Friending in High Places: Business Leaders On Facebook and Instagram

Friending in High Places | 1
FRIENDING IN HIGH PLACES:
BUSINESS LEADERS ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM
INTRODUCTION
Executive engagement on social media has become an integral part of the corporate
communication mix, and Facebook and Instagram are making their way into executive floors
and boardrooms of many global companies. For the last six years, Burson-Marsteller has
studied how heads of state, governments and international organizations use social media
channels. For the last two years, it has produced reports specifically about world leaders’ use of
Facebook. This year, in addition to studying world leaders, Burson-Marsteller conducted this
study of business leaders to see how they connect with their audiences on Facebook and
Instagram.
The adoption of Facebook by business leaders is growing and slowly becoming mainstream,
while the use of Instagram is catching up and showing similar trends. In 2016, Facebook
registered the fastest pace of growth of Fortune 500 and Global Fortune 500 executives joining
the platform, including Wal-Mart’s CEO Doug McMillon and PepsiCo’s CEO Indra Nooyi.
Executive communications on Facebook and Instagram are often a team effort, and most
executive pages are operated by the business leader, their communications team and often also
a communications agency.
Executives should consider setting up a page that is public by default, rather than a personal
profile. Public pages can be easily managed by multiple administrators and include robust
performance insights. Public Facebook pages tend to rank higher in Google search than private
Facebook profiles. Administrators also have the possibility to create targeted marketing
campaigns, publish ads and boost posts to increase the business leader’s visibility on the
platform.
Public Facebook profile s

ABOUT THIS STUDY
Friending in High Places: Business Leaders on Facebook and Instagram is Burson-Marsteller's
latest research into how business leaders communicate on both social networks. For this study,
Burson-Marsteller looked at 167 verified public Facebook pages and 224 public Instagram
accounts of business leaders with the titles of CEO, President, Owner or Founder. Additional
verified business leader accounts were not included if they were from non-profit leaders,
motivational speakers or media figures. Individuals with private pages were only reviewed for
their follower count, as other data on private pages is inaccessible.
Burson-Marsteller collected data on February 1, 2017 using Facebook’s CrowdTangle tool to
capture historic data including engagement (post comments, likes, shares), interaction rates and
all video views and posts from 2016. Burson-Marsteller’s proprietary Burson Tools were used to
analyze the connections between the business leaders’ pages and the people they follow.
TERMINOLOGY
In the study, Burson-Marsteller collected several types of information on public pages and
profiles and ranked the top ten leaders in each of these categories. Burson-Marsteller used the
term Followers for each time a page is liked and the term Like for each time a post is liked. Here
are the definitions:
• Followers – Number of connections. Because this number can be tracked on private
pages as well as public ones, we also looked at personal profiles to determine our top
ten lists.
• Interactions – Reactions (including Likes on posts) + Comments + Shares
• Effectiveness – Ratio of interactions to posts divided by the average number of
Followers in 2016 to show the efficiency of overall social media strategy
• Active – How often one posts
The study also includes information about the performance of Fortune 500 business leaders on
Facebook and the Facebook pages that are followed the most by business leaders.
WHAT WORKS ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM?
What does a successful business leader do on Facebook and Instagram? How should he or she
act on the platforms? Is there a magic formula for creating a post that will drive the most
followers, Likes on posts and interactions? In truth, there are no simple answers to these
questions.
However, Burson-Marsteller has found some general trends for leaders who have received
significant engagement from their followers. Later in this study, there is information on the top

ten accounts across many metrics on Facebook and Instagram, and one can see how people
who made those lists closely resemble one or more of the online personas outlined below.
The Family Guy/Gal
A hallmark of social media is genuine,
unfiltered communication. There are
numerous ways to infuse a CEO’s
engagement with authenticity, but one of the
most effective ways is to talk about family.
Like the television show by the same name,
The Family Guy (or Gal, of course) uses their
posts, videos and photos to share stories
about their home lives and challenges,
rewards and worries that anyone can relate
to. The Family Guy/Gal tends to share
interesting, humorous and poignant slices of
their life online, aiming for a genuine online
self-portrait.
While some business leaders may be
reluctant to post family pictures or give a
glimpse into their private lives, there are
benefits to showing personal values,
interests, histories and passions such as
sports, reading and music. For business
leaders, a Family Guy/Gal persona provides
an opportunity to show that they are real
people. Personal posts can make business
leaders more relatable, especially to younger
professionals. This can not only boost their
following online, but also help them connect
more closely with employees. Taking a more
personal approach also opens the door for
business leaders to engage on many topics.
Another reason the Family Guy/Gal online
persona is successful is because the most-
liked posts on Facebook often relate to
family. In fact, the most-liked post on
Facebook by any business leader in this
study was a post in August 2016 by Bill
Gates wishing his wife Melinda a happy
birthday. This post attracted more than
400,000 Likes.

