How to Craft a Winning C-Suite Social Media Strategy

By: Christine Alexis, Social Media Manager, Region Americas, Schenker Americas, Inc.

December 30, 2019

LinkedIn has released their Top Voices List, which showcases professionals in a variety of industries who made an impact on the social media platform through their posts, articles and comments. It’s important to note that most of the professionals recognized were senior-level executives. This indicates that social media marketing shouldn’t be limited to just your organization and should include a strategy for senior-level executives.

If a senior executive takes the time to establish an active presence on social media, they will be seen as a thought leader, and as a result, your company will see an increase in brand awareness and engagement. Simply put, in an age when transparency is key, a C-suite strategy should be a part of your company’s overall social media effort.

Here are a few easy ways you can launch a successful C-suite social media presence.

Choose which networks to utilize. Depending on your industry, one channel may be more beneficial than others. Here are a few of the recommended channels.

LinkedIn: This channel is ideal for B2B networking and an excellent tool for showcasing thought leadership pieces and partnerships. Ed Bastian, the CEO of Delta Airlines, is quite successful at capturing his audience’s attention in this way. He does so via a behind-the-scenes look into Delta Airlines, conveying a level of transparency.

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Facebook: This channel is a great way to show a more personal side of your executive. The CEO of PepsiCo, Ramon Laguarta, balances business-oriented and personal messaging.

Twitter: This channel is great for quickly sending concise updates and connecting with the media. Adena Friedman, the CEO of Nasdaq, does a great job at sharing her organization’s tweets and expounding on them, thus establishing thought leadership.

Instagram: This is a great channel for visual storytelling, and Hans Vestberg, CEO of Verizon, excels at it. His page is extremely down-to-earth, eschews uniform filters and shows followers that he is an everyday guy. He offers an exclusive look at the people and faces behind Verizon’s logo.

Create a consistent and well-structured profile. Before you begin posting, it’s best to ensure that your senior executive’s profile is updated and contains their profile photo, biography and relevant headlines. Be diligent about consistent formatting.

Connect with other social media influencers and brands. Allocate 30 minutes a week to connect with other industry professionals, colleagues and potential customers. This will help forge genuine connections, increasing your engagement and overall network growth.

Entertain, educate and be human. Your executives’ posts should be unique, captivating and reflective of their skills and expertise. C-suite accounts should share industry-related articles, pictures from conferences and cross-posts of their organizations’ existing social media content. It’s important to include a healthy mix of static images and videos. The audience should have a window into small parts of the executive’s personal life: What’s the most recent podcast they listened to? Can they comment on a great book they just read, or share a selfie from a (non-confidential) meeting that they attended? This will help increase exposure and reach, while humanizing the executive.

Incorporating a C-Suite strategy into your social media strategy is a win-win, because the senior executive will be positioned as a thought leader and your organization will experience increased brand awareness. This strategy will not require a substantial amount of time to create and implement, and who knows? Maybe next year your executive will make LinkedIn’s Top Voices List.