Why do so many B2B execs refuse to embrace LinkedIn? (And what can marketers do about it?)

In a world where social media drives the news agenda and influencers regularly gain more attention than experts, many B2B executives treat their LinkedIn profiles as little more than a digital business card. Why have so many failed to embrace this cornerstone of modern relevance, and what can their marketing teams do to change things?

I consistently see the same four challenges: misplaced negativity, lack of time, a perceived lack of talent and a deep scepticism. Before I talk more about each, and offer a counter argument, let’s just quickly review LinkedIn’s weighty position in the marketplace.

It is the largest social media tool in the business world by a significant margin, with more than 800 million users worldwide. More than 49% of users report earning more than US$75,000 a year, allowing us to assume they are decision makers or influencers within their companies. LinkedIn is now established as the default channel for recruitment in the business world, but has also become the go-to place to search for business content, thanks to 96% of B2B marketers using it as a publishing platform. LinkedIn claims that their lead conversion rates are three times higher than other marketing platforms, and 40% of B2B marketers say it’s the digital platform that drives the highest quality leads. Granted, these stats are all from LinkedIn, but even if they’re over-stating a bit they still offer a compelling channel to market. Especially running an executive profile is free.

If the numbers aren’t enough for you, here’s a real-world anecdote. Several years ago I was called in to do some training after a blue-chip consultancy lost a multi-million pound deal to a competitor due to its executives’ poor LinkedIn profiles.? The prospective customer considered the finalists’ proposals equally strong; the decision had come down to the people delivering the work. Though both competitors had included impressive team biographies in their pitches, when the decision makers cross-checked the proposed team members’ LinkedIn profiles they found a vast gap. One team had rich, active profiles that validated the proposal biographies and showed the individuals as credible thought leaders. The other team’s profiles were mostly inactive, in many cases not even updated to reflect the skills they said they would deploy within the project. Failure to live up to modern social media standards cost that team the deal of their year.

When numbers, anecdotes and common sense make such a compelling case, why are so many B2B executives’ profiles so sterile? More importantly, how can marketing teams convince them to change their ways?

Misplaced Negativity

There are executives who lump all social media in the same toxic space. This feeling seems to be growing as X and Meta remove fact checking and celebrate a more combative exchange of ideas. LinkedIn’s Professional Community Policies are far stricter than those other social platforms, maintaining fact checking and removing content that is “synthetic or manipulated”. Plus, the very nature of the community restrains negativity; nobody wants “troll” coming up when recruiters consider them for roles.

?There is nothing to stop a disgruntled employee or angry customer from posting comments on an exec’s account. But this is no different than any interaction in the real world. How that exec deals with online criticism can not only burnish his or her reputation, but allows a relatively safe space to lay out reasonable responses.

Lack of Time

Executives claim they’re too busy for such soft stuff. In reality, a great social feed can take as little as a few minutes a day. And as my anecdote up top proves, it is definitely not soft. It’s a simple matter of working it into a routine, often made easier by tools and support offered by marketing teams. Most execs probably spend as much time scanning the headlines for news of their company and their competitors; this is just as important an act of basic business operations.

Perceived Lack of Talent

“I’m no good at communications,” say many. A belief persists amongst many B2B execs that you need marketing and writing skills to produce a good LinkedIn feed. In truth, it’s almost the opposite. The hunger for “authenticity” means audiences are generally far more interested in what executives have to say than anything spun by the marketing department. In my experience, executives’ personal profiles earn an average of five to 10 times more engagement than official corporate feeds when they’re both posting about the same topics. People want the human angle, not the official line. Besides, communications is a fundamental part of any leadership role. LinkedIn simply shows off those skills to a broader audience. Additional social media skills can be learned, and most companies will have marketers who can help.

Deep Scepticism

However, the biggest problem in my experience is a deep-rooted and long-established snobbery towards social media. Executives dismiss it as relevant for consumer goods, or for young people, but too insubstantial to matter for massive, B2B purchases. While it’s true that B2B deals are unlikely to see the impulse buys that drive so many consumer transactions, much of consumer psychology is the same whatever you’re buying. Attention spans, preferences for how one receives information, the desire to trust the people you’re buying from … these are universal.

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Many executives will happily acknowledge that social media needs to be part of the marketing mix. Few who didn’t grow up with it will naturally embrace their personal participation.

The biggest challenge for many marketing departments will be coaxing their execs past these prejudices. Then convincing time-poor executives to add yet another item to their to-do list, embracing it with enthusiasm.

In my next article I’ll talk about how an objective audit and a business-focused plan with measurable results can challenge those stubborn perceptions.