Kathleen Booth here, filling in for Asad while he enjoys some well-deserved R&R.
Last week, the CEO and Co-founder of ceolist.org, Kalyan Kanakamedala, was fired by the board of his company following negative public reaction to one of his LinkedIn posts that went viral on the notorious Instagram account @bestoflinkedin. We know this because he shared this news with the world in this now-infamous LinkedIn post.
Why LinkedIn? “Since my company email has been revoked, I would like to use this space to address everybody who played a role in this betrayal.”
As a marketer, when I saw his public rant, my first thought was, “This is every marketing leader’s worst PR nightmare.” In fact, it got me thinking about the balancing act that CEOs and executives need to take when building their personal brands on social media.
At a time when AI has made the ability to create thought leadership content ubiquitous, authenticity has become a strategic necessity, especially on social media. But with more executives using platforms like LinkedIn, X, and even TikTok, there’s been a rise in public backlash, often fueled by accounts created solely to mock their posts.
The infamous "crying CEO" in 2022 and last week’s Jerry Maguire episode with Kanakamedala highlight these risks and point to the high stakes that B2B execs specifically are faced with.
After all, being polarizing on social can work well in B2C where sales cycles are short and the total addressable market (TAM) is large. But in a B2B setting where longer sales cycles mean the impact of a poorly worded post may not be apparent for weeks or even months, by the time the damage is done, it may be too late to salvage a large percentage of your customer base.
Still, research from Pavilion and Kickstand PR shows that 98% of tech executives believe building a personal brand on social media boosts business outcomes.
Given the potential brand risks, how should CEOs and execs be thinking about their presence on social media? Let’s break down the benefits and the risks.
The Benefits: Trust, Talent, and Transparency
The benefits of executive participation on social media are well-documented. According to the "Behind the Logo" report from Pavilion and Kickstand PR, executives who engage actively on social platforms help humanize their companies, attract top talent, and position themselves as industry leaders.
Social media is also where buyers form critical opinions; recent research by Pavilion and TrustRadius revealed that 86% of enterprise buyers short-list products they’ve heard of before even starting their research. Executives with strong personal brands can directly influence this initial discovery process.
Furthermore, these social platforms offer executives a direct line to their customers, employees, and investors. As TrustRadius found, 71% of B2B buyers typically go with their first choice from a short list, and buying decisions are increasingly based on familiarity and trust. Having a visible, credible leader at the forefront of a company can give that business a significant competitive edge.
The Risks: Public Missteps and Reputational Damage
Yet, for all the potential upside, the risks of executive participation on social media cannot be overlooked. Missteps on these platforms are met with swift, public, and unforgiving condemnation and mockery, underscoring the precariousness of the social media landscape, particularly for executives who may be less practiced in managing their digital personas.
The Pavilion and Kickstand report revealed that 79% of executives struggle to consistently produce original content, while 42% fear alienating segments of their audience when navigating sensitive topics.
These concerns are valid, especially when an offhand comment can quickly become a public relations nightmare.
Finding the Right Balance
So, what’s the solution? Should executives stay off social media entirely to avoid the risks? Perhaps these recent examples of CEO posts gone wrong will serve as a forcing function for execs to be more deliberate - and measured - in their approach to social media.
Kickstand PR CEO Molly George works with a lot of tech CEOs and execs looking to leverage LinkedIn for their personal and business brand. Here’s her take: “I'm of two minds. As the owner of an agency that manages brand and exec social programs and also has to handle crisis situations that can result from poor choices -- we always encourage our clients to be mindful about what they are posting about. That said, who wants to read a bunch of overly sanitized posts? I certainly would tune out from social if all of the posts lost their human-ness. There's a balance to strike between ‘brand protection’ and authenticity.”
The data shows that she’s right, and staying silent can be just as damaging. According to TrustRadius, 65% of tech investors see a lack of social media presence from top executives as a red flag. Both buyers and investors want to see who’s at the helm of a company, what they stand for, and how they interact with their audience.
Pavilion CEO Sam Jacobs, who has built a nearly 100,000 person following on LinkedIn that drives roughly 30% of the company’s new revenue, has found the right balance for himself by staying focused on topics relevant to his audience, avoiding politics, and carefully managing personal disclosures. As Jacobs puts it, "You have to figure out what you want to be known for and what feels authentic to you."
Another CEO who has built a large LinkedIn following, Alina Vandenberghe of Chili Piper, recently shared a post on LinkedIn (natch) advising that while there are many benefits to actively participating on LinkedIn, it’s wrong to assume that everyone should do it. She suggests asking yourself whether you have a unique point of view and expertise to back it up, whether you can truly empathize with your audience, and if you are capable of effectively managing your time to both work in the business and share on LinkedIn. If the answers to these questions are “no,” it might be worth focusing your time and talents elsewhere.
Haters Gonna Hate
Molly George adds: “I think the bigger issue here is the rise of snark accounts which seemingly only serve the purpose of shaming people for their social posts. We see, and now have data that shows, how valuable social media can be when executives leverage it, but I fear we're discouraging participation when everyone has to second guess whether their post is going to be put on blast and ridiculed. The majority of people on LinkedIn are doing the best they can and operating with good intentions. We should all be focused more on helping amplify good behavior and useful content, and less focused on trolling.”
In the end, the benefits of building a personal brand online far outweigh the risks—as long as there are boundaries and thoughtful strategies in place. Buyers, investors, and employees alike are increasingly looking to social media to form their opinions of companies, and those led by visible, trusted leaders are positioned to win.