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....

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...

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...

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...

This month, influential executive Tim Cook, Apple CEO, made headlines once again when he briefly changed his name on his Twitter account. This is what it looked like: In this edition of Front Page Execs, we’ll take a look at the events leading up to the “Tim Apple” name change, as well as the ingenuity behind the move for this executive’s social media presence. On March 6, 2019, President Donald Trump mistakenly referred to Tim Cook as “Tim Apple” during a meeting of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board at the White House. Social media, of course, latched onto this accident, and “Tim Apple” began to trend on Twitter. Less than twenty-four hours later, Tim Cook rode that trending wave to the top when he changed his name to Tim Apple on the platform. Twitter users loved it. By capitalizing on the trend...

In August 2018, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff made the decision to promote the company’s COO Keith Block to be its new co-CEO. Salesforce’s long-time founder was prompted to partner up with Block after taking a two-week-long digital detox last July. After this brief hiatus, Benioff told CNBC that experiencing such tranquility without his electronics made him realize one thing: he was too busy. With Block now helping Benioff run the 20-year-old cloud-based software company, Benioff has been focusing his attentions on passion projects to use his position of power for social good. By focusing on this aspect of his leadership, Salesforce has also seen the added benefit of having a positive and public face for the brand. From a quick glance at Benioff’s Twitter page, it is instantly clear what type of leader the Salesforce CEO and newly named owner of...

Why Executives Need to be on Social Media Social media for executives — it truly impacts the bottom line. Recent data is showing a compelling reason for CEOs and their teams to look at social media more seriously. Millennials lead the charge on this trend, but they are not the only ones looking to social media and the web to better understand the brands they buy from and the companies they work for - focusing on the leaders that represent them. "Consumers are looking to social media and the web to better understand the brands they buy from and the companies they work for - focusing on the leaders that represent them." Millennial Decisions are Fueled by Online Research Millennials are now a key part of the workforce, meaning that they are both potential talent and potential customers for your brand. These millennials often...

One prominent participant in the Google walkouts conversation was Luis von Ahn, CEO and co-founder of language-learning app Duolingo. In this edition of Front Page Execs, Influential Executive will be examining what von Ahn did right, why he did it, and what he should have avoided when engaging in this conversation....