For the Family Guy/Gal, it is important to be sincere. If business leaders want to give followers a
true look at their lives, they should do the posts themselves. Owning your own posts – while a
lot of work – gives a more genuine behind-the-scenes style.
The Carrie Bradshaw
Carrie Bradshaw, the fictional character from the hit novel and television show Sex and the City,
was a writer in New York who published a book called Sex and the City based on her columns
in the New York Observer. She took an autobiographical approach to writing about love and
romance in New York, often providing personal accounts of her daily life. On Facebook and
Instagram, this persona is expressed by people who relish self-expression and individuality.
They often post about life and the world in their own words. This persona is similar to The
Family Guy/Gal, but is less prone to post about family issues or their opinions about issues and
the effects on the next generation.
This persona can attract followers, just as Carrie Bradshaw’s column did, because followers feel
they are getting a glimpse into a business leader’s life. For business leaders who want to post
about corporate developments or initiatives, using a Bradshaw-like persona can create
excitement for the outcome of new products or strategies, for example. If something goes
wrong, a business leader’s followers feel that they understand – or at least have empathy for –
why the initiative may have failed.
One success story is Daymond John, the CEO of FUBU and one of the stars of the reality TV
series Shark Tank. He is not afraid to engage in direct question-and-answer sessions with his
fans. For many business leaders such as Beth Comstock from General Electric, this type of
direct engagement with the world is still “an experiment” as she says in her first live broadcast.
But it is an experiment that will eventually pay off.
The Ashton Kutcher
To stand out on Facebook, business leaders need to learn a new language, one that is more
visual and more personal. Think of actor and investor Ashton Kutcher who is constantly
documenting his life on social media. This persona posts updates in real time and
enthusiastically uses tools such as photos, video and live broadcasting.
Our study shows that all types of visual content are valuable. But videos posted on Facebook
are shared more often than photos or text and photos do better than text alone. For instance:
• Videos received an average of 278 shares compared to 139 shares for posts containing
just a photo. However, posts with photos received more overall interactions (the total of
likes, comments and shares) than video posts.
• Videos also generated more love, surprise and laughter emoji reactions and more
comments than other posts, with 143 average comments. That’s almost three times
more than picture posts, which received an average of 51 comments.

• Photos received an average of 1,538 interactions, while videos averaged 1,376
interactions. But both received more than twice as many interactions as simple status
updates.
• Status updates without visuals had an average of 598 interactions while links to other
websites only generated 468 interactions per post.
Nevertheless, when using video as a tool, it is important to keep them brief. If a video runs too
long, there is a risk of losing people who get bored, and you won’t get your message across
effectively.
Among business leaders who have Instagram accounts, quite a few also post pictures to their
Facebook pages. The vast majority of business leaders’ posts on Instagram are pictures. Video
posts only account for eight percent of the 23,533 posts analyzed. In 2016, Instagram photo
posts from business leaders averaged 961 interactions per post, while video posts averaged
916 interactions per post. However, videos attracted almost twice as many comments as posts
with photos. They received 30 comments on average compared to only 17 for photos.
Images can take many forms. Some business leaders such as businessman and TV personality
Marc Cuban and Co-Founder of The Huffington Post Arianna Huffington share pictures with
inspirational quotes about leadership or historic quotes from other leaders. Fashion stylist and
designer Rachel Zoe engages her followers on Facebook and Instagram by uploading fashion
shots. PayPal CEO Dan Schulman regularly posts group selfies to engage his staff. No matter
the form, expanding posts beyond text and using new tools such as live videos is a great way to
boost interactions. Visual posts can also be a good way to cut across language barriers, which
is especially important for business leaders whose companies touch multiple countries and
people who speak different languages.
The Hannah Horvath
Hannah Horvath, protagonist
from HBO’s television show
Girls, is an aspiring writer who is
not afraid to say whatever
comes to mind. Her varied circle
of friends and their mismatched
interests along with her own
penchant for jumping from one
thing to the next means that
each episode covers a lot of
issues and feels very personal.
On Facebook and Instagram, a
Hannah Horvath persona takes
a casual approach to social media, speaking his or her mind across a wide range of topics. This
can be off-putting to some, but endearing to others. Interesting and even controversial posts can

spur higher engagement and lively dialogue. However, while it may be tempting for someone to
jump from one thing to the next, their audience often expects greater access to them and their
thoughts. You shouldn’t start a debate and then leave the conversation.
Sir Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group, is a great example of a Hannah Horvath
personality. He nonchalantly shares posts across a variety of topics – from pictures of his family
to videos of him engaging in sporting activities – and he does not shy away from asserting his
political views.
The Kramer
Cosmo Kramer from the hit television series Seinfeld
was a character no one could ignore – always hanging
around when not invited and getting in people’s faces
with his attention-grabbing outbursts.
On Facebook, this persona is used by people who like to
create devotion among their followers (loyal consumers
in the case of business leaders) by stoking their
passions and beliefs. They are unafraid to take
unpopular – though often principled – positions to create
engagement through lively debates. Though similar to
The Hannah Horvath persona, The Kramer is clearly
looking to disrupt the status quo vs. nonchalantly sharing
opinions.
Donald Trump’s use of social media during the U.S. presidential election campaign in 2016 is a
perfect example of this kind of behavior. CEO of T-Mobile John Legere is another: He speaks
his mind on Facebook, freely posting criticisms about his competitors and using casual
language to stir conversation.

