How to do social media marketing for executives [Tips+ examples]

How to do social media marketing for executives [Tips+ examples]

Learn the best executive social media strategies to grow networks and engagements with other industry personnel and boost social media pages organically.

We live in the technology age. These days, the use of social media has become prevalent.

graph showing the increase in social media users over the years
graph showing the increase in social media users over the years

As much as an employer needs social media branding, it is also important for an executive to have social media strategies for branding.

You can positively influence your organization with the right social media strategy for executives. You can build strong trust in your brand with executive social media strategies.

Studies show that people are more likely to trust the company whose top-level executive or CEO they follow on social media.

Why is a social media strategy for executives needed?

A company's executives play a critical role in moulding how people think about the company. Through social media strategy for executives, people will be able to know more about the company’s profile and will be able to have faith in the company.

As per the reports, as of August 2022, it is known that 70% of Fortune 500 CEOs have a social media profile on at least one of the social media platforms.

The top-level executive can easily communicate with the employees through social media, which helps deepen the employer-employee relationship.

Provide information through your content to your target audience and help spread brand awareness and build your name and brand.

5 social media strategies for executives.

flow chart having 5 social media strategies for executives

Set the achievable objectives

When you start doing something, you know why you are doing it. The same goes for social media strategy for executives as well. One should know its purpose before implementing executive social media strategies.

smart goal setting

The executive should know why it is essential for their brand to have a proper brand image on social media and how it will be beneficial for them.

Set the relevant targets you want to achieve through executive social media strategies.

Know your audience well

Knowing to whom the content you are posting is reaching can help you tailor the appropriate content targeting them. Focus on getting to know, through insights, the large chunks of people who consume your content.

You can quickly learn to check insights from social media sites like Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn and know from which industry your target audience is.

Select the appropriate medium

Choose the social media platform you want to target wisely. Since executives are professionals, the best professional social media platform is LinkedIn.

Over 645 million professionals use LinkedIn to get industry insights and knowledge about relevant topics.

You can always go for other social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram.

So, don’t limit yourself; try as many social media platforms as you want.

Since the sky is the limit!

Select the content properly

Once you have appropriately selected the target audience and the social media platform you want to focus on for social media strategy for executives, the foremost step is to post the content accordingly.

flow chart showing 4 types of content

You can use quotes with your posts because quotes help motivate and encourage the person reading them. Quotes can be the best starter for any social media post.

You can take the help of some of the best quote websites to help with your content and AI content writing tools for creating the best social media posts.

Encourage the team to interact

Only posting the content won’t help. You need to market it as well. Initially, the followers will be fewer, but you will grow with time.

The employees or the team you are working with can help you grow. Ask them to interact with the content you have posted. You can ask them to repost.

This would help reach the content to people other than your followers, which would help grow your social media followers. This can be the best social media strategy for executives.

What social media strategies can executives use to balance their personal and professional brands?

Executives may need help to balance social media between their personal and professional brands. Executives must continue showing an image that matches the company's image.

  • Integrate Personal Brand with Business Values- Ensure your personal brand reflects the company's values, mission, and objectives. Your personal brand should maintain and improve the organization's overall brand identity.
  • Keep your personal and work accounts separate- It would be a good idea for executives to keep their personal and work-related social media profiles separate. This can assist in avoiding any possible conflicts of interest.
  • Be open about your affiliation with the company- executive should never hide their affiliation with the company. This can be achieved by including a link to the company's website in their profile bio and company title.
  • Monitoring your impact on social media - It is important to keep a check on social media to avoid the spread of misinformation through the content of any post.

Common mistakes should be avoided while implementing social media strategy for executives.

The following are some common mistakes to avoid when implementing social media strategies for executives.

Mistakes

Description


Impact


Inconsistent Branding


Lack of alignment between personal and company brands.

Affects the credibility of the brand by confusing the audience.


Over-Promotion:


Excessive focus on self-promotion without value to the audience.

Resulting in a loss of interest by the audience.

Ignoring Audience 

Failing to engage with the audience.

Diminishes trust and reduces audience loyalty.


Lack of Authenticity


Sharing false information.

Decreases the trust of the audience.


Controversial Content:


Posting controversial or potentially offensive.


Affects the reputation of the brand.


Some methods to measure the effectiveness of executive social media content

It is important to measure the effectiveness of the content posted by the executive on social media.

Metrics 

Description

Importance

Engagement (likes, comments, shares)

Indicates audience engagement with the content.

Measures how well the content resonates with the audience. 

Follower Growth

Tracking of the increase in followers over time.

Indicates the reach of the content to the audience.

Sentiment Analysis:

Analysing comments for positive or negative sentiment.

