24 Jun How to be an Influential Conversation Starter on Twitter
The founder and CEO of Box Inc, Aaron Levie, is an innovative leader in the tech world — and online. On Twitter, Levie is a conversation starter and uses his platform to share his thoughts, opinions, and advice on software, technology, and crypto. He effectively uses his social media platform to authentically engage with his followers. Keep reading for our analysis of Levie’s online presence.
An Engaged Conversation Starter on Twitter
On Twitter, Aaron Levie has a large audience with over 2.4 million followers. He has gained a large following by sharing his opinions, experiences, and even some jokes every now and then. Levie is a conversation starter and isn’t afraid to share his opinion and openly engage with other users. It’s clear that he views this platform as a space to share his insights and interact with his followers and other business executives. Given the brevity of Twitter posts, this is an excellent social media platform for executives who want to stay updated and provide short updates to their audience.
The easiest way to get derailed in software is misunderstanding the customer’s actual problem and then build the wrong solution. Deeply focusing on what a customer is trying to accomplish, and building a far better, faster, or cheaper solution to the problem is fundamental.
— Aaron Levie (@levie) June 16, 2022
Levie’s activity on Twitter sets him apart from many other executives. At times, executives who are experts in their industry don’t engage with their followers or continue discussions. However, part of what makes Levie’s presence effective on social media is that he is an active member of the Twitter community. More often than not, audiences often view leaders of large companies as being unapproachable individuals. Social media has become the “great equalizer” because it gives everyone a voice, yet it also allows regular social media users to interact with executives.
On Twitter, Levie occupies a specific niche with most of his content focusing on software, web news, crypto, and technology. This helps to create a following of people who are all very similar in their interests. His content contributes to his thought leadership strategy as he positions himself and Box Inc. effectively as a trustworthy and knowledgeable executive and company to work with.
The reason why it’s important to look at web3 flaws in a down market is because the flaws don’t seem as believable in an up market. In an upmarket if you buy a token and tell a friend to join a network, everyone’s happy. In a down market, it’s very hard for the network to spread.
— Aaron Levie (@levie) June 18, 2022
Additionally, Levie’s opinions sometimes make the news. For example, he discussed the trending topic of Web3 on his Twitter, and he was invited to a podcast to further discuss his insights. His Tweets were published in an article by TechCrunch where he’s described as being a well-known figure in the industry for his opinions on crypto and Web3. Speaking about timely and trending topics is one way for executives to tap into content that many other social media users are paying attention to. One way to do this is to include a trending hashtag in a post.
What works better for you?
— Aaron Levie (@levie) June 17, 2022
Levie further establishes himself as an executive who is engaged and attentive to his followers by using interactive tools on Twitter, such as polls. Polls are an effective tool for executives to use because it allows users who don’t like to comment a way to interact with content in other ways. These interactive tools are available on other platforms such as Instagram and Facebook that executives can utilize.
Can someone send out a zoom link to everyone so we can all get to the bottom of what version of the web we’re going with.
— Aaron Levie (@levie) June 10, 2022
For some executives, being unique and showing their personality on social media through more light-hearted posts is a part of their online strategy. Levie does this by making jokes and posting more humorous content. By keeping some of his Tweets more lighthearted, he is creating a welcoming atmosphere. We found that people on Levie’s Twitter are less likely to respond in an aggressive manner when they disagree with him.
Improvements: Utilizing More Platforms
An improvement we would suggest for Levie’s social media presence is to utilize other platforms. We believe Instagram and/or LinkedIn are two platforms that would be a good fit for his online strategy.
Instagram is a useful tool for an executive to show a more personal and relatable side through sharing photo-centric content about their passions, hobbies, and other interests. Levie does not have an Instagram page and through his content on Twitter, it is apparent that he likes to be humorous and lighthearted when discussing certain topics. The more casual nature of Instagram would be a good fit for him.
On LinkedIn, Levie occasionally shares posts from his company’s page but overall, he is not very active on the platform. As a business-oriented networking platform, LinkedIn is a suitable tool for executives to discuss their business endeavors and highlight their company’s successes. As the leader of a B2B company, his content would be engaging to LinkedIn’s audience.
Being an Active Part of the Twitter Community
Aaron Levie is an example of how a business leader can use social media to gain influence. He has showcased his authentic persona through his interactions with his followers and content on Twitter. Levie’s main social media strategy is to be himself and speak about what he knows and so far, it is working very well for him. Executives who want to create an open community for light-hearted intellectual conversation can use Levie’s Twitter account as a blueprint.
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