SURVEY OF TOP BUSINESS LEADERS ON FACEBOOK
AND INSTAGRAM
The Most-Followed Business Leaders on Facebook
The ten most-followed business
leaders on Facebook have more than
half a million followers each - but one
stands well above the others.
Mark Zuckerberg
Not surprisingly, Facebook Founder
and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the
most-followed business leader on
Facebook, with 85 million followers on
his public profile.
Despite only having a public profile
rather than a Facebook page,
Zuckerberg is an executive role model
to follow. He and his communication
team skillfully mix professional
updates and personal posts to drive
significant engagement on the
network. His posts often make headlines in traditional media outlets.
He can be seen speaking to world
leaders and taking selfies with
presidents. But he also will open the
doors to his home, barbequing live on
Facebook and discussing his favorite
cooker. He will promote the latest
virtual reality goggles at the Oculus
Developer Conference, while posting a
selfie. Occasionally he shares family
pictures with his wife Priscilla Chan,
their daughter Max and their dog Beast.
These pictures tend to get more Likes
compared to his other posts.

His corporate announcement on February 24, 2016 about the introduction of Reactions – the
new Like button that has emojis to express love, laughter, surprise, sadness and anger –
received 1.7 million reactions, 51,000 comments and was shared 150,000 times. His post with
the second-most interactions had more than one million interactions. It was the first live Q&A
session broadcast from Facebook headquarters and featured comedian Jerry Seinfeld. It was
watched ten million times. His video with the most interactions, with 30 million views, is a video
with his wife and daughter wishing everyone a Happy Chinese New Year in Chinese with
English subtitles.
Bill Gates
Although Bill Gates is not an acting CEO any
more, he remains a global business leader and
tops the Facebook rankings for public pages
with 18,803,605 followers and more than eight
million interactions on his posts in 2016.
Bill Gates posts regularly to Facebook – almost
one post per day – often sharing pictures and
links to Gates Notes, a blog where he shares his
thoughts and news stories about the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation.
Gates consistently posts in the first person and
his most-shared posts are about his wife, family
and friends. Gates also posts videos that are professionally produced and begin with a four-
second Gates Notes logo.
Jessica Alba
Jessica Alba, co-Founder of The Honest Company that sells
non-toxic household products, is the third most-followed
business leader on Facebook with 5.1 million followers. The
former actress and model uses Facebook to share her posts
from Instagram where she tops those rankings with 9.8 million
followers (see Instagram section below). Her most-liked post
in 2016, with 18,996 Likes, was on Election Day in the U.S.
when she commented “your voice matters #Vote.”

Sir Richard Branson
Sir Richard Branson, Founder of the Virgin Group, is the fourth most-followed business leader
with 2.8 million followers on his Facebook page. In 2016, he was also the most-active business
leader in terms of number of posts and second in terms of total interactions. Branson has six
times fewer followers than Bill Gates, but he is seven times more prolific with an average of five
posts per day. Branson does not shy away from taking a political stance. In particular, he has
commented against both Brexit, the vote in the United Kingdom to leave the European Union,
and the election of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The 30-second video posted by Branson explaining "Why the UK
should remain in the EU" is by far the most-watched video posted
by any business leader, with 8.18 million views. The video also
received slightly more Angry emoji reactions than Love hearts
from his fans, reflecting the division of British voters. His
subsequent condemnation of the vote was his second post with
the most interactions, with 47,000 including 4,200 Sad emoji
reactions.
Branson also shares personal moments including pictures of his blood-stained face after a
cycling accident in August 2016. It received 22,000 Wow emoji reactions and made international
headlines.
Among his posts with the most interactions are pictures to celebrate his wife’s birthday, their
40th wedding anniversary and his 90-year-old mother on Mothers’ Day and his grandchildren.
One of his most amazing videos is the 360° video he posted while kite surfing around Necker
Island in the Caribbean.
Sheryl Sandberg
The defining feature of Sheryl Sandberg's Facebook
profile is her regular Facebook Live broadcasts. The
Facebook COO often interviews influential leaders of
the Lean In community, a movement based on her book
that encourages women to pursue their ambitions. Her
commencement address at the University of California-
Berkeley when she talked about resilience after her
husband’s death is one of the most-viewed Facebook
Live broadcasts on her profile. She also posts
occasional pictures of visitors to Facebook headquarters
such as actress Selena Gomez and Sandberg’s
parents, as well as tributes to her late husband Dave
Goldberg.

