“Thought leadership”; That’s a term you here frequently in the context of marketing. As a CEO, you know that blogging and social media activity, whether you do it yourself or leave the task up to your marketing department, is a way to establish thought leadership with your customer base.

The result of this is increased trust, improved brand loyalty, and a greater chance that your audience will stick with you in the future. Think of that for minute. Aren’t those the exact things you want from your employees?

So, what are you doing to establish thought leadership in the eyes of your employees? If you are producing a regular blog, just for your team, it’s definitely time to start.

How can blogging help CEOs establish Thought Leadership?

By creating and keeping up with a well-written, thoughtful blog, you can create a sense of connection with your employees. Blogging is also your chance to:

• Educate your employees about policies and the rationale behind them
• Praise individuals and departments publicly for noteworthy achievements
• Provide reassurance in times of crisis
• Answer questions
• Share industry updates
• Announce upcoming changes and major projects
• Share stories about the founding of the company
• Give your insights and predictions about your industry

All of these things help to improve your employees’ faith in your ability, establishes you as a trustworthy authority figure, gets your team excited and positive about the future, and provides assurance that you care about your team’s well-being.

Ideas for blog posts

Of course, as a CEO, blogging may not come naturally to you. In that case, it may help to establish a blogging schedule. Also, remember that not every blog needs to be 800 words or longer. You can make a great impact with a mixture of short and long posts published throughout the week. Check out the following weekly schedule of blog post categories and a suggested topic for each.

Monday: Uplifting and Positive News - Share a bit of positive news about the company or pass along an uplifting story you’ve found on social media.

Tuesday: State of The Industry/Company - Write about industry related news and events or update your staff on any changes or developments that are happening internally. Give your opinions!

Wednesday: Employee Spotlight - Focus on an individual or team that is worthy of recognition. You can even allow team members to act as guest bloggers.

Thursday: Throwback Thursday - Share pictures, videos, and stories that reflect company history, notable events in your industry, even fun employee events.

Friday: Fun and Humor - Share funny pictures and videos, or encourage employees to submit their own. This will increase morale and improve employee relations.

This can be varied in anyway that is appropriate for your team. The point is to build trust, improve morale, and to solidify faith in your ability to lead.

Getting started

You have many options when it comes to establishing your blog. If you have an intranet site available for your employees, it might be easiest to create your blog as a page there. Your web design team should be able to do that quite easily.

Another option is to set your blog up using WordPress or other CMS, and then adjust the settings so that only internal users can see your content. If you are already producing a company newsletter, your blog could be a great addition to that. Finally, you can simply use email to create and distribute your blog.

Be Genuine Not Genius

If you are not a naturally talented writer, you can still be an effective blogger, and your blogs can still help you to establish yourself as a thought leader among your employees. The trick is to focus on sincerity, accuracy, honesty, and demonstrating your capabilities for leadership. There are tools like Grammarly that can help ensure that your writing is error free. You can also use the Hemingway app to help ensure that your writing is concise and to the point.

Another bit of advice is to begin following other blogs. Who are some well respected business leaders in your industry, your community, or even the world that are producing blog content that is helping them maintain thought leadership? Read their posts for inspiration and ideas. Chances are, you will find that many of them aren’t brilliant writers. They are simply knowledgeable, naturally curious, compassionate, and they aren’t afraid to put themselves and their opinions out there.

Conclusion

Communication is key when it comes to establishing thought leadership. By creating a blog that you can use to connect with your employees, you create a new opportunity improve your relationships with them. Even better, you create an opportunity to foster motivation, enthusiasm, and a sense of genuine organizational pride.

Blogging is not an easy task, but it is definitely a worthwhile activity for any CEO who wants to be seen as a thoughtful, capable leader.