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...

In this Executive Spotlight, we will be looking at Gene Kelly’s LinkedIn and Twitter accounts. As the chairman and CEO of Southwest Airlines, his company has been greatly impacted by the coronavirus and governments setting restrictions on travel. As we will discuss in this article, Kelly has used his online presence to promote a sense of optimism by focusing on positive company initiatives....

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...

Leaders have the power to make real social and global change, which is why it is important that executives relay any impactful company announcements and information to the public. Social media is an effective way to disseminate information to users across the globe and to stay connected, making it an ideal tool to get messages across more quickly and efficiently. Thus, social media is an effective channel to encourage others to join the battle against climate change. ...

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...

Stephen Kelly, the current Director of Kimble Apps (a professional services automation software) and Locum’s Nest (an app connecting doctors to locum work in hospitals) has many titles under his belt. As the former CEO of Sage Group, he was also previously the CEO of Micro Focus and Chordiant Software, and worked for four years as COO for the U.K. Government. Though his various positions have spanned across different industries, Kelly still manages to maintain a consistent presence on multiple social media platforms. In this article, we will be analyzing Kelly’s LinkedIn and Twitter platforms. We will be looking at the way he utilizes his content and tone on each respective platform, and how these strategies adhere to best practices when it comes to reaching target audiences. Executives can draw inspiration from the way Kelly adjusts his content accordingly, which helps...

This week’s article is a continuation of a previous Front Page Execs post we published a few weeks ago, entitled “How Executives are Tackling Coronavirus.” In it, we discussed the importance of executives using their social media channels to disseminate reputable information about the virus to the public. Social media’s ability to reach a large scale of users makes it an effective tool for doing so. While many of the executives we analyzed in the previous article put out content that actively tackled the spread of misinformation, offered solutions for safer work practices, and provided important healthcare information, the tone over the past week has shifted. Whereas content a few weeks ago focused on providing information, the latest content is branching out into the more inspirational side as many face the ennui and anxiety of staying at home indefinitely. ...

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...