By Mariela Azcuy
Published February 2022

When a potential client first reaches out for PR work, we discuss goals, media relations strategies, angles, and outlets. But we also ask clients to reconsider their definition of media. Media is any channel via which you can spread a message and connect with audiences. 

Of course, there’s significant value in someone else validating your story. We have built a successful business around it since 2014! 

There’s also significant value in taking the reins and sharing your story and expertise. If you have an executive with a clear POV and a personality – and they’re not afraid to put those out into the world – treating their personal feed like an owned media channel is a strategy that pays off. We also recommend that they already are at least somewhat engaged on LinkedIn.

We’ve seen clients’ follower counts almost double in six months of consistent posting. Those numbers are just part of the story. We’ve also received the sort of feedback from clients (and their prospects) that just can’t be quantified. 

• “The prospect we’re in pursuit dropped ‘Let’s talk’ in the comments.”

• “I’ve been keen on interactions with key folks like NAME REDACTED.” 

• Or the too-many-to-count comments on a post that gains traction (see below)

Here’s why an executive’s LinkedIn feed could be the missing link in your PR strategy.

Personal LinkedIn Feeds Create Connection

David Ogilvy once said: “People like to do business with people, not organizations.” This is crystal clear. 

In a world of commodities, personalities often are the deciding factor. Feeling connected is a big reason people choose products and services. A Sprout Social study showed that when customers feel connected they will either increase their spending with that brand or choose the brand over a competitor. And the quickest way to create connection is via a person — not your logo, colors, or new product feature. That same study even showed that 70% of consumers feel more connected to brands with CEOs that are active on social.

When we’ve analyzed LinkedIn performance on behalf of clients, we find that posts with personal stories make up on average about 45% of the Top 10 performing posts across views, reactions, and comments. Richard van der Blom even counts “Personal Content” as one of his top five pillars of content strategy in his LinkedIn Algorithm Report. 

Why? Because people — and specifically the stories they tell – are memorable and relatable. From a business perspective, they help people imagine what it’d be like to do business with you and, in turn, your company. There’s a reason why “would I want to grab a beer with them?” becomes a popular question during election time (for better or for worse).

When Done Right, Personal LinkedIn Feeds Increase Reach…for Business News

We hear – and see – it again and again: “When we posted on our company feed our impressions were so much lower than when INSERT EMPLOYEE did.” 

It’s because of the algorithm. For both company and personal feeds, LinkedIn first shows the post to a small percentage of your actual followers to test its potential before going wider (or not). 

The same Algorithm Report states that personal posts are shown to about 8-10% of total potential audience while company posts are initially only shown to 3%. 

The company feed starts at a disadvantage.

When you consistently post high-quality content on your personal feed, you’re able to grow an audience faster. That not only helps build a personal network; it also builds an audience for business-related stories. 

We recommend you share business posts sparingly so that you’re providing value vs. just selling a product or service.

We analyzed a LinkedIn client content profile that successfully incorporated these elements and were surprised to find that company posts accounted for about 35% of the top posts (evaluated across views, reactions, and comments). 

While there are many reasons this might happen, I can guarantee the biggest one is that our client focused on value, POV, and personality first and, because of that, the business story benefited.

Expertise on Personal LinkedIn Feeds Helps Reporters Choose You

Expertise is a brand’s biggest asset. And what good is that expertise if it’s shared behind-the-scenes with a small group of current customers or fellow employees only? You’ll be preaching to the choir — a strategy that won’t build equity as a business leader. 

What does help is sharing your expertise and POV widely. Personal LinkedIn feeds are tailor-made for that sort of sharing.

Here’s the beauty of pairing an executive’s LinkedIn feed with a larger PR strategy. 

If we’re doing our job of sustainable PR correctly, we’re out there finding ways to insert our clients into larger breaking and trend stories, not just waiting around for clients to hand us news. Part of that strategy is persuading reporters that our client is a better resource than the hundreds of other executives they’re pitched every day. 

The person who wins that battle will be the one that has proven they are more than a company spokesperson; they are a resource. A consistent executive LinkedIn feed can help any reporter, conference booker, or potential partner easily make that connection.

It’s Your Media Company. You are in Charge!

We all get an adrenaline rush from a good PR hit. There’s nothing quite like it. But if we’re honest, there’s also a good bit of patience needed for this line of work. In most instances, the media ultimately controls the timing and the end result. If they didn’t, it’d be advertising.

Not so with your personal LinkedIn feed. You control how little or how much you post. (We recommend 2-3 times every week). 

You control the message. You are the Oprah to your O and the Guy Raz to your How I Built This.

A Testing Ground for Other Content, Media Pitches, and More

We monitor our clients' feeds not only for what performs well, but also for the comments on each post. And then we adapt, expand, and repurpose. We’ve transformed several high-performing posts into blogs, published bylined articles, and speaking engagements for influential audiences. In one, the LinkedIn and speaking topic was a companies’ path from startup to scaleup; in another, it was social commerce lessons from China – so this works across the board. Whenever we see the dial turning up on a LinkedIn post, we jump on other ways to turn it further right. 

Here’s one way we visualized this virtuous cycle for a client:

You may be wondering if all this means you shouldn’t focus on your brand’s LinkedIn feed. We’d say: you absolutely should have an active brand feed. But that’s just table stakes. 

If your brand doesn’t have a feed, potential prospects and partners question the credibility and viability of the business. If you adopt an executive LinkedIn strategy, you’ll be able to set your executive and company apart while building a powerful media channel. It also works hand-in-hand with a traditional PR strategy as a persuasion tool. 

Think about it from the reporter’s perspective: would you want to interview the person who posts every three months and, when they do, it’s an invitation to a webinar or a new job opening? 

Or would you choose the person who has a track record of content that educates and engages?