Helps in measuring the sentiment of the audience.

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

Percentage of users clicking on links within the content.

Measures the effectiveness of CTR.

Reach and Impressions

Measure content visibility.

Offers insight on how well the content is reaching the audience.

Content Performance

Comparing various content to know their effectiveness.

Helps in identifying the most engaging content format.

Most Effective Social Media Platforms for Marketing Executives.

Following is the list of social media platforms that are most effective for executive social media strategies.

LinkedIn

For professionals, LinkedIn is the most used social media platform. It helps connect with those working in the same industry.

graph showing the increase in LinkedIn users over the years
graph showing the increase in LinkedIn users over the years.

Post informative content through LinkedIn so like-minded people can engage with your post, and you can widen your audience.

You can learn some of the ways by which you can increase your LinkedIn followers and grow your page.

Twitter

Twitter is also one of the most popular platforms professionals use. You can add some of the visuals with the content posted, which will help attract the audience.

graph showing the increase in Twitter users over the years

You can learn to tweet effectively; it would help you reach a larger group of people and expand your network.

Quora

Quora is a question-asking platform related to various topics, and the other user answers their question with the knowledge they have.

Screenshot of a quora post of Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix

View post

With the help of Quora, executives can answer questions related to their domain and showcase their knowledge to the world.

Executives Using Social Media Examples.

Some examples of how executives use and thrive at social media platforms.

Satya Nadella [CEO of Microsoft]

Satya Nadella uses his LinkedIn page to inform the audience about the new things Microsoft works on. With this, people know what they are doing and feel connected with them.

Screenshot of a LinkedIn post of Satya Nadela, CEO of Microsoft

View post

Elon Musk [ CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX]

Elon Musk uses his Twitter [ now X] profile to update about what he is working on; he also posts memes to connect with his audience, which helps create a strong feeling of trust.

Screenshot of post of Elon Musk

View Post

Aman Gupta [CMO of BoAt Lifestyle]

Aman Gupta uses his social media pages to promote his brand, boAt Lifestyle. He has gained more than 1 million followers on his LinkedIn account. He regularly posts about recent happenings and finds a way to promote his brand.

Screenshot of LinkedIn post of Aman Gupta

View Post

Vineeta Singh [CEO of SUGAR Cosmetics]

Vineeta Singh, through her social media pages, talks not only about her brand, Sugar Cosmetics, but also about motivation and work-life balance and advocates women entrepreneurship.

Screenshot of LinkedIn post of Vineeta Singh, CEO of Sugar Cosmetics

View Post

These were some of the best examples of how executives use social media to connect with their audience and create strong trust and leadership among the audience.

You can also learn how to communicate with your audience through these examples.

Case Study on How John Schnatter Impacted Papa John’s Reputation

In 2018, Papa John's CEO John Schnatter faced a public relations crisis after using a racial slur during a conference call, sparking widespread outrage and resignation calls.

Schnatter used the N-word in a media training exercise, causing public outcry and condemnation for his insensitive and offensive language, comparing Colonel Sanders' slur use without repercussions.

Schnatter resigned as CEO, Papa John's stock price plummeted, and the company faced customer boycotts and lost significant sponsorship deals with the NFL and MLB.

Schnatter apologized for his remarks, but his attempts to control the damage were unsuccessful. He claimed unfair targeting and misunderstandings, but the damage to his reputation and company image was already done.

The CEO's racial slur incident at Papa John's damaged his reputation and customer trust, leading to a struggle for resurgence and multiple leadership changes, highlighting the impact of CEO actions.

Takeaways from the above case study

Responsibility of the CEO- The company's executives should be responsible for their actions, as wrongdoing can negatively impact their organization.

Accountability of their actions- The executives should be held accountable for any misconduct affecting the company.

Conclusion

In this blog, we learned how, through social media strategy for executives, the executives of various organizations can learn to grow their social media pages and connect with them effectively and efficiently.

With some effort, you can create brand awareness among the audience and build trust among them.

You can also use some social media management tools to implement social media strategy for executives in an effective way.

Build your social media executive brand using tools like Cache.

FAQS

Are executive social media strategies beneficial?

Ans. Social media strategy for executives helps create the brand image and faith among the audience.

What should the executives focus on while posting the content on social media?

Ans. While posting on social media, executives should focus on providing knowledge to the audience and sharing their views on relevant topics.

Which social media platform should be targeted for social media strategy for executives?

Ans. For implementing the top executive social media strategies, LinkedIn is the best social media platform to target.

Should the executives post the content on social media often?

Ans. Executives should post the content at least once a week to have a social media presence and focus on providing information to the audience.