Manny Villar
Filipino billionaire businessman Manny Villar is the sixth most-followed business leader with 1.6
million followers. The former President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of
Representatives of the Philippines posts irregularly, with only 63 posts in 2016. His posts with
the most interactions include photos of his wife, children and grandchildren.
Arianna Huffington
Media mogul Arianna Huffington is the seventh most-
followed business leader on Facebook with 1.3 million
followers. She is also among the ten most-active business
leaders, sharing an average of two posts per day, often
articles and videos from The Huffington Post. She also
ranks in the top ten most-followed and most-active
business leaders on Instagram with more than 600,000
interactions in 2016. When she stepped down from her
post as editor-in-chief to launch her new company, Thrive
Global in August 2016, she posted the internal memo on
her public Facebook page.
The self-proclaimed ‘flat shoe advocate and sleep evangelist’ also has conducted occasional
live interview sessions on her Facebook page, and she regularly shares quotes from famous
people on the anniversaries of their death. One of her pictures with the most interactions is a
faded photograph of her with her mother that she posted on Mother’s Day, May 8, 2016.
Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, only posted
58 times in 2016, but he has become the eighth most-
followed business leader. Cuban also is among the top ten
with more than half a million interactions. He often shares
pictures with inspirational quotes and occasionally posts
Facebook Live broadcasts. Cuban regularly deletes his
Facebook posts because, as he explained in a video: “The
biggest mistake that people make in social media is that they let their posts live forever.”

Rachel Zoe
American fashion designer and
businesswoman Rachel Zoe has one
million followers and shares an average of
five posts per day, including fashion shots
as well as links and videos from The Zoe
Report, her lifestyle and fashion blog. She
posts Facebook Live videos from
modeling catwalks and can be seen
talking about fashion and pop culture
dressed only in her bathrobe in a live
segment for The Zoe Report the morning
after the Golden Globe Awards ceremony.
Her 1,789 posts in 2016 received 800,000
interactions. However, it was the videos
and photos of her two children that gained
the most engagement. Zoe also ranks
second among business leaders on
Instagram.
Andres Moreno
Andres Moreno, the 34-year-old CEO of online
language school Open English and a start-up mentor,
posts exclusively in Spanish to promote his business
by sharing pictures from his lectures. Moreno's
Facebook URL is aptly called @TalkToAndres, and
he consistently interacts with followers, liking and
replying to comments and questions. His page has
944,000 followers. The Venezuelan businessman is
considered a role model for people who want to start
companies in Latin America. Moreno also conducts
regular Facebook Live videos that have generated
significant interaction.

Business Leaders with the Most Interactions on Facebook
The business leaders with the
highest number of followers also
tend to rank high in interactions on
their posts.
Bill Gates tops the list with more
than eight million interactions (an
average of 29,348 interactions per
post) on his 276 posts in 2016. He
is ahead of Richard Branson, who
has 5.9 million interactions on his
2,076 posts and Mike Bloomberg,
who has 2.3 million on his 169
posts in 2016.
In terms of interaction rates (the
sum of all interactions divided by
the number of posts and the
average number of followers), Mike
Bloomberg scores a formidable
3.61 percent, ahead of T-Mobile’s
John Legere with 3.04 percent, former Google executive Kai-Fu Lee with 1.94 percent and
AirAsia’s Tony Fernandes with 1.51 percent. For all others, the interaction rate is below one
percent.
The Facebook post that received the highest number of interactions in 2016 was posted by Bill
Gates wishing “Happy birthday" to his wife Melinda, which clocked 418,827 Likes and 22,171
Love emoji reactions. The post that
gathered the most shares is a quote
card from Mark Cuban: “Rich people
stay rich by living like they're broke.
Broke people stay broke by living
like they're rich” with 137,587
shares. The post that received the
most comments was shared by
CEO of Razer Min-Liang Tan. It
encouraged his fans to share and
comment in order to win a special
Razer Chroma mug.

Mike Bloomberg
Former New York Mayor and media magnate Mike Bloomberg uses his Facebook page mainly
to promote his philanthropic engagements, from his fight to reduce tobacco use and his role as
WHO Global Ambassador for non-communicable diseases to his work as President of the Board
of the C40 Cities climate network group. A photo of that group is his Facebook cover picture.
Bloomberg received 600,000 likes on his posts in 2016. But he uses the page exclusively to
share corporate news and has not shared any personal pictures.
Kai-Fu Lee
Kai-Fu Lee, a former Microsoft and Google executive and
venture capitalist, is a prominent online figure in China, and
he comes fourth in terms of interactions on his page, with a
respectable interaction rate of almost two percent in 2016.
His Facebook page doubled in size, adding 150,000
followers in 2016. His 497 posts in 2016 are exclusively in
Chinese, and he often shares viral videos and pictures
from other Chinese platforms such as WeChat and Weibo.
He posted the picture to the right of his dinner with the
caption: “My daughter made dumplings.”

