Executives who implement a LinkedIn strategy gain a true competitive edge particularly since 61% of CEOs have no social presence whatsoever according to the Social CEO reported in CEO.com.
Learn how other CEOs grow their LinkedIn presence and garner insights for your profile.
In the same report, 70% of CEOs who are active on just one social network joined LinkedIn first. With that said, I see many CEOs LinkedIn profile’s that are incomplete, no details in any sections other than their name, company, and a photo, simply said this does not build a positive first impression.
At some point they decided to join the network but they did not take advantage of the power in personal branding. Employees look to leadership as an example, so do potential employees. What message is sent when the C-Level executives have incomplete Profiles?
CEOs Build Credibility for the Organization
Chief Executive Officer: It could be communicating:
• Indifference
• No corporate social policy
• No social influence by leadership in their market
• Lack of personal branding at C Level
How CEOs Grow Their LinkedIn Presence
LinkedIn is the top social network for CEOs and investing in their LinkedIn presence starting with profile building for all C level executives can offer a competitive advantage while growing brand value. The real bonus comes from humanizing the brand when the CEO and executives show up. People buy from people first and brands second, so when CEO’s become more visible they can often become more likable along with building trust.
Example’s of CEO’s that demonstrate such likeability and brand authority are:
Sara Blakely
A few of these leaders may be well-known but that does not mean the leadership at your company cannot grow their LinkedIn presence and gain a competitive advantage, drive innovation and build a personal brand. Developing corporate brand awareness is doable by showing up on the #1 social platform for professionals in the world. We all have a career story including CEOs and with the trend for company’s to be more transparent, LinkedIn offers the most professional of social platforms to build brand awareness, share valued content and engage with employees, prospects, and stakeholders.
What CEO has time for LinkedIn or any other social platform? Fair enough question and concern. With the help of your marketing or communications department, they can assist the CEO by monitoring their invitations, posting company content as status updates or engage on the company page. These tasks can be delegated rather than the CEO remaining invisible. Being invisible simply sends the opposite message.
If your company does not have a communications professional to assist, consider training an administrative assistant, marketing or social media staff to assist. There are too many benefits to not show up on this platform.
Social Savvy CEO’s Attract Social Savvy Talent
In today’s competitive environment attracting good talent is always a priority. When someone considers working for your organization they will check out the leaders of your organization and those people who could be their colleagues on LinkedIn.
According to a report by Spherion Staffing, 47% of Millennials now say a perspective employer’s online reputation matters as much as the job it offers.
Social savvy employees also attract talent. When your people are using LinkedIn regularly, they become visible to those who are seeking employment. That means, empowering your employees to have updated profiles and encouraging them to be engaged with what is happening at your company is.
Not only is the CEOs presence a boost to recruitment it also is important to retention. HR will be happy to see the C Level executives play a greater role, their presence can be a boost to retaining great talent that companies work so hard to attract in the first place.
How CEO Influencers Impact Their Brand
CEOs have the ability to influence and share their leadership by publishing short-form posts or articles on LinkedIn.
When anyone opens your profile they will see the posts and articles under your activity section.
CEOs may not have the time to be writing content with frequency, but they do have opinions that are interesting and thus worth sharing and gaining the benefits from the exposure.
It is not unheard of that you can gain hundreds of followers on your first article or post if it is interesting and perhaps timely.
Top strategies for executive’s publishing content
• Write about topics in which you want to be known for
• Share your opinion as a leader
• Craft a compelling headline
• Share what your company is doing in the market
• Add an attention-getting photo
• Include a call to action at the end – include things such as asking readers for their comments
• Add a paragraph about yourself with a link back to the company website
Again, humanizing the brand with the CEO sharing opinions and generally being more engaged beyond the boardroom is a trust-building factor that builds advocacy with employees and consumers alike. .
Top strategies for moving a LinkedIn initiative forward & building a LinkedIn program
- CEO sets initiative & budget for team
- Develop team of leaders in organization to implement initiative
- Recognize possible social savvy employees to get involved
- Create a road map or plan
- Determine how to measure success for your organization
Get More Results for your CEO LinkedIn Profile
CEO LinkedIn Services – develop a content strategy
JoAnne Funch, owner of LinkedIn for Business: knows how to improve a CEO’s presence on LinkedIn build their professional authority as a leading CEO and how to increase a CEO’s chances to get noticed on LinkedIn.
2 Responses
Thanks for sharing, JoAnne! Is it any surprise Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn has a model LinkedIn profile for CEOs? https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffweiner
thank Christina for the comment, yes Jeff Weiner is an obvious model – but there are so many others too. great to see.