LeBron James, the NBA superstar named the ‘athlete of the decade’ by USA TODAY, is also a powerhouse on social media. Under the handle @kingjames, LeBron has 54 million followers on Instagram alone. He has another 44 million on Twitter and 22 million on Facebook.
James shares hundreds of photos and videos on his Instagram feed every month. According to a recent article in the New York Times, James posted 478 photos and videos in the month of November alone.
Here’s the key lesson for business leaders in any field—James doesn’t outsource his social media. It’s all him.
“That’s all me, right from my phone,” James told the New York Times. “Nobody has my password. Nobody is making posts for me or talking for me. I speak for myself.”
And James’s fans get a lot of insight. “He shares photos of his children. Of his teammates. Of his stats. Of his luggage. He uploads videos of himself rapping along to music, working on his core and sipping tequila. He promotes the television shows that he helps produce and the sneakers that he wears.”
Authentic Posts Project the ‘Human Side’ of the Corporate World
When I ask small business owners, entrepreneurs or CEOs why they outsource much of their social media, the most common excuse I hear is, “I just don’t have time for that stuff.” Well, James doesn’t have spare time, either. The demands on his time are enormous, but connecting authentically with fans is fundamental to his brand.
In one CNBC analysis released this summer, nearly half of S&P 500 CEOs have a social media presence, but only one in four had posted within the past year. Very few leaders are considered ‘active’ and engaged on their social media platforms. For example, in the same study, 44% of CEOs have a LinkedIn presence and, of those, only 45% are active.
Those leaders who aren’t using social media to its full potential are missing an opportunity to “project the human side of the corporate world,” according to CNBC. “Social media…provides an unfiltered forum for corporate leaders to listen to their communities and to connect by sharing their successes and challenges.”
Let Your Followers Get to Know You
If you find it difficult to come up with content for your social media posts, remember than authentic means ‘real.’ Let people get to know the real you. For example, I was invited to speak to senior executives at a well-known financial brand. They wanted to know more about incorporating storytelling into their leadership communications.
The company was going through a period of low employee engagement. Internal surveys showed that employees felt disconnected to the brand’s mission and from their supervisors. We started the transformation with the company’s most senior leaders. They were each required to post a series of videos intended to let employees get to know them on a personal level. Some of the leaders didn’t know where to start, so we prompted them with questions such as: “What do you do in your free time?” or “What are your favorite books?”
The marketing manager of the company contacted me recently to say the ‘authentic’ videos were the most-viewed videos of the year—three times as popular as the company’s quarterly earnings announcements. Employees love the videos and say they feel more engaged with their leadership than ever. Their biggest complaint? They want more.
People crave authentic connections to one another—and yes, that extends to a connection to their leaders.
In addition to LeBron James, leaders can also learn about authenticity from the social media posts of Richard Branson. The Virgin Group founder and billionaire has more than 4 million followers on Instagram.
When I was invited to spend a day with Branson to learn more about his leadership principles, I noticed something that surprised me at the time. While we were sitting on the runway waiting for the Virgin America plane to take off, Branson was on his phone. An assistant showed him a photograph from an earlier event. “Send that to me and I’ll post it,” he said.
Branson’s social media posts are authentic because it’s all him.
Make 2020 the year you elevate your presence on social media. If you get stuck for ideas, take some ideas from James and Branson—it’s all on you.