Daymond John
Daymond John, the CEO of the clothing and
hip-hop apparel company FUBU, is best known
for his appearances on the ABC reality
television series Shark Tank. In 2016, he had
1.9 million interactions on his 1,199 posts
placing him in fifth position in terms of
interactions and fourth in terms of activity. He is
also among the most-followed and most-active
business leaders on Instagram. He has posted more than 200 Facebook videos, often going live
from his mobile device chatting with his fans, replying to their comments and thanking them for
ordering his latest book #PowerOfBroke. One of his videos with the most interactions was shot
while driving in a car when former Vice President Joe Biden made a furtive and funny cameo
appearance.
Rolf Sorg
The Facebook page of businessman Rolf Sorg has
become the most-followed Facebook page of his company
PM International. It has more than 400,000 followers. The
German-born CEO has included his company name in his
Facebook name and has become his own salesman of his
direct marketing company, which sells food supplements
and cosmetics. He shares inspirational quotes,
promotional product posts and motivational videos for a
healthier lifestyle. With close to 900,000 interactions on his
page in 2016, he is among the most-interactive business
leaders on Facebook.
Tony Fernandes
Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia, is probably
one of the most-engaging business leaders on
Facebook, often shooting Facebook Live videos
in which he replies to comments from his
viewers. These videos are often rough and
unedited, but they offer insight into the life of the
CEO of Asia's largest low-cost airline and have
driven his interaction rate to 1.51 percent.
Fernandes posted 238 times in 2016, including 62 Facebook videos. These live videos are often
shot by the CEO himself on his mobile phone – from award ceremonies, to being on the tarmac
introducing the latest AirAsia Airbus plane, or at an investor roadshow in the U.S., pitching “the
most-undervalued airline stock.” His team also has produced a mannequin challenge video

including the entire management team in their new offices where the CEO is spoon fed by an air
hostess.
John Legere
John Legere is credited with having
turned T-Mobile USA around and
making it the fastest-growing wireless
carrier in the U.S. This is in large part
because of his mastery of social media.
The self-proclaimed “magenta T-shirt
wearing consumer advocate” is an
executive rock star who has perfected
the art of live videos. A third of his 634
posts in 2016 are videos including T-
Mobile ads, but also video statements in
which he often attacks his competitors
head on. In his spare time, he also
hosts the live #SlowCookerSunday
show on his Facebook page. Legere recently moonlighted as a Lyft taxi driver, chatting with
customers about their mobile carrier before unveiling that he is actually the CEO of T-Mobile
USA.

Most-Effective Business Leaders on Facebook
Business leaders with the highest
number of followers are not
necessarily those with the best
interaction rates.
On the contrary, business leaders
who have a relatively small fan
base or those who post only
occasionally tend to enjoy the
highest interaction rates. Six
business leaders have seen
double-digit interaction rates on
their Facebook pages in 2016,
which is exceptional.
The top ten business leaders with
the best interaction rates have one
thing in common: They have
posted fewer than 90 posts in
2016, and when they post, their
publications make an impact.
Jeffrey Hedberg
Jeffrey Hedberg, CEO of Mobilink, Pakistan’s top 3G
network, started his Facebook journey in late February 2016
when Mobilink became the world’s first telecom company to
launch Facebook Workplace, where staff can interact
privately in the same way they do on Facebook. Hedberg
enjoys the highest engagement rate of more than 32
percent thanks to two of his 25 posts which have been
Liked more than 60,000 and 50,000 times respectively.

Jean Pascal Tricoire
Jean Pascal Tricoire, Schneider
Electric’s CEO, ranks second in the
most-effective business leaders ranking.
Tricoire has an interaction rate of 26
percent, mainly because he only posted
23 times in 2016. His posts focus on how
innovative Schneider Electric is, often
using the hashtag
#InnovationAtEveryLevel. He also uses
the platform as an opportunity to discuss
things that he deems important to both
himself and the company, for example
promoting gender equality in every
decision made at Schneider Electric.
Stephanie Newby
CEO of social media analytics company
Crimson Hexagon, Stephanie Newby
comes in third place in the most-effective
business leaders ranking. She posted 58
posts during the course of 2016 and has an
interaction rate of nearly 15 percent. Newby
discusses everything tech – from an
analysis of the #MannequinChallenge on
social media, to big data. She also touched
on the U.S. election last year and hot topics
such as gender diversity.

Fortune Listed Business Leaders on Facebook
Twenty-six CEOs from companies
listed on the Fortune 500 and
Global 500 lists have public
Facebook pages. Despite the
economic power and influence of
their corporations, the business
leaders have a relatively small
number of followers because most
of them are comparatively new to
the platform.
Crédit Agricole’s Philippe Brassac,
Hilton’s Chris Nassetta, Manulife’s
Donald Guloien, Marriott’s Arne
Sorenson, PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi
and Schneider Electric’s Jean-
Pascal Tricoire are among the
handful of CEOs who joined
Facebook in 2016, and who are still
finding their voices.
Doug McMillon
Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon joined in
May 2016 with a personal video message
that he recorded himself on his desktop
computer. Since joining the platform,
McMillon has shared 90 posts, gaining
more than 180,000 interactions and more
than 57,000 followers.
His page is engaging because he writes
in the first person and puts his employees
first, sharing pictures of staff around the
country. His most-viewed post is a
"special message for our associates all
over the world” which was broadcast live
on Facebook from Wal-Mart’s shareholder meeting and has been watched 1.2 million times.

