I was back on the road last week to see some of our clients on the East Coast. One of the companies I met with — a multinational industrial manufacturing and engineering enterprise — has its entire C-suite on EveryoneSocial, including the global CEO who’s frequently at the top of the advocate leaderboard!
Not insignificantly, they also have their Chief People Officer, Chief Communications Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Marketing Officer, and a whole smattering of SVPs and VPs activated on EveryoneSocial and regularly sharing content to LinkedIn and X.
The best clients we’ve had over the years (the best advocacy programs, period) have been those where the C-suite supports social. Simply having a CXO say, “This is important” can be enough to drive a stellar advocacy program.
But, for the most part, it’s been just that: lip service. (Do as I say, not as I do).
That’s why it’s SO fantastic to see more CXOs prioritize social for THEMSELVES. And, as we all know, when your senior leadership publicly does something, it has a trickle-down effect to everyone else in the organization. Soon, other employees do it too!
So why is this happening now?
Well, first we should acknowledge that the VAST majority of CXOs you see active on LinkedIn and X (posting, engaging, etc.) aren’t doing it themselves — they’re typically supported by a member of the comms team.
Looking at EveryoneSocial client data over 2023, the majority of CXOs have a comms resource handling virtually all of their social. A lesser percentage have a comms resource handling most of it, and a small minority of CXOs do the majority of their social posting themselves.
However, over the last five years, the trend is clearly toward CXOs doing more — even if that’s a tiny bit — of social themselves.
But is there value if they’re not doing the sharing themselves? Heck yes!
The fact of the matter is that a CXO on social media is a high-powered content DISTRIBUTION channel. They’re better than a brand handle because:
1. They’re more authentic — they’re a real person.
2. Their posts, regardless of who writes or posts them, will rank higher and reach a broader audience because algorithms prioritize content from real people.
Brand advocacy for us has always been grounded in a simple principle: that every single person, regardless of their role, experience, tenure, etc., has the ability to be an advocate, become discoverable, grow a network, and drive engagement and reach through sharing.
CXOs just happen to do those things faster, bigger, and at a higher value than anyone else. They’re your alpha advocates.
If you need any more convincing, let’s put it this way: Every single person that matters to your company — employees, customers, partners, prospects, future hires, investors, etc. — are on social and they ALL want to hear from your leaders.
So, I’m calling it: CXO activation on social is going to be one of the leading trends for 2024. It’s been building all year, and it’s something every company can do to more effectively and efficiently DISTRIBUTE their content on social and reach their key audiences.
I’m also super happy to share that EveryoneSocial is the ONLY platform that provides tools tailored to the needs of CXOs and the marketing and comms that support them, from managing their profiles (as many as you want) to getting super detailed reporting on who they’re reaching.
If you want to activate your C-suite or understand more about how we help our clients in this area, simply schedule a demo. We’ll be happy to take you through all the details and offer a game plan to get your leaders activated and sharing.
