10 Jan Executive Spotlight: Gwénaëlle Avice-Huet

GreenBiz is an online media company that looks at sustainability from a business and technological standpoint. The site recently released their list of 20 C-suite executives whom Greenbiz believes will be making an impact in terms of leading their company with an environmentally-friendly mindset. ENGIE North America’s CEO, Gwénaëlle Avice-Huet, made the list thanks to her work in moving the company away from the fossil fuel industry. Using her online presence and strong brand voice, she is a vocal advocate for decentralization and digitization, opening up data generated from ENGIE’s wind farm in France to scientists and researchers.

In this article, we will be analyzing her LinkedIn and Twitter social media profiles. We will look at how her social media content connects her values to her company’s values and the ways executives on social can make use of similar practices in order to maintain a strong brand voice.

Twitter: Developing a Brand Voice All About ENGIE

Avice-Huet’s Twitter account is solely focused on ENGIE-related content, including the company’s new initiatives, partnerships, and success stories. The content she retweets from other users also align with climate change-related content or mention the ENGIE brand directly. Overall, the tone is very polished and professional, emphasizing a formal corporate voice. Her content is similar to an executive we examined in the past: Delta Air Line’s CEO, Ed Bastian. Both utilize a strong brand voice to convey information about their respective companies.

One major difference between Bastian and Avice-Huet is that where appropriate, she uses emojis, giving her social content a more eye-catching look. For example, when referring to specific countries, she either uses the flag emoji in place of the text or adds the emoji before or after the country’s name.

We will propose multiple services and solutions involving reduction in energy usage as well as generation sources such as:
🌿renewable energy,
🔌microgrids
💡energy storage and other innovative technologies
preparing the campus for a resilient and sustainable future.

— Gwenaelle Huet (@Gwenaelle_huet) December 10, 2019

In terms of hashtags, Avice-Huet makes good use of both branded hashtags, like #ActWithENGIE, and other hashtags relevant to the topic. She follows Twitter best practices when it comes to including hashtags, using no more than two or three hashtags per post.

Today we announced the commissioning of Muara Laboh, our first #geothermal power generation plant globally in #Indonesia 🇮🇩!
Well done @ENGIEgroup’s teams! https://t.co/MySO92qu6h

— Gwenaelle Huet (@Gwenaelle_huet) December 17, 2019

Another strength of her Twitter profile is the header image. Rather than use a logo or image featuring ENGIE, Avice-Huet has opted to use an image of solar panels. While it does not reference the brand, it implies a strong connection between herself, sustainable energy, and ENGIE. It is a very eye-catching image that is not only high quality, but features striking colors.

LinkedIn: Different Types of Content

While Avice-Huet does not post as often on LinkedIn compared to Twitter, she is active on the platform by engaging with other users through liking and commenting on posts.

In 2019, Avice-Huet wrote three articles. Interestingly, each of these articles showcased an aspect of herself as an executive and as a person. One article highlights her trip to Greenland to witness the effects of climate change firsthand, the second article is ENGIE-related, and the third is a sustainable energy article written in French. LinkedIn’s Article section is an excellent way for executives to share their thoughts in a longer format.

One valuable accessibility feature on LinkedIn that works to Avice-Huet’s favor is the platform’s in-feed “See Translation” option, as shown in the LinkedIn post above. Avice-Huet’s post was originally posted in French, but users can simply view the translation based on the language settings on their own LinkedIn account. This accessibility feature on LinkedIn allows executives to reach a wider audience, making it an effective and convenient platform for non-native English speakers.

Lastly, one feature we do not see executives use often is the ability to tag fellow LinkedIn users in an uploaded post. In one of Avice-Huet’s posts, she tagged four other individuals on LinkedIn. Similar to other platforms, the tagged individual will receive a notification of images they have been tagged in. This is one way for executives to broaden their network and connect with other professionals.

Improvements: Small Changes in Formatting

Comparing Avice-Huet’s social media profiles, her Twitter profile is the stronger of the two in terms of content, but she does have a much larger following on LinkedIn. On both profiles, she remains fairly consistent in terms of appropriate hashtag and emoji use, but there are some minor improvements that can be made.

In some tweets, she adds a full paragraph break between the sentences, while in other tweets, she starts typing on the second line without a full paragraph break. Our suggestion is to keep the spacing of text the same across all posts in order to convey a visually consistent look.

Some of her Twitter content is posted in English only, while others are only in French. On Twitter, users can translate the post only if they click into the tweet itself.

However, when scrolling through the main feed, there is no option to translate the content, as shown in the image below.

This means not all of her content is immediately accessible unless users click through to each individual post that needs translation. We recommend either translating her tweets and posting one in English and one in French, or creating a separate Twitter account to post in French (such as @Gwenaelle_huet_FR). As we mentioned earlier, this is not an issue on LinkedIn as the platform can auto-translate messages directly in the feed according to a user’s language setting.

For video content, we recommend adding subtitles at the bottom. This makes the content both more accessible and convenient to view.

While Avice-Huet’s Twitter header image adds a strong visual element to her profile, her LinkedIn header image is less effective. The way the image has been cropped leaves a lot of open space on the image, with important elements cut off, such as the solar panels. Many executives use the same header image on many of their social media profiles, which helps create a more cohesive look.

In terms of activity, Avice-Huet is more active on Twitter than on LinkedIn. However, when it comes to followers, she has 5,759 followers on LinkedIn, compared to her 1,712 followers on Twitter. As an energy utilities company, LinkedIn offers a prime opportunity to connect with other businesses. On Twitter, the average engagement rate is lower. Users may be less interested about company details, such as new partnerships, and more interested about the company taking a firm stance on climate change or Avice-Huet’s personal take on climate-related topics.

Influential Executive: Building an Eco-Friendly Brand Image

For many executives on social media, not employing best practices tends to be one of the most common issues we see when analyzing an executive’s social media. However, that is not the case with Avice-Huet, whose content very much aligns with the majority of Twitter and LinkedIn best practices. She remains consistent, whether it is the number of hashtags she uses or remembering to tag other individuals or companies in her post.

One of the clear strengths of Avice-Huet’s social content is the emphasis on promoting the brand in a positive light by connecting it to renewable energy. Executives on social media act as the face of the company and messages coming from an individual can seem more authentic than if it was coming from a brand account.

Maintaining a Consistent and Strong Brand Voice

Not only is she consistent in using best practices on social media, Avice-Huet presents a professional and formal on both her social media profiles. Throughout all of her content Avice-Huet focuses on promoting the ENGIE brand and its commitment to sustainable energy. She uses the word “we” in many of her posts that strongly establishes a connection between her and ENGIE. Overall, Avice-Huet falls into the category of executives on social media that only discuss brand-related content. While this is not necessarily a drawback, it does mean that executives should think about how to create content that engages with the audience on different platforms that draw in different audiences.

Executives, have you established your brand voice online? Is your social media strategy aligned with your business goals? If not, read our founder’s latest Forbes article and learn how to do just that! In the meantime, why not follow Influential Executive on Instagram for interesting business stats, inspiring leadership quotes from today’s top executives, and more!