Learn about the key characteristics of opinion leaders and how they shape society. Gain insights into the expertise, trustworthiness, charisma, and influence of opinion leaders.

An opinion leader is a person who is in a privileged position and whose context, studies, or credibility allow him to be an example to follow in certain fields like politics, economics, entertainment, religion, among many others. Opinion leadership is earned and maintained by the individual’s technical competence, sociability and conformity to the norms of the social system.

Characteristics of Opinion Leaders

An opinion leader whose influence covers a wide range of topics exercises polymorphic opinion leadership. This is generally thought to be more common in traditional societies. For example, A respected, elderly member of village.

• Credibility

Credibility is not achieved in one or two days, but over many months or years as people observe that your actions are always consistent, that is, that you always do and say what you think. Credibility is not only built on the air, but also on your social networks with everything you are constantly communicating.

• Good online personality

Opinion leaders are now found on all platforms, regardless of whether they are native to them or not. In other words, the best journalists also share their work via social networks, and they no longer only stay on TV, newspapers or radio. Build a personality based on the qualities you want to communicate.

• Excellent communication skills

Opinion leaders are natural communicators, meaning they know their verbal and non-verbal tools to convey a message. If communication is not natural for you, read a lot, take public speaking courses, listen to great speakers and learn as much as you can.

• They have built an audience

All opinion leaders have built their follower base and know how to identify its characteristics, which is why they detect ways of communicating that click with the segment they are targeting.

• Charisma

Opinion leaders have magnetic personalities, meaning they have the ability to get people hooked on listening to their speech.

• They keep creating content

Respect in the industry is earned and recognition is even more so, so if you want to be a thought leader, get to work and create constant content based on the area you want to highlight.