Meg Whitman
Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett Packard
Enterprise, only shared 31 posts in 2016. Her
endorsement of Hillary Clinton during the
2016 presidential campaign received the
most interactions, and she boasts 230,000
followers. Her tribute to her mother for the
#LeanInTogether campaign and a post with
pictures of HP employees on “Happy
Employee Appreciation Day” are two of her
posts with the most interactions. Whitman
also revealed a more playful side to her
personality when she participated in the
#CallYourShot charity campaign to end
malaria and challenged CISCO’s John
Chambers to do the same.
John Chambers
John Chambers, Cisco’s Executive Chairman,
took up the #CallYourShot challenge and was
filmed dunking a basketball in his office.
Chambers only published 26 posts in 2016,
mainly pictures of his speeches and his travels.
His post with the most interactions shows him
rooting for Brazil at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Dan Schulman
Dan Schulman uses his Facebook cover to show
that he can take a group selfie to engage his
audience. The PayPal CEO shared pictures of his
interviews as well as stories of life at the company.
A picture of his staff at the company’s Halloween
party has become his post with the most
interactions.

Jorge Paulo Lemann
Brazilian-Swiss investor Jorge Paulo Lemann, known for his ownership of Anheuser-Busch
Inbev, the world's largest brewer, shares his leadership wisdom in quote cards on his Facebook
page. His Portuguese one-line statements receive a lot of likes including: “Good people attract
good people” and "Those who don't take risk, don't do anything". However, there is no personal
interaction on his page.
Beth Comstock
GE’s Vice Chair Beth Comstock often conducts Facebook
Live broadcasts, interviewing authors and other business
leaders. The video with the most engagement is a half-
hour Q&A Facebook Live session talking directly to her
followers about change and how to find work/life balance.
Her Open Office Hours broadcast has been watched
235,000 times, and she announced that she would do
more of these live sessions in the future. On a more
personal side, she also shared pictures and a Boomerang
video of her attendance at an AC/DC concert.
Mary Barra
Mary Barra, CEO of GM, uses her Facebook page to
promote General Motors and a picture of two GM
cars are featured as her Facebook cover photo.
Barra often shares links to blog posts on her
LinkedIn Influencer profile. However, her post with
the most interactions is a picture of herself with her
late mother in the kitchen posted on Mother’s Day.
These behind-the-scenes personal snapshots seem
to work well on Facebook pages as they show
business leaders’ more personal side.

Most-Active Business Leaders on Facebook
Richard Branson, Mashable’s Pete
Cashmore and Rachel Zoe were
the three most-active business
leaders on Facebook in 2016 with
five posts per day. They were
ahead of Daymond John, French
entrepreneur Loic LeMeur and
social entrepreneur Leila Janah,
each with more than 1,000 posts in
2016.
The average number of posts for
business leaders’ pages in 2016
was 300 – less than one post per
day.
Pete Cashmore
Pete Cashmore, CEO of Mashable, ranks second in the
most-active business leaders ranking, posting on average
five posts a day. The prolific Facebook user mainly shares
tech, culture and entertainment stories from Mashable on
his Facebook profile – covering everything from the new
iPhone to Game of Thrones and even how a new AI tech
could erase the feeling of fear.
Bill George
Former CEO of Medtronic Bill George ranks seventh in the most-
active in the business leaders ranking. In 2016, he posted an average
of nearly three posts per day, with a total of 988 posts for the whole
year. He mainly posts about mindfulness and leadership and often
shares a personal take on the topics, for example sharing this favorite
list of leadership books.

Pages Most- Followed by Business Leaders
Following other Facebook pages
is essentially an act of courtesy.
While a follow does not allow
owners of these pages to
message each other privately, it
does make it easier to follow the
business leader because his or
her posts will appear in the
follower’s newsfeed.
The New York Times is the most-
followed media organization
ahead of The Economist, National
Geographic, Entrepreneur
Magazine and Harvard Business
Review. This does not mean that
business leaders only get their
news from these publications on
Facebook, but it is a clear
indication of their reading
preferences.
Conference organizers TED and the World Economic Forum are also in the top five. Melinda
Gates is the most-followed person, slightly ahead of former President Barack Obama. Many
business leaders also follow the Influencers on Facebook page set up by the platform to support
business influencers.

BUSINESS LEADERS ON INSTAGRAM
The 224 Instagram accounts of business leaders analyzed in this study had a combined total
following of 19,147,030 and an average interaction rate of five percent.
Most-Followed Business Leaders on Instagram
Business leaders who have a high
number of followers on Facebook also
tend to have a lot of followers on
Instagram and often share their
Instagram photos on their Facebook
pages. Others will use Instagram as
their personal-public photo album,
sharing shots from their families and
holidays.
Actress, model and entrepreneur
Jessica Alba tops the ranking of the
most-followed business leaders on
Instagram. Fashion designer Rachel
Zoe is the second most-followed
ahead of Facebook’s Mark
Zuckerberg, Instagram’s Kevin
Systrom and Virgin’s Richard Branson,
who have more than one million
followers each and skillfully mix personal and professional posts on the platform.

