The Voice of Authority: How to Sound Like a Leader Online

Summary: In this age of technology, have you wondered what your online presence looks like? Your team members and other stakeholders look up to you for encouragement and guidance even when you are not personally around them. You have stakeholders who do not see you in person every day but have the opportunity to see you online. As a leader, it is your responsibility to bring your best self to your stakeholders even online.

As a leader in the 21st century, leveraging technology and online media to create spaces that embrace your stakeholders is non-negotiable. Choose which media engages you and your stakeholders the most and then manage your profile consistently.Â

Do entrepreneurs recognise social media as a fad, a piece of tech, or a tool for business that is helpful to leaders? Here’s a star leader guide that explains how to cross-promote within your own networks, effectively include your voice in the company content, assess the results of your work, and much more.

A prime example of the humongous impact social media can have is Elon Musk. He uses tweets in quite a different way than other CEOs would, say through a PR team, and comments by himself on a variety of subjects to really make an impact and get more and more loyal followers every day. The most hard-hitting showcase of the arbitrary power of Elon Muskâs tweets is what happened to Dogecoin. Literally created as a meme, Dogecoin is now a cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of 74.13 billion dollars. When Elon Musk made what is in all probability a joke meme of opening a new university with dogecoin as acceptable currency, the value of the coin rose from $0.25 to $0.28 in a matter of minutes.1Â

Here are 3 things you can do to build your leadership presence online.

Manage your profiles

There are many online engagement options such as a personal website, blog sites, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Each medium serves the purpose of engaging with your stakeholders online. At the same time, each medium is designed to serve a different audience. Do your homework about where most of your stakeholders engage and what content might interest them. Then, you can post something regularly and make yourself available for your stakeholders to engage with. The key to an online presence is consistency.

Encourage and Elevate

If you are someone who would rather not share much about yourself, you can still engage with your stakeholders online. Follow people who inspire you as well as people who might be inspired by you. Share their abilities and ideas and support them with your connections. If your stakeholders share something that you connect with, tell them about it. Comment, re-share, engage.

Make Long-Term Alliances

With social media, you have a chance to showcase the kind of work you are interested in and also be updated with those who are involved similarly. This helps create bonds that you can leverage to grow your own personal brand.Â Moreover, you can have alliances that you can tap into for getting resources and knowledge that you may not be privy to at the moment. Allow people to connect with you, learn from you, grow with you, and support you if you need it.

Impact on Leadership

With growing times, it has become a necessity for every leader out there to create and maintain an online presence now. Many people can perceive a sense of closeness from online interactions and research also says that online activity can be a huge deciding factor in leader outcomes. Many such research papers focus on creating an online presence to make their employees engage more and create the same level of trust and interdependence as is there in face-to-face interactions.

Star Mindset

Developing an online executive presence is a method to communicate some of your leadership philosophies and professional journey. It provides an additional forum for talking about professional successes and lessons learnt from past errors. In addition to being a wonderful personal branding strategy, developing an executive presence online will likely be required by today’s leaders.

3 Immediately Applicable Action Steps

Find out which online platforms stakeholders are relevant to your use and make a profile with content catering to the same.Â
Connect with people who share similar interests and engage with them through posts and comments.
Contact people who you think can be long-term allies and try to collaborate with them on common projects.

References

Forbes Agency Council. (2017, May 1). What Does Your Online Presence Say About You? 15 Ways To Build Your Personal Brand. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/05/01/what-does-your-online-presence-say-about-you-15-ways-to-build-your-personal-brand/?sh=46f4c352297cÂ
Simpson, J. (2021, December 10). Why Content Consistency Is Key To Your Marketing Strategy. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2019/02/11/why-content-consistency-is-key-to-your-marketing-strategy/?sh=7394d2304ef5Â
Staff, B. (2021, November 1). Dogecoin Value Jumps After Elon Musk Announces It as Currency For Tuition at Fictional University. News18. https://www.news18.com/news/buzz/dogecoin-value-jumps-after-elon-musk-announces-it-as-currency-for-tuition-at-fictional-university-4388645.html

Solutions

Contact Us

Every executive presence training is customized based on your business goals. Email us to discuss ways in which we might work together. Or, fill this contact form to set up a discovery session to discuss how our executive presence training can support your leaders and your organization.