- Simple Writing
- Posts
- 9 ways execs should use social media
9 ways execs should use social media
A quick guide to executive personal branding

Welcome to the new readers who've joined this week.
If you're not subscribed, click the subscribe button below and join 2,300+ others getting simple tips to make you a better writer, every week.
One of the most common questions I hear from executives about social media is, “How do I use it effectively in my role?”
It’s a phenomenal question.
The leaders I most admire online are those who are purposeful about their personal brands.
Everything they post is intentional.
Today, I want to show you how to do that.
Here are 9 ways all execs should be using social media:
1. To recruit
As a leader, recruiting never stops.
The best leaders are constantly filling their talent pipeline.
One of the best ways to do this is by creating content on platforms like LinkedIn.
Share your story, ideas, vision, mission, values and culture.
It will generate interest in your company and will form a bond with certain people.
The next time you say “we’re hiring,” those people will be flooding your inbox.
Forget long recruiting cycles or complex sourcing processes.
Your personal brand will become a talent magnet.
2. To market
You can have the world’s best product or service.
If nobody knows it exists?
It doesn’t matter.
Every company must become known in the marketplace.
I have a CEO friend who likes to say, “I have three jobs: Market. Market. Market.”
Social media is the most powerful marketing tool we have.
Maximize it in every way you can.
3. To sell
Once you become known in the marketplace, you then earn the opportunity to sell your products and services.
Your social media presence is invaluable in this way.
Creating content generates organic interest.
That interest becomes a pipeline of warm leads.
Some of those leads then become customers.
Put in the effort of building your audience up front, and you’ll sell more (while saving time) later.
4. To fundraise
Fundraising is a big goal for most of my consulting clients.
If you're a founder or CEO fundraising in the next 6 months, start putting out content NOW.
your story
company story
customer stories
highlight the team
highlight the market
highlight the upside
discuss the tailwinds
discuss the headwinds
share your vision + values
share your ideal investor
show why your product is invaluable
show the impact you will make at scale
etc.
Content chums the waters.
What that means to you is a pipeline of engaged investors who connect with your story and company.
And the real value is a more successful fundraise with a more seamless process.
5. To validate
An underrated way of leveraging social media is to validate product or service ideas.
You can take an idea to your audience and get immediate feedback.
Don’t spend tons of resources building something the market doesn’t want.
Use content to run fast and cheap experiments.
Then use that data to inform your products and services.
At scale, this is a powerful feedback loop.
6. To get acquired
If you want to sell your business, building your audience will help.
Use content to highlight your company and position it for potential acquirers.
Talk about what’s made the business resilient and why the best days are ahead.
Share your ideas of how you would grow it over the next decade.
Discuss what you’re looking for in an acquisition partner.
Do this consistently, and you’ll generate inbound interest.
7. To partner
Maybe you don’t want to sell your business, but you do need partners to grow.
The same principles apply.
Create content around where you want to grow the business.
Share who and what you’re looking for.
Illustrate why your company is a dream partner for someone.
I was talking to a friend the other day who’s finalizing a business partnership generated from his Twitter audience. It could double his business in the next year.
That’s the power of an audience.
8. To support
One of the common motivations I hear from experience entrepreneurs in building their audience is they want to give back.
They want to support philanthropies and/or pass along their knowledge and experience to other entrepreneurs.
They view this as their way of leaving a legacy.
This is a fantastic way to use your personal brand.
Share all the stories, lessons and insights you’ve accumulated in your career and life.
Don’t take them to the grave with you.
Document them so they live on and create a timeless impact.
9. To communicate at scale
As companies scale, keeping people aligned around a common message is critical.
I see savvy leaders using their personal brands as one way to do this (Gary Vaynerchuk is a great example).
They use content on social media platforms to communicate with their organizations at scale.
The steady drip of messaging permeates the company over time.
As your company grows, it’s impossible to spend as much time with people.
Social media can be a powerful leadership tool.
Summary
Those are 9 ways execs can use social media effectively.
Which one resonates the most with you?
🔥 A few things worth reading 🔥
🚀 Personal Brand Consulting 🚀
I was talking to a friend recently who runs an investment company.
He now gets 3-5 inbound deals per week because he’s spent the last two years building his personal brand online.
That’s the power of building your audience.
I do 1:1 consulting with entrepreneurs and business leaders to help them build their personal brands online.
Reply to this email with “consulting” if you want to explore partnering together.
Thanks for reading.