More specifically, when you or your organization are seen as a thought leader, the media will want your perspective on what is happening in the market. This is what you need to measure. How many quotes and references are you getting each quarter? Is it consistently increasing? Are quotes in those coveted top tier outlets increasing?
Eric Wittlake makes a simple but great point on how to measure thought leadership, a concept that's easy to understand but can remain fuzzy to demonstrate for marketers.
Are you mentioned by others?
If developing thought leadership is a goal of your content marketing efforts, you should see people mentioning you more and more.
A great way to do that is:
1. Build your website or blog as a content hub, a resource filled with relevant created or curated content that others can easily point to.
2. Track mentions on social media, blogs and media as we do: a Scoop.it page combined with our suggestion engine tracking your brand as a keyword is a great, simple way to do that.