Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, has a button he can push that instantly gives him access to an audience larger than the New York Times. That button is the “Post” button on his personal LinkedIn account. Looking solely at the numbers, Nadella’s 11 million LinkedIn followers narrowly edge out the New York Times’ 10 million readers across online and print. What Nadella and many CEOs like him have achieved is remarkable: They have acquired an engaged audience comparable to the largest media outlets in their respective industries simply by having a voice.
Not to be overlooked, the Times also delivers credibility based on its independence and long-standing reputation, but hearing directly from the CEO of the world’s largest company more than matches this, and the same holds true for CEOs in almost every industry. Audience and credibility can be built by having a deliberate and focused approach to crafting the CEO’s voice, and if said voice is insightful, engaging and consistent over time, it can deliver returns to the business. This is what I refer to as return on voice (ROV).
Understanding Return On Voice
How valuable is ROV? Well, it’s fairly simple to calculate. The world of public relations has long held that independent media coverage is worth three times the publication’s advertising rate. So, the dollar return from a one-page article is equivalent to three times the cost of a one-page advertisement. If a CEO’s direct audience size is equivalent to that of the leading publication in their industry, every time they click “post” on LinkedIn, they can deliver an ROV equal to three times this advertising rate.
The argument for independent media coverage being three times the advertising rate lies in the credibility associated with the independence of the media, and CEOs talking about their own businesses are unlikely to be seen as “independent.” However, trust in traditional media has been declining for years, with more people getting their information directly from industry experts and social media personalities—and company CEOs. According to a study by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, a mere 32% of Americans trust traditional news, with younger generations far preferring news directly from the source.
The shift from traditional outlets to social media for both supply and trust of information has been happening for years, but CEOs are still behind the adoption curve. While Satya Nadella is highly visible on his LinkedIn, roughly a third of all American CEOs still don’t have LinkedIn accounts, and of the 64% who do, many have either never posted or post less than once a month. These insights show that CEOs are missing out on the opportunity to deliver return on voice to their business.
Building Your LinkedIn Presence
Encouragingly, many CEOs seem to understand that having a large, engaged audience on LinkedIn is an important asset and differentiator in their industries. So why are so few active? There are a few common reasons for this: The CEO may be busy and have little time to be a social media influencer, they may not have the confidence to have such a public voice, or they may not know how to budget for it because they don’t start by calculating the potential return on voice.
When the potential return on voice is in the millions of dollars, and when your position as CEO or executive gives you an unfair advantage in being seen as an industry leader, it can be an attractive investment. However, I have found that the time and fear barriers mentioned above can be overcome by appointing a team of platform and content experts to help create your content, build your audiences, and execute on opportunities to turn your voice into a return for the business.
Here are some best practices that can help you and your team get started.
1. Define your strategy and values. What are the topics that are the easiest for you to speak about and the most important to you? They may be related to current events, your specific industry and/or giving-back initiatives that you are passionate about. Make a list and work on a strategy before you get started so that you and your team know how often to post about what and when.
2. Measure the value of your return on voice. How many views or impressions or comments is your content getting? Are people offline also commenting about things they’ve seen you talk about? Measure the metrics on a monthly basis, and start to tie them to your business. Remember, even if some people don’t like your content but are reading it, that can still benefit you by increasing the size of your audience, helping you to stay relevant and promote the business through your voice.
3. Stay consistent. The biggest hurdle to overcome when building a compelling voice online is consistency. Stay ahead of your own schedule, and make sure to plan your content in advance. Consistency is important to stay top of mind with your audience and to make sure the social media algorithms continue to prioritize promoting your account.
Investing time and resources into your voice likely costs far less than you think, and in my experience, it can be merely a fraction of what you would pay a PR company to target traditional media if you looked for third-party experts to help you execute. But the important first step is starting to build. As both the audiences and trust shift from traditional to social, from editors to CEOs, consider how you can claim your potential audience.
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Kimberly Afonso, CEO and Founder of The KA Consulting Group. Read Kimberly Afonso’s full executive profile here.