By Rhea Wessel
This week at Europe’s biggest HR Conference in Cologne, I’ve been hanging out at the Corporate Influencer Stage and hearing about all the work companies are doing to support their employees in publishing and social media activities.
It got me thinking about what classical thought-leadership programs can learn from their colleagues who support corporate influencers, and vice versa.
Organizational thought leadership is generally housed within the research department and often reports to marketing, whereas corporate influencer programs are likely to be situated within the comms department.
Unlike in thought leadership, those professionals looking after the corporate influencer programs typically do this alongside their other responsibilities.
In my view, corporate influencer programs have the chance to become feeder programs to the more traditional thought-leadership programs in an organization. Or their structure can serve as a model for a feeder program.
Why?
Ideation and story-finding that will turn into thought-leadership articles and, potentially, studies should be done broadly within an organization. Some of the best thinking in a company may not reside in the C-suite or within the research department: It may come from employees in operations or those who have lots of client contact and experience in execution.
Often thought leadership is an ivory tower of thinking and influence in the organization that can scare off subject-matter experts rather than welcome their participation in ideation, writing and the publication process.
That shouldn’t be the case.
Different approaches, similar ends
Corporate influencer programs and thought leadership initiatives, though distinct in their approach, both aim to promote expertise, brand visibility, and individual engagement for organizations.
While corporate influencer programs often focus on dynamic, high-frequency content creation and personal engagement, thought-leadership programs are generally more measured, emphasizing depth and research-driven insights.
By examining the strengths and opportunities of each, organizations can benefit from combining the best practices of both worlds.
Lessons Thought-Leadership (TL) Programs Can Learn from Corporate Influencer (CI) Programs | Lessons Corporate Influencer (CI) Programs Can Learn from Thought-Leadership (TL) Programs |
Frequent Social Media Posting: CI participants post humanizing, engaging stories frequently, creating traction and visibility for the organization. TL programs can benefit from more frequent social media activity without sacrificing content depth. | Content Focus Over Persona: While CIs often focus on personal branding, TL programs emphasize that content—especially the externalization of expertise—is ultimately more important than the individual. |
Media Exposure of Subject Matter Experts: CI programs understand that giving visibility to subject matter experts drives engagement and authority in the media. TL programs can leverage this to boost the visibility of their experts. | Expertise Externalization: CIs often rely on personality-driven engagement. TL programs stress the need to externalize expertise more deliberately, adding credibility and lasting value to content. |
Expertise Without Academic Output: CI programs highlight that one can still be considered a thought leader without necessarily conducting academic research or publishing formal papers. TL programs could benefit from recognizing non-research expertise. | Strategic Content Creation: While CIs are excellent at driving immediate engagement, TL programs can teach them how to create enduring, strategic content that builds a legacy of thought leadership over time. |
By blending the elements that lead to the engaging, humanizing, and frequent output of corporate influencer programs with those that lead to the depth, strategic content focus, and long-term impact of thought leadership programs, organizations can design a program that provides both visibility and credibility.
At the conference in Cologne, many companies showed an interest in building a corporate influencer program.
My suggestion: Make it heavier on thought leadership from the get-go by enabling your experts with strong writing, ideation and articulation skills.
-Rhea Wessel is a writer and founder of The Institute for Thought Leadership. Her new book on using AI to boost your thought leadership is due out in 2025.
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