Socializing Your CEO IV: The Engagement Factor

1. The Internet and social media are necessary tools for executives to effectively
engage stakeholders. Weber Shandwick has been tracking the online and social
media presence of CEOs since 2010. At the time, few chief executives had an
online presence, but by 2014, CEO sociability had become mainstreamed.
Socializing Your CEO IV refreshes this CEO sociability analysis, this time
examining engagement in addition to online presence, for U.S. Fortune 50
companies, Fortune’s 25 Most Important Private Companies and Mercury News’
top 50 companies in Silicon Valley. Socially engaged CEOs are more than just
publicly visible online and go beyond posting content. They are responsive and
interact with others.
CEOs were awarded one point for each
platform they have a presence on, two for
each platform they’ve posted on within the
past 12 months and three points for engaging
or interacting with others. The maximum
number of points a CEO can receive is 38.
Letters + Quotes + Video + Pictures
+ Homepage
+ “About Us” page
+ Diversity and sustainability pages
+ Spotlight pages, which are enhanced versions of a
bio and sometimes even a separate leadership page
SOCIALIZING
YOUR
CEOIV:THE ENGAGEMENTFACTOR
METHODOLOGY Weber Shandwick audited the online presence of CEOs from the top 50 public U.S. companies in the 2016 Fortune 500 rankings,
CEOs from Fortune’s 25 Most Important Private Companies and the top 50 CEOs from the Mercury News’ Silicon Valley’s top 150 companies for 2016.
Platforms audited were company website, company YouTube, external CEO blogs or websites, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Instagram.
THE SOCIAL CEO INDEX AVERAGE # SOCIAL CEO INDEX POINTS
SILICON
VALLEY CEOs
PRIVATE
COMPANY CEOs
PUBLIC
COMPANY CEOs
5.1 4.8 3.7
MOSTCEOs ARE VISIBLE ON THEIR
COMPANY WEBSITE, WITH MORE
THAN JUST A BIOGRAPHY
MORE THAN HALF OF
CEOs APPEAR IN VIDEO ON
THEIR COMPANY WEBSITE OR
COMPANY YOUTUBE CHANNEL
WEBSITE PAGES SEARCHED INCLUDE
TYPES OF CEO VISIBILITY
MOST CEOs HAVE
A PRESENCE ONLINE 92% 86%
PUBLIC COMPANY CEOs SILICON VALLEY CEOs PRIVATE COMPANY CEOs
76%
SILICON
VALLEY CEOs
PUBLIC
COMPANY CEOs
65%
58%
PRIVATE
COMPANY CEOs52%
PUBLIC
COMPANY CEOs
PRIVATE
COMPANY CEOs
SILICON
VALLEY CEOs
90% 66% 65%
SILICON VALLEY CEOs ARE MOST
LIKELY TO ENGAGE ON SOCIAL NETWORKS.
ALTHOUGH CEOs ARE VISIBLE, THEY ARE NOT ENGAGING
PUBLIC COMPANY CEOs ARE LEAST
LIKELY TO ENGAGE ON SOCIAL NETWORKS.
39% 22%
For more information about Socializing Your CEO IV: The Engagement Factor,
please contact: ThoughtLeadership@webershandwick.com