demographic for this platform is typically Generation Z consumers, the app does offer several features other platforms are now integrating. Staying aware of these trends helps keep your business ahead of the competition.

If TikTok isn’t a platform your company would use, Instagram (IG) stories or IGTV are a great alternative. Instead of redirecting users to an external link, like a YouTube video, IGTV allows users the ability to watch longer videos from the app.

5. Post quality content

While it’s important to post frequently on social media to remain at the forefront of your customers’ minds (and protect your reputation online), it’s only worth doing if it’s interesting, quality content. Planning ahead and setting a schedule for content and getting several people in your organization involved in the content development process are great ways to ensure the future success of social media and content marketing initiatives.

Want to learn more about taking your social media efforts to the next level in 2020? Contact pr@rosica.com to connect with our team.

Media Placements

Employers Turning to Pharmacy Benefit Managers to Fight Employees’ Prescription Drug Abuse

Posted on by Rosica Communications

BeneCard PBF President Michael Perry shares how pharmacy benefit managers can be a key ally to reduce wasteful and inappropriate prescription utilization.

More than 10 million people in the United States misused a prescription opioid in 2018, and the opioid epidemic cost the country $179 billion including mortality, health care expenses, lost productivity, criminal justice expenses and assistance. The National Safety Council notes that the annual direct health care costs of individuals who misuse opioids are 8.7 times higher than those who do not.

The opioid epidemic offers an example of a preventable, complex public health and safety issue that has arisen due to a perfect storm of causative factors. Consequently, it requires multiple stakeholders to develop and deliver an effective solution to help lower costs and improve patient health outcomes. These stakeholders include health care providers, pharmacies, drug manufacturers and even employers.

However, the pharmacy benefit manager is one player in the opioid crisis that fills a critical role by employing clinical programs to ensure safe and appropriate utilization of medications. The PBM is a third-party administrator of prescription drug programs and primarily responsible for contracting with pharmacies for network services, negotiating discounts and rebates with drug manufacturers, developing and maintaining the plan’s list of covered drugs (a formulary), and processing and paying prescription drug claims.

PBMs have become an increasingly important part of health benefits since they first entered the market in the 1970s. Today, three pharmacy benefit managers control more than 80 percent of the American market. All are part of massive health care conglomerates that have interests in other aspects of the benefits food chain — from retail pharmacies to medical insurance.

This can create conflicts of interest, as these mega-corporations stand to profit from every stop on a patient’s journey. These conflicts of interest can in turn leave employers and patients vulnerable to increasing health care costs and crises such as the opioid epidemic.

The American public, from the employee to the executive suite and human resources professionals, as well as those who make decisions about employee-sponsored health care, seeks change in today’s profit-driven benefits industry. Here are just a few of the reasons why:

 

Read the rest of the article here.

Blog, Rosica News

Remembering the Authentic Kate Spade on the One-year Anniversary of Her Death

Posted on by Rosica Communications

By Christopher Rosica, Author of The Authentic Brand (Noble Press, 2012), which featured Spade after a series of personal interviews.

Kate Spade, born Katherine Noel Valentine Brosnahan, was truly authentic. A talented fashion designer and entrepreneur, she and her husband, Andy, created one of the world’s most respected and successful lifestyle companies, which many entrepreneurs since have sought to emulate.

When she took her life tragically on June 5th, 2018, I refrained from writing about my experience of interviewing her and Andy Spade for my book. Now, one year later, I’ll share it.

Casting for the book could not have been more appropriate; Kate was the epitome of authentic. Here are some of her authentic qualities and what we can learn from lifestyle marketing visionary Kate Spade:

1.   Initially Kate Spade launched a designer brand of fabric handbags. At the time, most high-end, high-design bags were made of leather. The sophisticated and affordable handbags she introduced were refreshingly different. She went one step further when she introduced a line of designer paper products, including stationery and gift cards. At the time, this was unheard of for a “fashion” company. Others were launching shoes, belts, and accessories. When other fashion companies went in one direction, she was bushwhacking a completely new trail. This authentic approach was her mark and the cornerstone of the brand’s success.

