In today’s Executive Spotlight, we analyze Bumble CEO–Whitney Wolfe Herd's–Twitter profile to see how she has translated her ideologies to her social media....
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is an executive who primarily focuses on COVID-19 related posts on his Twitter account. The timely nature of his actions are primarily reflected in his decision to co-sponsor the “Next-Gen Mask Challenge” in July of 2020. Motivated by statistics showing that one-third of the U.S. population do not regularly wear masks, this event calls on youth creators to submit innovative designs for surgical-grade protective masks. The type of online presence Benioff employs on Twitter, particularly within the last few months, is primarily based on informing followers about public safety measures and how the world can effectively adapt moving forward. ...
For many consumers, how and if an executive and their company respond to social issues has grown increasingly important. In one survey, 72% of Americans said it was important to them that companies they purchase from reflected their values. In another survey, 81% believed CEOs have an obligation to speak out about social issues. In the wake of nationwide protests in the U.S. against racist discrimination and police brutality, many brands and executives have taken to social media to voice their support for the black community. Although many of these messages have been praised, an increasing number have received backlash too. For instance, CBS and L’Oréal have been called out by consumers for their past controversies that seem to contradict their support of the movement. In this article, we will look at why messages of solidarity must be authentic and one...
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...
Update: View our Fortune 500 archives here to get insights into our latest findings! Back in 2015, CEO.com published its 2015 Social CEO Report, which included a widely quoted statistic pertaining to executive social media. That statistic was the fact that only 39% of Fortune 500 CEOs were on any social media platform, and 61% weren’t on any at all! We’ve seen these numbers quoted as recently as this year, so we thought it was time for an update. Our team at Influential Executive replicated the study in February of 2019 using the most recent Fortune 500 list, going through 500 executives one by one to search across platforms for public pages and evaluating the level of activity for each. The results? As of 2019, 54% of Fortune 500 CEOs have at least some social presence. As of 2019, 54% of Fortune...
Many executives, particularly those in business-to-business (B2B) industries like consulting, architecture, engineering, law, financial services, and technology, have a common goal with their digital presence: to establish themselves as a credible business leader in their field with a strategic thought leadership program. As we mentioned in a previous blog post, millennials are now a key part of the workforce, meaning that they are both potential talent and potential customers for your brand. As these millennials often turn to social media to learn more about brands, having an influential executive’s voice speaking for your business is crucial to gaining both their attention and their trust. Once an executive has successfully positioned themselves as an industry expert, they will no longer have to constantly seek out sales inquiries, speaking and media opportunities, and increased visibility themselves. Rather, they will receive an increasing flow...