Social media is a powerful tool. When used correctly, it can help CEOs connect with their audience, build their personal brand, and help their company reach its business goals. However, social media is a public platform, and sometimes an executive's message may be misconstrued by the general public, or a spur of the moment Tweet might hurt their company. That being said, the benefits of having your company's leadership team on social media far outweigh the risks. To learn more, take a look at Managing the Risks of Executive Social Media Presence, an article written by our CEO, Elissa Liu. In this article, we look at three different topics that CEOs will want to be careful talking about on social media. We also look at examples of how social media posts have hurt brands in the past, and offer tips on how to...

In our recent series about the top retail executives you should be following on social media, we looked at ways they use online platforms to help build their personal brand while achieving their business objectives. Establishing a brand presence on social media is second nature to most digital marketers, but what about helping their company's executives establish their own profile? One of the first steps is understanding which social media platform would be the best fit for your executives. In this article, we look at some of the most popular social media platforms and what makes them stand out. By the end of this article, marketers should have a clearer picture of which social media platforms to position their executives on.  Before we get started, don't forget to download our free step-by-step guide on how to get your company's executives on social...

Social media hashtags are a ubiquitous feature found on many apps. From Instagram to LinkedIn, it's hard to scroll through any feed without seeing other users and brands adding hashtags to their content. For executives with a social media account, it's important to use hashtags both correctly and strategically. Posting consistently on social media is one aspect of a strong online presence, but making sure a CEO's content reaches as many users as possible is another challenge. In this article, we look at three different hashtag groups—popular hashtags, niche hashtags, and branded hashtags—and why an executive would want to use one over the other. Keep reading to the end where our marketing experts provide tips on how to optimize your social media content.   Learn about the pros and cons of three social media hashtag types   Popular hashtags Niche hashtags Branded hashtags Our Expert...

While many B2C brands incorporate social media as part of their digital marketing strategy, B2B companies have typically lagged behind in establishing a strong online presence. In certain heavily regulated industries, it is not uncommon to see top-performing companies have little to no content on their social media pages. However, just as B2C executives benefit greatly from having a strong social media presence, the same concept applies to B2B executives. In this article, we discuss three reasons why CEOs in a B2B industry should be on social media and provide you with three expert tips on how to get started.   #1: Social media puts executives in front of their audience. Many B2B brands have typically relied on referrals and other traditional marketing methods (e.g. sales agents) as their primary method for driving new business leads. However, as we have seen during the COVID-19...

Social media is essential for today’s business founders and executives to build their reputation. Online reputation management requires a long-term and thoughtful strategy, similar to how brand building is accomplished at a company. In this article, we will discuss how business leaders can use social media to help establish their personal branding and set them up for the future.   How Social Media Impacts Online Reputation Management   Unlike a brand's social media account, executives' accounts are directly tied to the individual, which of course, makes it more personal. Some business leaders focus on brand-related content, such as Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly. Other executives may utilize a completely different social media strategy emphasizing more of their personal interests, like Anand Mahindra. Whichever strategy an executive uses, social media platforms are public and offer executives an effective way to connect with their audience. Because it is...

When it comes to building an executive's online presence, there are many advantages and disadvantages of social media. The risks of being on social media include not developing a strong personal branding strategy or not appearing communicative enough. These obstacles are easily overcome, either by carefully understanding the challenges beforehand, or working with a knowledgeable digital marketing team that handles content marketing on the executive's behalf. What is clear is that successful executives are the ones that understand the unique benefits social media has to offer, particularly as a digital marketing tool. Previously, we looked at KPIs (key performance indicators) in our article, How to Set Social Media KPIs for your Executive’s Personal Brand. In today's article, we will focus more on the actual goals and how personal branding on social media can help achieve business and personal objectives.   1. Increase Brand Awareness   A...

The benefits of social media for businesses does not end at the brand’s presence, but can also extend to include its leadership team. Whether handled by an in-house marketing team or an outside digital marketing agency, more executives are establishing a stronger online presence through popular platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. When executives use social media to establish their personal branding, this has been proven to be a highly effective way to complement a brand's existing social media strategy. When establishing your executive social media program, one important step is to set key performance indicators, or KPIs. As the name suggests, KPIs help measure the performance of your campaign. It is helpful to think of it as a measurable goal that can be set before the social media campaign begins. Throughout an executive's social media program, these numbers can be...

Many brands today have a social media presence and more executives are seeing the value of being online as well. As a part of a brand’s marketing strategy, executives on social media can be an impactful driving force when it comes to accomplishing business goals. The most effective executive social media accounts are the ones that can stand on its own, while also complementing the brand’s overall marketing strategy. In other words, these are executives who post their own content rather than retweeting or copying every post from the main brand account. In this article, we analyze content tone and topics that resonate best when delivered on an executive’s social media account rather than the general brand account. Digital marketers can use these differences to develop their own social media strategy that is more holistic in its approach.   Brands versus Executives on...

Creating and maintaining an online social media presence is crucial for today’s executives. After all, research shows that over two thirds of consumers believe companies with a social CEO are more trustworthy. This is because many users feel that individuals, like C-suite executives, are much more approachable and relatable than general brand accounts where they do not know who the individual is that they are interacting with. When executives create content for their social media account(s), publishing business-related content can be an effective way to deliver brand-related content and updates. However, one of the biggest mistakes executives make on social media is creating brand-related content that is overtly self-serving or promotional. In this article, we will discuss how executives can seamlessly balance an authentic tone with brand-related content to achieve their business goals, as well as some tips at the end...

Content mix is an important factor when developing a social media strategy for executives. Original video content draws a great deal of engagement among users and sets the executive apart from those who are not utilizing video as part of their strategy. While the majority of social media content is comprised of text or images, videos have grown to become an important part of online content diversity. In fact, one study showed that social media posts with a video gets shared by users 1200% more than other types of posts, such as text and images. In this article, we will be discussing how original video content can benefit executives on social media by giving them another way to connect with their followers.   Why Executives Should Implement Video Content   When it comes to video content, many studies have shown how important this type...