"The human social world has become more digital than real." It is with this phrase that the researchers sought to investigate the digital presence of CEOs on LinkedIn, based on an analysis of the posts of 250 CEOs in 2022. The digital presence ranking was prepared considering engagement variables, posting frequency, and follower base. The results show great variation in the performance of executives, and most of them are practically absent.

In the article, published by the GV Executive magazine, from the School of Business Administration of São Paulo (FGV EAESP), Felipe Bogéa, researcher at the Center for Digital Marketing Studies at FGV EAESP, Lilian Carvalho, professor and coordinator at FGV EAESP, Ana Rosa Vieira, head of data at the F2F agency, and Leonardo Colombelli, business intelligence analyst at the F2F agency, it is clear that most Brazilian CEOs still do not explore the full potential of LinkedIn as a tool for communication and building personal and corporate branding.

Executives who stand out on the platform are able to balance the communication of business-related topics with the strengthening of their personal image.

"An active presence of CEOs on social media can bring benefits to the organization and to the executive himself. From the company's perspective, the interaction of the main leader in the networks can reinforce the strategic positioning and organizational values and bring together different stakeholders around a common goal," the researchers said.

LinkedIn presence

In the United States, studies show that approximately 50% of CEOs do not have a LinkedIn profile. In Asia, Australia and New Zealand, similar levels are found.

The objective of this research was to evaluate how the executives of the largest companies present in Brazil are communicating through LinkedIn. According to HootSuite's We are Social report, in 2022, LinkedIn had 52 million members in the country. It is by far the social network with the largest presence of C-suite executives with professional profiles.

The active presence of CEOs on social networks can bring reputational and financial benefits to companies. Only 5% of CEOs surveyed are highly active on LinkedIn, while 45% are absent from the platform.

Engagement: Content, regularity and followers

Business leaders who want to achieve competitive performance in relation to the top ten in this ranking need to invest in the various forms of content available on LinkedIn. Posts in image format or articles had higher average engagement than other formats, such as videos, polls, or carousels.

If they want to prevent their posts from underperforming, CEOs should avoid celebration-type posts (e.g., "celebrating seven years at the company") because they had lower engagement compared to the other types of content analyzed.

The CEOs evaluated in this ranking had, on average, 31 publications in 2022 and nine shares of their publications by other accounts. However, it is crucial to remember that other factors, such as the quality and relevance of the content, as well as the timing of publication, also exert a significant influence on the volume of interactions in each post.

LinkedIn profile

The most successful executives on LinkedIn act as spokespeople for their companies, sharing business-related content. Studies show that CEOs' presence on social media makes them feel energized, motivated, and proud. There is a correlation between the size of the follower base and the engagement of CEOs' posts.

If there are so many benefits, why have research shown that half of CEOs don't even have a LinkedIn profile? In addition to the lack of time – an issue easily solved by the support of corporate communication teams – CEOs are afraid to expose themselves. In Brazil, research on the subject is scarce.

There are, in fact, reputational risks in social media. That is why it is also necessary to be careful with the CEO's personality traits. These risks on LinkedIn are relatively low, with most comments being favorable. One-way communication is prevalent among the most successful CEOs. Outsourcing content production can help overcome obstacles such as lack of time or personal skills.

Perspectives

The study identified that executives with a prominent presence on LinkedIn can serve as an inspiration for other business leaders. These references help to analyze themes, forms of communication, types of interaction, and best practices that can be adapted to each leader.

Executives and companies should look for ways to ensure the performance of their leaders, and not that CEOs need to write posts or interact with users, since content production can be outsourced to internal teams or specialized suppliers.

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