Five Ways to Use LinkedIn to Position Your Executives as Thought Leaders

LinkedIn is by far the top social media platform for business – just ask its 720+ million users. But if your company’s executives are only using LinkedIn like a resume (and there are millions that are), they’re missing out on a real opportunity to stand out as Thought Leaders. To put it bluntly, your content marketing efforts need the voices of your visionaries to help grow your business. Anything less than 100 percent buy-in from them is simply not enough.

So, how can you help your executive make the most of LinkedIn as part of your Thought Leadership program? Here are five ways:

• Get moving on LinkedIn’s new audio events feature. It’s literally brand new – launching in beta in January with a new video version coming in the spring. LinkedIn reported a 150 percent year over year growth of its Live Events platform in its

According to TechCrunch, the new events platform looks to be similar to Clubhouse and includes “tools to run interactive content end-to-end, with no need to use any other third-party software: hosts will be able to record and run the event straight from LinkedIn, and it will feature tools for online attendees and hosts to speak to each other in live conversations and to moderate discussions; and for attendees to communicate to each other both during and after events take place.”

That’s huge for companies looking for a new platform to connect with their audiences, and executives with their customers. It also sounds a lot more fun than yet another Zoom conference!

• Update those bios. While LinkedIn has moved well beyond being a resume site, some executives are two or three jobs behind or have very sparse profiles. Before you involve them in PR or content marketing and position them as a visionary ANYWHERE, make sure:
  • Their profile is up to date with their latest role
  • They have a LinkedIn-specific bio that is a little more laid back than the formal company one on your website
  • They have posted at least 2-3 pieces of relevant content in the past few weeks. This could be content from your company blog, a press release, a video or any other company content
  • They are liking and commenting on articles and posts in other members’ feeds

• Utilize ultra-short-form content. Ultra-short-form content sometimes works better than short-form content. Check out the results social media trainer Chuck Hester got on his recent spot test: short form content (a 30-word post) performed 20 times better than a 350-word post on the same topic. It’s worth conducting tests to see what works best for your executives and your audiences and continue down the most successful path.
• Develop a specific section in your Content Calendar for LinkedIn. Executives are busy and sometimes need that shove to get them thinking creatively and writing. Help move them along by devoting some room in your Content Calendar specifically to LinkedIn and the topic(s) they wish they could write more about. That way both you and your executive are held accountable for gaps in coverage.
• Minimize self-promotion of the company. While some posts can lead directly to sales, most lead to better – and longer-term – relationships. Your readers are looking for executives to be visionaries and self-promotion detracts from the message you are trying to deliver.

Once you’ve established a cadence with your executives, track your metrics over time and share them with the company. It may entice additional executives to participate, and suddenly you have a LinkedIn Thought Leadership strategy that’s delivering real results across the company.

Want to learn more about how Calysto uses LinkedIn to help position Thought Leaders across its client base? Contact us.