Leading from the front: Effective social media engagement for business leaders

Social media has fundamentally transformed the way that leaders communicate. As employees, investors, media and the public have become accustomed to using social media channels, an increasing number of business leaders are seeing the opportunities to engage with these audiences on the channels where they are spending their time.

And now in these uncertain times, when people are fearful of the future in light of Covid-19, there is even greater need for real leadership. Without the ability to be physically present it is even more essential for leaders to be virtually present where employees are spending increasing amounts of time – on social media platforms. We are seeing the response to the pandemic as a tipping point for leadership engagement on social media.

Half of the businesses in the FTSE 100 and 67% of top 100 companies in the S&P 500* currently have CEOs with a presence on social media and while not all of these are regularly posting content, for those that are, the benefits of active engagement are clear.