Jessica Alba
Jessica Alba is the most-followed business leader on Instagram with 9.8 million followers, and
her 527 posts have garnered 30 million Likes and 176,160 comments. Not surprisingly, her
most-liked posts are pictures of the model herself. Her post with the most Likes is a selfie with
her husband wearing Christmas pajamas that has attracted 274,000 Likes. The post that had
the most comments of any business leader on Instagram in 2016 is a selfie by Alba with a
reflection of a man’s silhouette on the shower door behind her: “I have no idea what that is.
Freaky”, she wrote in the caption, letting her followers do the guessing.
Rachel Zoe
Fashionista Rachel Zoe is the second most-followed business leader on Instagram with 2.4
million followers. She shares red carpets moments and fashion shots from catwalks around the
world, interspersed with the occasional picture and video of her two children or selfies with her
husband. Zoe posts an average of three times per day, and her 1,082 posts in 2016 received an
average of 10,000 Likes.

Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the third most-followed business leader on
Instagram. With 1.4 million followers, he has overtaken his colleague, Kevin Systrom, Founder
and CEO of Instagram. Both men only post intermittently with 37 posts for Zuckerberg and 85
posts for Systrom in 2016. Zuckerberg’s use of Instagram is a good example for any business
leader to follow. When he posts a picture, it tends to go viral with an average of 48,000 likes per
picture. While he initially shared mainly pictures of his dog Beast, he now uses Instagram to
share behind-the-scenes snapshots from his office and special events. His most-liked post in
2016 is a picture of him and Selena Gomez visiting Facebook headquarters. But Zuckerberg
also shares the occasional family picture, and his pictures of the family dressed up for
Halloween, or with his one-year-old daughter Max, are among the most-liked pictures on his
Instagram stream and generally make media headlines.
Kevin Systrom
Instagram Founder Kevin Systrom is in fourth position with 1.3 million followers on the platform.
He skillfully mixes corporate milestones with personal snapshots. When he meets world leaders,
they end up on his Instagram feed. Two pictures of his meeting with Pope Francis starting his
Instagram account in February 2016 have become his posts with the most interactions. Systrom
is an avid cyclist and often posts pictures from his rides up peaks or enjoying the views from the
top. Even his dog @Dolly has her own Instagram account.

Sir Richard Branson
Sir Richard Branson, the Founder of Virgin Group, is the fifth most-followed business leader on
Instagram, sharing occasional inspirational and motivational quote cards as well as celebrating
corporate highlights. His posts with the most interactions give a glimpse into his life, whether it is
on the Underground in London or kite surfing at his home on Neckar Island in the Caribbean.
One of his most memorable posts was a photo catching a Virgin Australia staff member
sleeping.
Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, seems to have plain fun on
Instagram, from caroling before Christmas to working out or celebrating a Mavericks win. He
does not take himself too seriously and often shares happy moments from his life including
selfies and videos with his children.

Sheryl Sandberg
The Facebook COO has 200,000 followers on Instagram, and she uses the platform
professionally to promote female empowerment and her non-profit organization Leanin.org.
Among her most-liked posts are pictures of celebrity visitors to Facebook headquarters,
including astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the first man to shoot a selfie in space (and the second man to
walk on the moon), actress Selena Gomez (the most-followed person on Instagram as a non-
business person) and a picture with primatologist Jane Goddall.
Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington, Founder of The Huffington Post, often shares inspiring quotes from famous
people in quote cards on her Instagram feed. The Greek-born immigrant also made a powerful
statement in June 2016 wearing a T-shirt with the inscription “I am an immigrant” which was
liked more than 4,000 times.

Kevin O'Leary
The Canadian businessman, Kevin O'Leary, is also a television star, and he often shares
pictures from the set of Shark Tank, ABC's reality TV show. His post with the most interactions
on Instagram is a video of on how to use a sabre to open a bottle of champagne. Among his
other shots that receive significant itneractions are pictures of his family and having a beer with
his father in Switzerland. The 62-year-old, who also has a large following on Facebook, has
announced his intention to run for leadership of the Canadian conservative party.

Business Leaders with the Most Interactions on Instagram
The 224 business leaders’
Instagram accounts analyzed in
this study had a combined total of
55 million interactions in 2016.
Actress Jessica Alba generated
more than half of that total, with
more than 30 million interactions
on her 527 posts in 2016. Rachel
Zoe is second with 11 million
interactions, far ahead of Richard
Branson with 3.5 million
interactions.
Among the business leaders on
Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg
enjoyed the best interaction rate of
more than seven percent, with the
overall average being five percent,
mainly driven by business leaders
who post only occasionally on the
platform.
The most-liked Instagram photo posted by a business leader in 2016 is a picture of Zuckerberg
with actress Selena Gomez visiting Facebook headquarters, which gained 194,454 likes and
3,788 comments. The picture which received the most comments is a picture posted by Kevin
Systrom, the Founder and CEO of Instagram, of his sister. Zuckerberg also posted the
Instagram video with the most interactions, a video challenging Brazilian footballer Neymar to
the Secret Soccer Emoji Game on Facebook Messenger. It received 54,000 likes and
comments.

