26 Apr What Executive Persona Are You? (Part 1)
What makes a CEO or business leader stand out on social media?
It’s a combination of several factors, including interesting content, a steady cadence of new posts, and personality.
In our new 3-part series, we’ll focus on the last factor. The tone and personality of an executive can turn normally drab content into something more — more aspirational, more engaging, more thought-provoking.
When we talk about tone and personality, there are many different routes executives can take. Below, we share the first group of common executive personas on social media. (Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3 of our series in the future!)
Passionate and Enthusiastic
Executives with a passionate and enthusiastic persona love what they do — and they want you to be just as amped up as they are! This tone is often used by executives who discuss big-picture concepts about topics that interest them, whether it’s business-related or personal. Because they come across as authentic and interested in what they’re sharing on social media, readers can’t help but get excited as well. To passionate and enthusiastic executives on social media, getting the reader invested in their messaging and vision is important.
The passionate and enthusiastic executive is someone who…
- Wants to get their social media followers just as excited about their industry
- Enjoys their job and their hobbies — and isn’t afraid to show it
- Tends to be more casual and less buttoned-up, while still maintaining professionalism
- Wants to showcase a more aspirational/inspirational feel for their social media feed
An example of an executive with a passionate and enthusiastic persona is…
Elissa Liu, the CEO of Spark Growth and Influential Executive! For example, in this post, she shares why she believes remaining hybrid is important, especially at a time when many companies are going back to the office. Across her entire feed, she shares topics she’s personally and professionally invested in and what motivates her to succeed.
Authoritative and Informative
The next executive persona we want to highlight is the authoritative and informative tone. These are executives who enjoy sharing their expertise and opinion on a particular subject matter (often relating to the industry their company is in). Throughout their social media content, they come across as individuals who know what they’re talking about. Executives with this tone are often tapped for media interviews since they’re seen as knowledgeable thought leaders.
The authoritative and informative executive is someone who…
- Is an expert in their field and wants to share educational content with their followers
- Prefers using social media for strategic, business-oriented goals rather than personal goals
- Focuses on sharing thought leadership content that relates to their industry
- Is open to sharing long-form content in order to get their full thoughts across
An example of an executive with an authoritative and informative persona is…
Aaron Levie, the CEO of Box! He shares engaging, educational content on his X (formerly Twitter) account covering trending topics like AI, SaaS (software as a service), and technology. Making use of X’s long-form feature, he shares informative content such as the post below.
Edgy and Provocative
The last executive persona we’ll cover in part 1 of this series is the persona that typically gets the most engagement on social media: the “edgy” or “provocative” executive. These are often the outspoken CEO “superstars” that you see making headlines in the news — for better or worse. Executives with this persona often have strong opinions and aren’t afraid to share them. Compared to other executive personas, the provocative executive is less concerned about potential blowback from what they post on social media and is instead focused on sharing their true thoughts. The cost of getting a high number of “likes” and shares on everything they post is that they’re often quite divisive among social media users and stakeholders.
The edgy and provocative executive is someone who…
- Wants to speak their mind and isn’t worried if their personal branding or company branding takes a few hits in the process
- Has strong opinions, which may elicit strong reactions from other social media users on either side
- Thinks outside the box and doesn’t want to conform to the “typical” idea of a CEO
- Doesn’t want to be seen as “boring”
- Enjoys sharing authentic, personal content
An example of an executive with an edgy and provocative persona is…
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, and former CEO and current Chairman of X/Twitter. At one point years ago, we may have categorized Elon Musk under other executive archetypes, such as passionate/enthusiastic or daring/grandiose. However, since taking over Twitter, he has used his online platform to speak less about company endeavors, and more about his personal opinions. That being said, with less focus on sharing content about Tesla, other executives at the company are stepping up and using their social media presence to share strategic branded content.
Your Executive Social Media Tone Matters!
With more executives seeing the value in positioning themselves on social media to achieve business objectives, standing out amongst the crowd is important.
For executives thinking about leveraging social media strategically, here’s the #1 tip to keep in mind: be yourself.
A CEO might see others on social media getting a lot of attention and want to emulate that success, but it’s important to focus on your own social media strategy. Instead of “adopting” the type of persona you want to emulate, think about the message you want to convey to your stakeholders.
Stay tuned for two future articles where we’ll cover executive tones including humorous/cheerful, conservative/formal, daring/grandiose, curious/inspiring, and more!
Read more executive social media insights!