Ahmad Imam: A man of many hats

Entrepreneur, TV presenter, radio host, social media personality and global influencer. Meet the most influential all-rounder of this new era, Ahmad Imam, who believes in kindness, empowerment, social impact, and being real, not perfect. As the founder and CEO of ‘The Executive Brand’, an elite social media agency, Imam helps CEOs, executives, founders, HNWIs and UHNWIs amplify their personal brand, influence, visibility, and position themselves as an authority in their field.

In today's social media landscape, there are a variety of platforms to choose from, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages, depending on your ideal client profile, product or service. As an expert in the social media and branding industry, Imam finds that Instagram and Tik Tok are the most suitable platforms for businesses and entrepreneurs selling business to consumer (B2C) products, especially impulse items due to the platforms’ visual aesthetics, aspirational content, and fast-paced environment.

However, for professionals such as executives, founders, entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and any one offering services and/or operate in the business to business (B2B) environment, LinkedIn is the unrivalled and undisputed choice. Hub spot found that LinkedIn is 277 per cent more effective at generating leads than Facebook and Twitter.

In Imam's opinion, LinkedIn is the Facebook of 2010-2012. An under-utilised platform that has a world of blue ocean, untapped potential, and on the verge of realising its full potential. In fact, search interest for the term LinkedIn has increased more than 212 per cent in the last 12 years. As of 2022, LinkedIn has 830 million members, 58 million registered companies with over 40 per cent of its members accessing it on a daily basis, clocking up over one billion interactions every month.

Additionally, more than 44 per cent of LinkedIn users take home more than $75,000 per year, and millennia’s make up over 59 per cent of LinkedIn’s user base, with 11 million of the 87 million millennia’s in decision making positions.

Imam's advice is to assess your goals and consider which platform would enable you to best achieve your desired goals before committing to any one (or multiple) social media platforms. While every platform has its own strengths and weaknesses, it is important to consider which one will best help you to achieve your objectives. In his case, as an entrepreneur within the B2B space, LinkedIn has been the most effective platform for advancing his career, developing meaningful business connections, generating and converting leads, and building a strong personal brand that has opened doors to many lucrative opportunities and partnerships.

Imam is now one of the most influential personalities on LinkedIn. Recently awarded ‘International Influencer Of The Year 2022’, he has amassed a following of over one million professionals.

The quality that makes Imam a stand-out influencer among many is that he provides an abundance of free value without expecting anything in return, builds genuine relationships with his audience, and believes you must earn the right to sell to your audience, and that right is earned by first building trust. "It’s all about giving, giving, giving…and then asking," said Imam. "I see too many people focused on what they can get from their network versus what they can give. If you want to be positioned as a thought leader or authority in your field, you have to start by becoming a valuable resource for others."

The more love you give to others, the more love you'll get. “Engage in other people's content, give them love and support their journey. It means more to them than you know, and the law of reciprocity is a powerful one," Imam added.

By engaging with others and providing consistent free value, Imam has built a strong following of professionals who trust his recommendations, which is real influence. “Your audience must know you, like you, and trust you first, before they would be willing to do business with you. In this way, Imam has built multiple revenue streams through the platform by following the simple philosophy of giving first and never forgetting that when creating content, it is always about them (your audience), not you.

As Imam evolves, so does his mission and now he is inspired to shine a spotlight on others. "I want to empower others with the knowledge and tools that I've used to build my brand and transform my life," he said. "I want to show them that it's possible to change the course of your life if you're willing to put in the work." And that's exactly what he's been doing for the past four years. He's been sharing his story and his message with anyone who will listen, and he's been making a difference in the lives of people all over the world.

Through his elite social media agency ‘The Executive Brand’, Imam has now helped hundreds of high profile professionals become the go-to authority online, and empowering them with complete clarity on their personal brand mission, story, values, ethics, editorial tone and style that directly aligns their social media messaging and marketing with their business goals.

Imam believes that everyone has a story to tell, the question is, are you ready to share yours?

• KT Network