02 Jul

Yes, executives drive more engagement on average than their respective companies on social media, and yes, your company should absolutely be leveraging its leaders (maybe that leader is you!) to support marketing objectives. If you’re ready to take the plunge and launch an executive social media presence for yourself or the executives at your company, congratulations on the sound decision, and check out our introductory guidebook if you haven’t already! Now, though, it’s time to start thinking about why leaders outperform brands and how to create effective social media branding that will ultimately resonate with your target audience and drive measurable results.  Research suggests that 84 percent of consumers trust recommendations from people they know. This may not seem groundbreaking in and of itself, but it’s particularly telling when combined with the fact that only 15 percent of those same respondents...

16:54 / Articles / Guide
14 May

We all know content is king, and as the backbone of any social media presence, it’s also the primary driver of social media success. An effective social media presence requires a steady cadence of thoughtful and objective-driven owned content tailored to your unique audience. Any content that fails to resonate will also fail to impact your bottom line. In part two of our two-part B2C versus B2B blog series, we’re going to tackle the nuances of creating social media content for both B2B and B2C executives. While we think it can be valuable to read about best practices for both types of execs, feel free to skip ahead to your most relevant section! B2C Content For an executive in the B2C space, spreading awareness and fostering an engaged community is likely among your top priorities, and building trust among that audience is...

10:00 / Articles / Guide
03 May

It’s true: regardless of your industry, you and your company can benefit from an executive social media presence, potentially outperforming a branded presence by as much as 320%! Where your industry starts to matter, however, is in your approach. B2B companies and B2C companies have vastly different business models, and the social strategy and tactics employed for each must be customized for those differences. Regardless of which category you fall into, if you’re looking to launch an executive social media presence for yourself or for your company’s leaders, we’ve put together a two-part series covering things you should consider before you get started. In this installment, we’ll be discussing the platform, audience and measurement variations for a B2B versus B2C executive. Platform While every social media platform provides its own unique value, you don’t need to, nor should you, be on all...

17:07 / Articles / Guide
16 Apr

Not all social platforms are equal, and while some platforms like LinkedIn are ideal for showcasing owned content in the form of articles, no platform is quite as well-positioned for leaders to observe, join, and ultimately impact a wider narrative than Twitter. Twitter is a timely, trend-driven platform that is ideal for sharing newsworthy content and authentic perspectives. It can be leveraged not only to have a voice in relevant industry conversations but to also quickly communicate expertise and unique perspectives with followers. It is also a platform that encourages commenting, sharing and discussion. In this blog post, we’ve put together guidelines to help executives effectively leverage the platform for impactful thought leadership on Twitter. "While Twitter increased the character count maximum per tweet from 140 characters to 280 characters in 2017, the ideal length of a tweet has remained between...

09:00 / Articles / Guide
02 Apr

When it comes to creating an effective social media presence for business leaders and executives, LinkedIn is a great place to start. Because the platform is best-positioned for professional networking, most executives will already have, or can easily build, a base network of personal and professional connections, creating a strong, credible foundation for ultimately attracting prospective talent, customers and investors. Like anything, though, a poorly managed social presence may be more detrimental than having no presence at all. In this post, we’ve laid out some basic best-practice guidelines to help you get started and make the most out of your executive social media presence with an optimized LinkedIn profile. "Like anything, a poorly managed social presence may be more detrimental than having no presence at all." Optimized LinkedIn Profile Let’s start with the cornerstone of your LinkedIn program, your optimized LinkedIn profile. Leveraging...

15:46 / Articles / Guide
19 Mar

Update: View our Fortune 500 archives here to get insights into our latest findings!   Back in 2015, CEO.com published its 2015 Social CEO Report, which included a widely quoted statistic pertaining to executive social media. That statistic was the fact that only 39% of Fortune 500 CEOs were on any social media platform, and 61% weren’t on any at all! We’ve seen these numbers quoted as recently as this year, so we thought it was time for an update. Our team at Influential Executive replicated the study in February of 2019 using the most recent Fortune 500 list, going through 500 executives one by one to search across platforms for public pages and evaluating the level of activity for each. The results? As of 2019, 54% of Fortune 500 CEOs have at least some social presence. As of 2019, 54% of Fortune...

08:00 / Articles
28 Feb

If you’re wondering whether your target audience is on social media, the short answer is: yes. Whether you’re seeking new customers, looking to foster relationships with talent or fishing for investors, your target audience is using social media to make decisions, and a thoughtful executive social presence can do wonders when it comes to building credibility around your brand. In fact, a BRANDfog survey found that 73% of respondents indicated that being engaged on social media makes CEOs more effective leaders by building trust and confidence. Additionally, 93% of respondents said that socially engaged CEOs are able to build better connections with customers, talent, and investors. The bottom line is, whether you’re looking to build out a social program for your company leaders or you’re an executive looking to bolster your own presence on behalf of your brand, communicating regularly...

23:48 / Articles / Guide
08 Oct

If your company’s chief executive is in the news, you always hope it’s for a positive reason. In the case of General Electric (GE), the company’s CEOs have unfortunately had a tumultuous relationship with the media in the recent past. Only last week, GE’s CEO John Flannery made headlines when he was ousted from the company after only 14 months. Part of the reason for such a quick change may have been the large shoes that both Flannery and his predecessor Jeff Immelt failed to fill: those of influential executive Jack Welch. Jack Welch was the illustrious CEO for GE from 1981 to 2001, during which time he garnered the reputation of one of America’s greatest business leaders. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that his social media channels also serve as an excellent model for thought leadership. Now retired, Jack...

21:04 / Executive Spotlight