Bobbi Brown
Makeup artist and Founder of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics clearly warns her audience that she
deletes rude comments. With 189,000 followers, she is the third most-active business leader on
Instagram and sixth most-interactive business leader on Instagram. Her personal
@JustBobbiBrown account posts mainly Bobbi Brown products, motivational quotes and
snippets from her travels.
Robert Herjavec
The Founder of Herjavec Group and a shark on ABC's Shark Tank ranks tenth for interactions
on Instagram, with an interaction rate of 1.37 percent. He shares a combination of personal,
motivational and promotional images. One of his most-liked posts was a picture from his
wedding, which was Liked almost 24,000 times.

Most-Active Business Leaders on Instagram
Business leaders shared 21,558
photos and 1,975 videos on
Instagram in 2016 at an average of
134 posts per account.
Rachel Zoe is by far the most
prolific with more than 1,000 posts
in 2016, averaging almost three
posts per day. Daymond John of
FUBU, CEO of Bobby Brown
Cosmetics Bobby Brown, Loic
LeMeur, the Founder of Leade.rs
and social entrepreneur Leila
Janah are also very active, with
more than two posts per day.
Loic LeMeur
French serial entrepreneur and Founder of LeWeb conference, Loic LeMeur has invested in 50+
start-ups and has been a regular speaker at the World Economic Forum since 2002. He is the
fourth most-interactive business leader on Instagram, sharing an average of more than two
posts per day in 2016. He shares images of new technology like Snap Spectacles and fine
dining he regularly enjoys with his partner. Among his posts with a large number of interactions
is an image of him meeting with the Pope.

Leila Janah
Janah is the Founder and CEO of Samasource, Co-Founder and CEO of LXMI and an award-
winning social entrepreneur. Her work focuses on bringing living-wage jobs to poor women and
youth to reduce poverty and build better communities. She also shared an image of her meeting
with the Pope in 2016, using the opportunity to reflect on her year and “how to find goodness in
a chaotic world”. Other posts with a large number of interactions include travel shots and
motivational messages. She was the fifth most-active business leader on Instagram in 2016,
sharing an average of two posts per day.

Business Leaders Follower Growth on Instagram
The use of Instagram by
professionals is catching up to
similar growth trends of Facebook.
Up-and-coming CEOs with the
largest increases in follower count
in 2016 represent a more diverse
set of industries – including
Bloomberg and Airbnb as well as
venture capitalists like Andreeson
Horowitz. Even so, several of the
individuals with the largest
followings made huge progress just
in 2016.
Mark Zuckerberg had the biggest
increase in followers on his
Instagram account in 2016, with a
growth rate of 565 percent, adding
1.2 million new followers. Eugene
Kaspersky, CEO of Kaspersky
Labs, is second and Facebook
COO Sheryl Sandberg has seen the third strongest growth, adding 125,000 new followers in
2016.
Eugene Kaspersky
Kaspersky Lab CEO Eugene Kaspersky’s followers on Instagram grew by 10,906 in 2016,
which is an increase of 236 percent. Kaspersky posts Instagram pictures from his trips around
the world – from Greenland to China. He also posts pictures of people he meets along the way
or takes selfies.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ENGAGING ON FACEBOOK AND
INSTAGRAM
As engagement becomes the new measure of social media success today, driving it has
become the objective of social media strategies. Based on this research, Burson-Marsteller has
developed some tips for communicators and business leaders.
Mix It Up – This report describes some successful personas on Facebook and Instagram. While
there are leaders who are successful at managing these personas, it is not necessary to pick
just one and stick to it. Business leaders should feel free to pull from multiple styles and take
tips from many of their peers online.
Respond – To drive engagement, one needs to engage. Audiences expect a personal
connection to the people they follow, so it is important to respond to comments and messages.
Show-Don’t Tell – Videos and photographs receive more interaction than other types of posts,
so it is important to share visual posts with followers. Remember: Attention spans are short. It is
important to share only as much in a video as is needed to get the message across.
Be Yourself – Providing a behind-the-scenes look at a business leader’s company or personal
life can help followers and potential customers feel like they know a business leader and their
business better. While some executives may feel uncomfortable opening up completely, posts
about family and friends are a good way to connect.
Keep At It – Whether a business leader posts himself or herself or has a team to help with
posting content, it is important to post regularly. If a leader posts consistently three times a day
and then drops off, their followers may become bored and stop following them. Facebook and
Instagram are platforms for engagement and conversation, so followers expect this.

Friending in High Places: Business Leaders On Facebook and Instagram

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Friending in High Places: Business Leaders On Facebook and Instagram