Being a subject matter expert, commonly abbreviated as SME, is a distinction that one earns through demonstrating a greater knowledge of an industry or business. Media calls upon SMEs for interviews to share their unique and vast knowledge of a particular subject. How does one become a SME? Twitter can be helpful in building a reputation as an expert but doing the following:
Share useful information
- Share links that are relevant. Show that you are aware and up-to-date about an industry or business. Links that feature the most important, breaking information about your industry meet the criteria of items that should be shared. Use the available 140 characters to show you know the meaningfulness of the link, how it impacts the industry or why the information is timely. Feel free to actively request that other users share or “retweet” your posts. This builds your reputation as an expert when the number of people sharing your information grows.
Circle of influence
- Use your circle of influence to post blogs or articles you have written or retweet content you have posted. The more you have others tout your knowledge, the more you become an expert. When media sees your content featured in several Twitter feeds, it reinforces that the information is relevant and important to others.
Hashtag strategy
- A fundamental part of the Twitter experience is creating and using hashtags to follow a certain topic. Make sure the hashtag relates to your topic, is relevant and not too generic. Using a hashtag with your posts provide an opportunity for tracking any online conversations about your post. Use this quantifiable information when approaching local media about interviews. News organizations prefer to use several SMEs when covering a story and Twitter provides a way to generate hard numbers on how many people you reach.
Start crafting your subject matter expertise by using Twitter. It’s as simple as sharing a link and hashtag.