How Top CEOs promote their company on LinkedIn

Here’s some tough love. If the written words of your c-suite start with, “I’m pleased to share our award” - your leaders need help to refine their voice, and your comms team might need a copy upgrade.

On the pyramid of social posts, being pleased is on the bottom floor. Emotion drives buying decisions and employee retention. It’s time for blue-chip CEOs to step up and show bold personality. Every single business is exciting.

From new product launches to communications crises - modern CEOs are stepping up and communicating with character. 

Here are 7 CEOs who are true champions of their business.

Company milestones

It's puzzling how many CEOs will share canned posts celebrating "world days", but won't promote business milestones or speak to customer pain points. You don't need to be Uber to be interesting. Think about your customer. Dara Khosrowshahi just happens to have many of them.

High-quality marketing content

Before telling me your brand isn't Nestle, remember that leaders invest where they see the value, regardless of the industry. Unfortunately, many B2B leaders don't see the value in content production, and that's a misunderstanding of how future customers will buy.

B2B should invest in world-class content featuring industry influencers. For Guillaume Le Cunff, that influencer just happens to be Clooney. Yours might be a top cyber security advisor.

Celebrating financial results

You've invested time and dollars into your financial results whitepaper that's housed on your website. But odds are, more stakeholders would consume the information if it was shared on the channels your customers use. And compared to the Nestle example, the cost of this video was zero.

Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO of L'Oreal is a video-publishing powerhouse.

Facing communications crises head-on

During the start of the Ukraine/Russia war, Ben van Beurden, Former CEO of Shell, owns his decisions/mistakes, adds context, apologizes, and shares a plan for the future. If one of the world's largest oil & gas companies can tackle social issues through its CEO, it's fair to say the rewards outweigh the risks. No excuses.

Large financial investments

Investments demonstrate trust in leadership and are worth celebrating. Investors and employees now have the expectation that leaders are public figures. Share this news from the mountain tops.

Sam Jacobs, CEO of Pavillion, articulates what this investment means for customers. Bang-on.

Sam is one of the greatest communicators on the platform, and a strongly recommended follow.

Industry events

Andy Byrne, CEO of Clari, whom I refer to as a Creator CEO.

High volumes of high-quality content, shared on modern channels, focused on the customer. There is no self-promotion with Andy, it's 100% value-add. He's also vocal about the ROI of LinkedIn and other modern channels. This is one of many posts leading up to the Clari Charge Revenue Summit.

Acknowledging employees

Great leaders know, there's a difference between congratulation and recognition. Especially when that recognition is made publicly.

Use social channels to highlight the talent that drives your organization. Make sure to go deep in the description and call out unique stories. Take a page from Mary Barra, CEO of GM, and top night LinkedIn Influencer.

Your company Narrative

We should all take some inspiration from Ryan Reynolds. Humor sells. Not willing to push your brand this far? At a minimum, create content that entertains and educates.

When was the last time you simply showcased your organization to the world?

I'm building Trends.ceo - Leadership Marketing program for executives.

To help leaders become trusted publishers, we monitor their industry news, write posts, connect with customers, and get them in front of the camera.

Build your profile and own your industry.

Book a call with me

Dan