Building an executive thought leadership program

Let’s talk numbers … especially for anyone on the fence about the importance of getting your executives to use social media.

• 82 percent of employees will research a CEO’s online presence when considering whether to join a company.
• 71 percent of consumers are more likely to buy from a company if its CEO is active on social media.
• Executive statements shared online will earn more reach than those made in traditional news.
• 92 percent of professionals say they are likelier to trust a company whose senior executives use social media.
• 64 percent of buyers say leadership content is a more trustworthy basis for assessing a company’s capabilities and competency than its marketing materials.
• 85 percent of business leaders say their stakeholder relationships are improved by actively engaging on social media.

The research doesn’t tell us what happens when executives are not strategic and thoughtful about what they post. Google “biggest CEO bloopers and the fallout” to get an idea. Let’s explore how one company approached the challenges and opportunities of executive brands and thought leadership.

The challenge

A global tech manufacturer was setting up a new division to expand its edge computing products. Along with the usual growing pains, the division needed to quickly build credibility and amplify wins. The communications team saw an opportunity to use their executives to share their insights, industry trends, and engineering expertise to gain attention. However, it would be a heavy lift for internal teams, and several of the executives weren’t necessarily excited about social media.

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The plan

The communications team contacted Delightful to build its executive thought leadership program. The plan was to start with a pilot to prove the strategy would have an impact. If the pilot succeeded, the team would add more executives in a steady cadence. To establish an authentic voice for executives, we work with them to home in on who they are as leaders, their business priorities, potential audiences, areas of expertise, and what gets them fired up about their work. The outcome is:

• A strategic leadership framework that outlines their goals, audiences, key messaging pillars, voice, and competitive analysis of other thought leaders in their space.
• A personalized social media plan and cadence that could include LinkedIn or Forbes Tech Council articles, video series, key events support, or third-party outreach.
  

• An editorial calendar charting sourced and curated comment and engagement opportunities aligned with their interests. Because we were working with several executives, we could have them cross-promote each other’s messages or brand moments.
• Ongoing data analysis tracked reactions to each post, which helped us shift content or topics to engage their audiences better.

Building a voice and a brand

Maybe the biggest challenge in building a voice and a brand is getting an executive to sit down with you for a 30-minute meeting to talk. Most don’t think about their work in terms of personal vision or mission. But executives can tell you what gets them out of bed and why they love their work, team, and organization. Where they stand on work/life balance and self-care. They are animated when talking about mentoring others or making sure they show up as an ally for causes important to them. They can talk about business priorities at the macro and micro levels. You usually walk away from a meeting like that as one of the exec’s newest and biggest fans. We shape these conversations into frameworks that guide where and how executives show up, what they talk about, and how they can be trustworthy thought leaders.

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The outcome

Over two years, the program grew from a small pilot to 14 executives. Year over year, executives saw an average follower growth rate of 25 percent on LinkedIn. In fiscal year 2023, the program garnered 2.1 million impressions and over 33,000 engagements.

Let’s talk