People over brands: Writing executive comms on LinkedIn

Mariela Azcuy is VP of Content and Executive Communications at Carve Communications.

Everyone knows LinkedIn is where it’s at these days. But if you’re being specific, people (versus brands) on LinkedIn are where it’s at.

The platform is releasing all sorts of tools and programs to help individuals create. The algorithm is also known to prefer people over brand posts. Richard van der Blom’s LinkedIn Algorithm Report found that employee networks experience ten times more reach and six times more engagement than company pages.

Brands have realized this and moved quickly to activate their employees to support sales, marketing, and recruiting efforts. And it’s not just about encouraging them to post; it’s also about supporting their posting efforts and helping them put their best selves forward.

Enter a new focus within comms agencies and departments: LinkedIn executive communications. We launched with our first client four years ago and have worked with dozens of founders and executives on their thought leadership platforms and LinkedIn content strategy and execution since then.

We’ve also learned a lot in that time. Here are the biggest takeaways.

Become a thought partner.

Most executives we work with understand the value of posting and engaging on LinkedIn, but it isn’t high on their to-do list. After all, they have teams to lead, products to launch, customers to service, and money to raise. Having a partner makes it much more realistic for them.

But you can’t simply be a transcriber. A real partner is a great questioner, listener, writer, and connector-of-dots. You bring ideas and timely news to the table. You also know when and how to dig deeper, listen, and react, even if it means veering off your pre-planned question list. When it comes to writing, cutting and pasting from Otter doesn’t work. Instead, match what you heard to what you may have heard before, what’s trending in pop culture, or something entirely different, and put the puzzle pieces together. (We’ve connected our sports-related client to Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo before.)

Being a thought partner means giving executives the space to think about how and why they do things the way they do and helping them develop ideas ready for public consumption.

Take an audience-first approach.

We start every LinkedIn executive communications engagement by asking “Who do you want to be the hero to and for what?” and build a content mission statement from there.

In two to three sentences, the statement should capture what the executive is trying to accomplish, who they’re trying to influence, and what tone the content will take. Tone is important to land on upfront, especially when you’re partnering with someone new. You will be ghostwriting, and the biggest question executives will have is: “Will what they write sound like me?”

Use this mission statement to ground your work as you go. If it’s not serving the intended audience, hit delete. If it doesn’t sound like your executive, switch out words and phrases to make it more authentic.

Consistency matters.

Thought leadership is earned. The market deems people thought leaders over time if they distribute ideas that make people think, engage, and share.

That doesn’t mean they need to post on LinkedIn every day, but it does mean you should align with your executive on a reasonable cadence that won’t dissuade them from wanting to continue the work. We recommend posting two to three times a week, which, according to the same Algorithm Report, accounts for three to four times more follower growth than posting less than once per week.

Another way consistency matters is in what people post about. You want to attach your executive’s name to specific topics so that when potential clients or customers think of those topics, they think of them. Like Hamiton said, “If you stand for nothing, then what do you fall for.”

That’s why we typically align on three broad anchor topics with our clients upfront and develop angles based on them. You can slice and dice those topics based on whether you choose to inspire, educate, or entertain with any one post.

Respect the algorithm, but don’t obsess over it.

You can have the best content in the world, but if you don’t know the ins and outs of the algorithm, you’re limiting its potential to be seen.

Stay close to the LinkedIn algorithm updates and learn from regularly analyzing the work on your executive’s feed. Every feed is different. We have some that overperform with video (in the entertainment business), others where videos tank (a CTO), some audiences that crave AI talk, and others where it falls flat.

However, I’ll share three don’ts based on what we see across diverse feeds:

1. Don’t use the repost button unless your executive wants to support the original creator. A traditional repost won’t do much for your executive’s feed.
2. Don’t link directly in post unless you need a hard conversion like an event RSVP. Even then, there are better ways to achieve that goal.
3. Don’t post and ghost. Did you know LinkedIn only distributes your posts to a small percentage (single digits) of your connections and followers first? It looks for signs that the post is engaging and then drips it to others in your network. If people are responding to your executive’s post, have a plan for responding.

Use it to fuel other comms efforts.

I have countless stories of LinkedIn success that turned into media ones. There’s the post that turned into a booked speaking engagement on startups to scaleups, the reporters that reference LinkedIn content when interviewing our clients, the stories we share in posts that end up in coverage and bylines. Use that always-on content engine as a waterfall of ideas and inspiration!

One last takeaway: Convince your executives to dive in. It’s a way to stand out (at least for now). While the competition is battling over commoditized products and features, your executives will build authority and credibility, which lead to trust. When we hear from a client that they win deals based on “culture,” we know our LinkedIn partnership played a part.