FOR FOUNDERS & CEOS
LinkedIn for founders: what to post, how often and whether to get help
A no-nonsense guide to getting your LinkedIn profile right, posting with a simple rhythm you can keep, and deciding honestly whether to get help.
A balanced look at why CEOs build a public profile, what can go wrong, and how to do it in a way that serves the company.
Most CEOs gain from a measured personal brand: a clear public point of view that earns trust with customers and staff, with investors, with the press. The risks are real. They include key-person dependency and reputational spill-over, plus disclosure rules for listed companies. Handled well, a CEO’s profile tells the company’s story instead of competing with it.
Very few CEOs need to turn into social media personalities. Yet nearly every CEO already has a public profile whether anyone manages it or not, which is why the real question behind whether a CEO should have a personal brand is about how it gets handled. Journalists search their name. Candidates do it before interviews. Investors and customers do it too, then read what the CEO says and make up their minds.
A lot of the advice out there comes from agencies selling CEO personal branding, and it tends to gloss over the downsides. This guide puts both sides honestly. Then it explains how to build a profile that helps the company without leaving it fragile.
It’s the public reputation of the person running the company. What do they stand for? What are they known for, and how do they come across? That reputation gets built from interviews and social posts, from speeches, from photographs or video. It also comes from how the CEO handles the difficult moments when they come.
It’s separate from the company brand but tightly bound to it. If you haven’t settled how the two should relate, start with the guide on personal brand vs business brand.
Most of the research here is survey-based, and communications firms produce a lot of it, so read it with care. One of the better-known studies is Weber Shandwick’s “The CEO Reputation Premium”, from 2015, which surveyed more than 1,700 senior executives in 19 countries. Respondents put 45% of their company’s reputation down to the CEO’s reputation. And 77% said a strong CEO reputation helps attract employees. It’s an old study of large companies, and it measures what executives perceive instead of proving cause and effect. Even so, it shows how seriously business leaders take the subject.
People trust a company more easily when they can see who runs it and what that person believes. That goes double in services, where clients are buying the leader’s judgement just as much as they’re buying any product or package the firm happens to sell.
Candidates often look up the CEO before they apply. A leader with a clear, human public presence makes the place feel worth working for.
Journalists go looking for people. Event organisers and would-be partners do the same. Logos don’t get booked. A CEO with a clear point of view and good assets (photographs, a bio, short video clips) is simply easier to feature or invite.
A CEO can explain why the company exists and what it stands for, in a way a corporate account seldom manages. Often the most efficient way to capture that story in the leader’s own words is a short documentary-style film or a series of filmed interviews shot over a day.
These are why some boards and founders hold back. They deserve a proper answer.
When customers, staff or investors are attached to the CEO instead of the company, the business gets more fragile. Illness can expose that dependency almost overnight, and so can a sudden departure or a sale of the business that nobody outside the boardroom saw coming. If succession or an exit is in your plans, get advice from a qualified adviser on how visibility could affect them.
One careless comment can turn into a company story fast. The same goes for an unpopular opinion or a personal controversy. The more visible the CEO, the further any mistake travels.
Listed companies face higher stakes. The FCA’s Primary Market Bulletin 42 reminds issuers that inside information has to be disclosed through a Regulatory Information Service. Social media alone won’t do. Any CEO who posts about trading, deals or results, even in passing, needs to work hand in hand with the company’s legal and investor relations teams. Regulated sectors such as financial services and healthcare have their own rules on top.
A CEO’s time is the scarcest thing the company has, so a personal brand that demands posting every day and constant engagement can drag attention away from running the business.
Staff and customers can spot the difference between a leader who shares credit and one who treats the company as a stage. Make the personal brand all about the CEO and it can undermine the very culture it was meant to show off.
Even then it usually makes sense to cover the basics. Get a good portrait and an accurate bio, plus an up-to-date LinkedIn profile, because people will search the CEO’s name whatever you decide.
On video, people see how a leader speaks and listens, and how they think on their feet. One well-made brand film or documentary-style interview series can be cut into dozens of short clips for social media and the website, or for recruitment. Every one of them comes out of a single day’s filming.
Curious what an outside team actually does in all this? See what a personal branding agency actually does.
We help CEOs and founders work out what they want to be known for and how that fits the company. We do it through brand design and documentary-style film, plus ongoing social media management. We listen first. Then we agree a clear brief and scope with you, along with the fee, before any creative work starts, and you review every piece before it goes out. Start a conversation to talk it through.
Executives believe it does, according to surveys. In Weber Shandwick’s 2015 study, respondents put 45% of their company’s reputation down to the CEO. Those are perceptions, not proof of cause and effect. Treat a personal brand as one part of reputation and never as a guarantee of results.
That depends on the audience. LinkedIn suits most business-to-business leaders. Instagram and Facebook suit consumer brands, and founders whose story is part of the product. Many CEOs find that press and podcasts count for as much as social media, and speaking does too.
It can, if the business leans heavily on the CEO personally. Sharing the spotlight with the team, and building a strong company brand next to it, reduces that risk. If a sale is planned, get advice from a qualified corporate adviser.
The ideas and opinions should be theirs, and so should the stories. Plenty of CEOs have a team do the drafting and editing, then review everything before it’s scheduled and published. The voice has to be authentic, and the CEO has to stand behind every word.
Anything that might be inside information, like unannounced results, deals or trading updates. The FCA says inside information must be disclosed through a Regulatory Information Service, not social media alone. Agree a policy with the company’s legal and investor relations teams.
A no-nonsense guide to getting your LinkedIn profile right, posting with a simple rhythm you can keep, and deciding honestly whether to get help.
A straightforward guide to planning, filming and cutting a founder story video that holds attention and earns its place on your website and social channels.
How to put your face and voice behind your business in a way that builds trust in the company, not just in you.
Four quick questions, and we’ll show you where we’d start. Your answers come straight to us with your message, so you won’t have to explain it twice.
A 30-minute introduction call on Microsoft Teams, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Your answers come with the booking, so we’ll be ready for you.
Prefer to talk it through? Make an appointment for a 30-minute call on Microsoft Teams, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
A closer look at the work behind each part of your plan.
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