By now we know that influential executives garner higher overall engagements on social media than the brands they work for. On top of that, though, they can also be used to convey a company’s corporate social responsibility in a more authentic light. Since becoming the CEO of Walmart 5 years ago, Doug McMillon’s social profile has become a platform to promote Walmart’s acts of social good, such as eliminating abuses through the supply chain. On his Facebook and Instagram profiles especially, he is no stranger to group pictures and heartwarming captions. In the month of June, Walmart was all about creating a community space between associates, shareholders, and the public. McMillon leveraged his social presence by participating in branded hashtags and telling touching stories in order to promote his company’s social good and positive community. If you're interested, you can check...

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...

Profile pictures are crucial to an executive’s social media presence. Not only do they serve as a form of digital identification for a brand or person, but they also serve as an unspoken first impression. For influential executives such as Rihanna, a simple change in her profile picture recently symbolized a progression in her image and career. With over 70 million Instagram followers and 90 million followers on Twitter, Robyn Rihanna Fenty has successfully used these two social media platforms to distinguish her two main brand identities: on Instagram, she brands herself as Rihanna, the pop icon, and on Twitter, she is Rihanna, the face of the Fenty fashion empire. Fans have witnessed the famous popstar’s ongoing success as she continued to take on diverse projects such as releasing the body-positive lingerie line Savage x Fenty, landing an acting role in...

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...

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...

On April 15, 2019, the world watched with sadness as the Notre Dame Cathedral was engulfed in flames. People turned to social media for news updates as it happened, and then afterwards to form a community of support and discussion using the hashtag #NotreDameFire. In the midst of such an event, executives must carefully consider what to post on social media, if they decide to post anything at all, so as not to seem self-serving or that they are taking advantage of misfortune. Many CEOs and other executives chose not to post about the Notre Dame fire, which was not offensive to those affected, but also did not allow them to be demonstrative of their awareness of newsworthy events or of producing significant and timely content. Below are three different tweets that CEOs shared. In today’s Front Page Execs by...

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...

Richard Branson says, “I don’t see any separation between work and play – it’s all just living, and I love sharing all of it,” and his LinkedIn profile clearly reflects that sentiment. Dr. Yes—as he is affectionately referred to at Virgin—is a self-proclaimed dyslexic thinker who loathes ties and believes in turning ideas into reality, as demonstrated time and again at Virgin. Branson’s professional LinkedIn profile effectively showcases each aspect of his identity, blending business, personal, and larger social topics to position himself as both a reliable source of information and an approachable person. Richard Branson is currently the number one rated LinkedInfluencer—an exclusive collective of 500+ of the world’s foremost thinkers—let’s shift our executive spotlight to Richard Branson and take a closer look at how he uses LinkedIn to position himself as a revolutionary thought leader. Visuals Richard Branson uses all...

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...