Social CEOs - 10 of the best examples of Leaders on LinkedIn

I have found the best way of unlocking a conversation about getting a CEO interested in using LinkedIn is by showing them what their peers are doing. It unlocks that competitive spirit!

We already know that few CEOs are active on social media platforms. For example, only 26% of FTSE 100 CEOs are posting regularly on at least one of LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram, according to FTI research.

But to me this just shines and even bigger light on those CEOs who are doing it well.

Here are ten examples of CEOs at companies with a turnover greater than $100 million who are getting great results from LinkedIn.

There's no countdown, so don't expect me to say who's the very best (it's subjective anyway). Also, the examples I've picked out have a Western bias, mainly because I mainly do business in the UK, EU and US and they're the markets I know best.

Right, that's the caveats over with, let's get started...

Reasons to believe: Bernard Looney has only been active on LinkedIn for a couple of years and was one of the first CEOs I noticed making a play on social media when we started Brightside (here's my breakdown from February 2020, when he had just 18k followers). He doesn't try to hide the fact he has a support team, but still manages to get his personal side across.

Followers: 146,279

Sample post: Introducing his new colleague, ?Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath, who heads up bp's low carbon business division, here

Reasons to believe: Aiman Ezzat has been CEO of Capgemini for a couple of years and like many of his colleagues, he has been active on LinkedIn for some time. Capgemini is one of the best examples of a social media savvy company - and having an active CEO and chair (Paul Hermalin is worth a follow too) is a big part of their success.

Followers: 61,479

Sample post: Recognising the end of Ramadan by celebrating Eid Al-Fitr, here

Reasons to believe: Unilever boss Alan Jope took over from Paul Polman (himself a big social media user) in 2019 and has been using LinkedIn regularly - mostly as an extension of the corporate news room, covering topics such as ESG, the war in Ukraine, international days and product developments. While I would like to see a few more personal posts, he is a prolific publisher and gets involved with comments.

Followers: 86,728

Sample post: Alan's video post about Unilever's Sustainable Development Goals, here

Reasons to believe: Financial services bosses aren't often big social media users, making NatWest CEO Alison Rose's use of LinkedIn all the more striking. As you would expect, there's the usual corporate content, such as results and company initiative, but I like Alison's use of photography and video to bring her feed to life. Plus she often comments on other people's posts, not just replying to her own.

Followers: 16,803

Sample post: A diary piece (including photo!) about her trip to Poland visiting staff - here

Reasons to believe: I know from personal experience that telecoms bosses sometimes get a rough ride from consumers and the media, so it's good to see Telstra CEO Andrew Penn so active on LinkedIn. Aside from his posts about connectivity, infrastructure investments, Telstra news and working from home, it is good to see him commenting proactively on partner and employee posts. Andrew is retiring soon and will be succeeded by Telstra's CFO Vicki Brady in September.

Followers: 104,808?

Sample post: Rural broadband rollout in Queensland, here

Reasons to believe: Accenture chair and CEO Julie Sweet uses LinkedIn to talk about leadership, ESG, company news and partnerships, and the future of work. She gets a fantastic response to most of her posts - although like many of her peers, it would be nice to see a bit more personal stuff, like this simple post honouring Madeline Albright, which got over 4.1k reactions.

Followers: 240,431

Sample post: Celebrating 60 years of Catalyst helping to create workplaces that work for women, here

Reasons to believe: GM chair and CEO Mary Barra is one of LinkedIn's biggest bosses on LinkedIn, with over 1.2 million followers. She mostly uses the platform to talk about GM's investments in electric and autonomous vehicles, which is interesting given the breadth of topics at her disposal (presumably a strike at Elon Musk and Tesla?).

Followers: 1,260,529

Sample post: An good example of a leader engaging with people who mention her - here (see the top comment)

Reasons to believe: Roz Brewer has a strong media profile, regularly featuring on the likes of CNBC, Forbes, Fast Company and Fortune, and often speaks at industry events. She uses LinkedIn well to amplify these appearances and expand on some to the developments at Wallgreens Boots Alliance as well as her own passion topics, such as DEI and wellbeing.

Followers: 42,070

Sample post: Lots of leaders publish content on international days and sometimes this comes across as rote or insincere, not so with Roz Brewer - check out her International Women's Day video here

Reasons to believe: Satya was the first tech executive I noticed using social media actively and giving the brand channels a run for their money in terms of reach and engagement. That was about six years ago and it's fair to say the rest of the market has caught up a bit. Mind you, he still has 9.8 million followers on LinkedIn and 5.5 million on Twitter, so can be regarded as one of the big hitters.

Followers: 9,803,734

Sample post: His 2021 end of year message was a good example of how content can work better on a personal account than a company page, here

Reasons to believe: I've been following Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan for a while and he gets stronger and stronger on Linkedin. Like Roz Brewer, he uses video well, whether that's for company announcements, explainers or in an 'ask me anything' format. Whoever is helping him with his feed is doing a good job on his tone of voice and ensuring there's a mix of personal and business-oriented posts. He's also the only CEO on my list currently using Creator Mode and has an 'Harry Potter'-style profile picture video.

Followers: 284,601

Sample post: Example of using video to explain radioligand therapy below.

The question of being a Social CEO

One of the aspects that CEOs at large companies struggle with is the idea that they are celebrities within their own business - and that often applies externally too. So when it comes to posting on social media, it's not uncommon to get hundreds, even thousands, of likes and comments.

On the one hand, this is a fantastic opportunity to extend the reach of their communications and tell the company's story in a more personal way.

But it also creates work in itself, ensuring that comments are replied to, or at least acknowledged.

These ten executives are some of the best on the platform, but they could still do a better job on the engagement front (Bernard Looney is perhaps the best example here), answering questions or proactively commenting.

The other problem is that when executives cede too much control to the comms team, the feed loses its personality and seems less authentic. This is a particular challenge in large businesses, where CEOs' time is precious and there are many moving parts to consider. The very best executive communications feels like you are hearing from the executive personally and the channel is not just an extension of the PR and marketing departments.

So, for me, the conversation between the comms team and CEO shouldn't start with "is it worth being active on LinkedIn?" - rather, "how can we help our audiences get closer to our business and feel they have a direct channel to our leadership team?"

Further reading:

• Comms leaders: here's how to help your CEO get on board with LinkedIn
• Ten lessons from social media savvy business leaders
• Why every brand needs a connected leader who inspires trust