You’re a CEO and you’re thinking about using LinkedIn for your business. But you don’t want to post yourself. Maybe you want to outsource writing to your assistant, a ghostwriter, or your marketing agency, or have your employees post instead.
Well, we say different. You should personally be posting – and this article will make the case for doing so.
Before you read on, though, there’s one caveat: not every CEO should post. The following benefits only apply if your ideal customers are active on LinkedIn. Make sure you’ve validated LinkedIn as a marketing/community-building channel before you invest time and energy into building up your profile.
User Posts > Company Posts
Humans like other humans. That’s the simple truth underpinning all social media. It’s why LinkedIn company profiles almost never work – except when they’re used to amplify content from employees. If you’re paying a social media agency to ‘get results’ on LinkedIn with just a company page, they’ll be fighting a very uphill battle. (Trust us. We speak from experience.)
Customers, investors, partners, employees, peers – they want to hear from you. Not your company page. Not a ghostwriter. Not a social media agency. They want to get your thoughts and experiences and spiky PoVs right there in their feed. If you’ve identified LinkedIn as a good community-building and marketing channel, you need real humans posting on behalf of your brand.
Of course, ‘real humans’ doesn’t have to mean you. You can absolutely get good results by having other executives, senior leaders, or even ICs posting. But there are plenty of reasons you should post personally, so keep reading.
Run the Employee Ecosystem
If you’re not sold on LinkedIn as a marketing channel, take five and go read this article. (We break down 3 playbooks that you can use to convert connections to customers.) In that article, one of our suggested frameworks is called ‘the Employee Ecosystem’ – your employees optimise their profiles, identify ICP-fit people, connect with them, and start posting.
Now, the Employee Ecosystem works well … except when your employees don’t actually post. Two common reasons:
- they’re at capacity (solve this by allocating dedicated posting time)
- they don’t see the value in it.
Education can help address that second cause, but it’s infinitely easier if you just lead by example. Show your opted-in employees that posting is possible for busy people. Emphasise that promoting your brand is a desirable behaviour. Remember: culture is created from the top down.
You’re the Chief Brand Officer
There’s a saying: a company’s CEO is its Chief Brand Officer (a shout-out to any actual CBOs reading this). That’s because you are, ultimately, responsible for shaping your brand. If you don’t identify an ideal brand identity and create an organisation that actualises that vision, it doesn’t matter what taglines or logos your marketing agency comes up with – they’ll be hollow, a mask that slips as soon as someone interacts with your company.
And, as CEO, you are the public voice and face of your brand. Have a compelling strategic narrative you’re trying to sell to investors? Post about it on LinkedIn. Want to cast your mortgage broking firm as a hero standing up against the high interest rates of the big banks? Post about it on LinkedIn. Trying to defuse a PR crisis with an explanation? Post about it on LinkedIn.
Note: Posting helps your company, but it benefits your personal brand too. Think about your legacy – how can LinkedIn help you build your profile as a successful leader and subject expert?
Check the Community’s Pulse
If your ICP is active on LinkedIn, they’re probably in a community of some kind. And, often, that community happens to be a slice of their industry – think SaaS marketing or employment law. If you’ve built up your network using the Search-and-Connect playbook, many of your connections will probably be in that same community.
That makes LinkedIn perfect for understanding your ideal customers – a place for you to spread new ideas and gauge your ICP’s reaction. It’s a free testing ground for your business, and one that’s almost without risk for SMBs. (CEOs of publicly traded companies have to be a little more careful about what they post on social media.)
LinkedIn = Online Networking
First and foremost, LinkedIn is a networking platform. Depending on your business’s size, you probably already spend time going to conferences, meeting investors, and developing new business opportunities. Doesn’t it make sense to add LinkedIn to your lineup?
Posting online might not have the same effect as meeting someone in person, but it does give you a chance to put forward your brand’s ideas and unspool at length. Over time, the accumulation of that posting is much more powerful than a one-off business card exchange. You’ll attract like-minded people – including potential employees who like what you have to say. (And those candidates will be substantially better than anything you’ll get off Seek or LinkedIn Jobs.)
But I …
Many CEOs understand, intellectually, the benefits of posting on LinkedIn. But that understanding is often tempered by objections.
- ‘I’m running a business. I don’t have time for social media.’
- ‘I don’t know what to say. I’m not creative.’
- ‘What if I post something that comes across the wrong way?’
- ‘Can’t my marketing agency do it for me?’
- ‘I hate writing. I’m no good at it.’
Our take:
- You do have time – you just don’t think LinkedIn is a priority. You can get decent results with as little as an hour a week, and many SMB and enterprise CEOs do. If Elon Musk, one of the busiest people in the world, can turn X into his personal megaphone, then you can build a community in your corner of LinkedIn.
- You have plenty to say. You’re a highly successful person with expertise in leadership, recruitment, strategy, and more. You just need some help drawing out the ideas, and that’s where a good social media agency can help. They’ll train you and give you frameworks to spark the creative process.
- Your LinkedIn takes should be mildly controversial. That’s what makes them interesting. If you’re worried about making a faux pas, get someone with marketing/comms experience to check them before you post. And don’t post when you’re feeling emotional. (When it doubt, write a post, let it sit for a day, and re-read it with fresh eyes before hitting that big blue button.)
- No. We can’t (or, rather, we shouldn’t). See the start of this article. We’re smart, but we’re not you – and we definitely don’t have the unique blend of leadership and industry knowledge that your ideal customers are after. Besides, do you really want to put your personal and company brands in the hands of someone else?
- Try posting 3 days a week for a month. You might surprise yourself and you’ll definitely improve. If you still don’t like writing, try recording quick vertical videos instead (LinkedIn loves them). Just don’t use AI to draft your posts. People can tell.
Convinced that you should be posting on LinkedIn? Good. Now schedule a free consultation with us and we’ll tell you exactly how to get started.
