In April 2013, Kevin Kruse wrote a piece for Forbes on the definition of "leadership." Kruse pulled in perspectives from luminaries such as Bill Gates, Peter Drucker and others, ultimately landing on this definition for the concept: Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, toward the achievement of a goal.
It's a helpful definition in that it identifies both the means and the motives involved in leadership. Two components of Krause's definition are particularly noteworthy: First, leadership isn't rudderless, it's intentional and focused on a specific goal. Second, leaders ask something of others, they engage in ways that contain explicit or implicit calls for action.
When considering leadership in social media, this definition is empowering. You don't need to be a CEO to lead in social media. If you can pair a clear and deliberate focus with a willingness to draw people toward something you believe deeply in-be it a product, person or a passion-you can lead.
For some, leadership comes naturally. For others it takes a concerted effort. For those who need the help, here are five social media leadership attributes to cultivate.
1. Leaders showcase their thought process.
One of the biggest stumbling blocks for those aspiring for influence on social media is the tendency to get caught up in the "what" and lose sight of the "why." If you haven't established credibility on what informs your social media commentary, you're going to find less people consider your point of view than you'd like. Fortunately, credibility isn't about titles and fame, it's about demonstrable value. If you want to persuade people of something or be held up as a thought leader, you need to show people your thought process and intellectual foundation.
Leaders have figured out that it's not about being the smartest guy in the digital room, it's about being a worthy participant in the online exchange of ideas.
2. Leaders make their contacts/connections/audience feel appreciated.
One of the hardest tightropes for leaders to walk both on and offline is how to balance their own priorities and projects with the needs of their connections. Professional brilliance and force of personality will only get you so far, ultimately leaders need to learn how to bring those around them on board. This requires a mix of time, energy and personalization.
Whether you lead a company or aspire to lead a movement, it behooves you to be accessible to the people who can help you achieve your goals. LinkedIn provides a good mechanism for a baseline level of follower interaction. As a leader, you should be willing to accept invitations from your followers and budget 30 minutes a week to "like" updates, provide endorsements and write a recommendation or two for key followers. Conscientious people realize that one of the greatest gifts that can be given is one's time; they'll appreciate it when you give yours for something personally rewarding to them.
3. Leaders link challenges to opportunities.
One of the clearest paths to leadership is consistently elevating conversations; bridging from "this is bad" to "where do we go from here?" Many people confuse the ability to tear something down with progress. More often than not, leaders stand out because they move the conversation toward how to get things right. For business leaders on social media this is about how a particular product/service set is revolutionizing industry, for political leaders on social media it's about articulating a persuasive vision of what the world could be. In either case, it's about staying on message.
4. Leaders assimilate, but maintain a recognizable voice.
Unless you're as insuppressibly brilliant as Seth Godin, you probably need to follow most of the norms and best practices of social media. This doesn't mean that leaders don't have their own style on social media, it just means they are willing to adopt basic conventions like using hashtags and not affixing a signature to each Facebook post.
That said, leaders realize that there's more than one way to communicate persuasively on social media. To this end, the best leaders establish patterns of communication that are unique, but become familiar. Sometimes this is done with particular syntax or grammar, other times it's in the way they turn a phrase. For aspiring leaders, don't take this as a reason to eschew grammar join the "no caps club, " but instead take it as a reminder that you should have just as much pride in your voice on social media as you do in your voice when speaking or writing.
5. Leaders avoid emotional volatility.
If there's one thing many of us have learned the hard way, it's that it's far too easy to use social media channels to vent frustration. Strong emotional displays leave lasting impressions that have the potential to swamp the stream of steady, positive activity you've worked so hard to generate. This isn't a call to stifle all emotion or suppress appropriate outrage from time to time, but leaders know better than to let such displays become more frequent than necessary.
This is especially pertinent to Twitter, where negativity goes viral and attitude is contagious. Leaders are never afraid to call out injustices or ineptitudes, but they also know that raging against such things only gets them so far. Instead, they realize that more often than not, pairing eloquence with good ideas and sensible calls to action is the more reliable formula for success.
Leadership applied
On your path to social media influence, know that leadership isn't a status that's attained and automatically held forever. To maintain relevance, leaders need to continually listen and learn from the diversity of voices present on social networks. Success on social media can't be found with a "what's in it for me" mentality, it takes a sense of balance and an appreciation for give-and-take. So the next time you're plotting your path to social stardom, pause to consider how you can help someone else in their own social endeavors. After all, being someone else's champion is a total leader move.