2.   As Kate and Andy told me “We created a world around the handbag, a true lifestyle company. We didn’t just want to sell products.” They were offering smart and tasteful lifestyle solutions and the world adored Kate for it.

3.   Kate had unmatched taste and embodied elegance. To ensure her company’s vision became a reality, she and Andy wrote a book on business manners, civility, and etiquette, publishing it and sharing it with employees.

4.   She supported the arts and a variety of other causes; she felt it was her responsibility to give back and help others – and she did.

5.   Kate put herself out there – in spades. She was highly visible, memorable, and accountable. She was the brand.

Spade was creative and always creating. In 2017, Fast Company named Kate Spade one of the “Most Creative People in Business.” Fast Company got it right; so many of her endeavors and so much of her business life demonstrated this.

Katherine Noel Valentine Brosnahan was a visionary. She was intuitive and created a movement centered not just on products, but on lifestyle.

In summing up my experience with Spade and what I’ve learned from her, I’d like to share an excerpt from our interview:

“One of the things we do is to manifest our passion in our mission statement. We always wanted to have a nice, successful business, but at the same time, we always thought of ourselves as simply creative, intelligent people. We didn’t set out to be known as savvy business people. That was never my goal in life. Our goal was to be really smart, curious, creative, and fair in business. I want to have a business that is successful but wouldn’t compromise the culture of the company for the success of the company. That may be a bad business decision, but we work here every day. We give out the etiquette book that we’ve published within the company. We have an orientation video that speaks to the idea of being smart and respectful in business. People want to work for nice people. We built it (the company) in style and graciousness.”

– Kate Spade (pages 173-174 in The Authentic Brand)

If this isn’t authentic, I don’t know what is.

Christopher Rosica

Case Studies

Kentucky Celebrates Shared Parenting Law With Anniversary

Posted on by Rosica Communications

One year ago on April 26th, Kentucky became the first state in the country to officially declare that children deserve both parents by passing the Shared Parenting Law. To celebrate the anniversary, the state of Kentucky has just officially proclaimed April 26th as Shared Parenting Day. Read about the special day on The Mountain Advocate!

 

Media Placements

A New Survey Shows That Families Are Facing Alzheimer’s More Openly

Posted on by Rosica Communications

Alzheimer’s is coming out of the shadows in New Jersey, but many families struggling with it aren’t being guided to services that could help them cope.

Those are the key findings from a statewide survey done by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind for Alzheimer’s New Jersey.

The survey found 89 percent of people concerned about memory loss went to see a doctor about the problem, and 87 percent received a formal diagnosis of Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia.

Read more about the study here.

Media Placements

The Salvation Army Serves Thanksgiving Breakfast To Hundreds Of Guests

Posted on by Rosica Communications

This Thanksgiving, The Salvation Army served breakfast to hundreds of guests at its annual event. This year, Eastwick College hosted the breakfast. Read about the event!

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/bergen/hackensack/2018/11/22/volunteers-host-thanksgiving-day-meals-across-bergen-county-nj/2057372002/

 

 

 

Media Placements

Dr. Carl Moroff from National Vision Administrators (NVA) Shares “5 Reasons to Talk About Vision Benefits”

Posted on by Rosica Communications

Are you talking about vision benefits when reviewing your clients’ or company’s overall health benefits? It may be an afterthought, but a vision benefit is a valuable asset to include in your benefit plan.

Dr. Carl Moroff, Chief Vision Officer at NVA, explains how a vision benefit helps members and why it’s so important to talk about during open enrollment in an article that just appeared in BenefitsPro.com!

Media Placements

Dr. Jeff Werber Shares the Six Most Toxic Halloween Candies for Dogs

Posted on by Rosica Communications

It can be fun to encourage your pet to enjoy holidays with you, and it might be natural to wonder: can dogs eat chocolate or candy to share in the fun this Halloween? The short answer is “no.” While all sweets are potentially dangerous to dogs, some candies can cause major trouble and become a medical emergency if ingested.

Read the six most toxic Halloween candies for your dog on PetCoach.co!