That online positioning is one of the main challenges of the companies nowadays is an irrefutable statement, but companies can not forget the positioning of their top leaders because of these depends, in large part, the reputation of the business.
The online influence of a CEO is not measured exclusively in followers. The quality of the content they share shows their expertise and knowledge. Furthermore, the level of engagement they have with their users is also a determining factor for measuring influence.

 

Who are the six most influential CEOs in social media?

  1. Bill Gates, former CEO and co-founder of Microsoft. He uses Twitter since 2009 and in his less than 3,000 tweets about his interests and what he learns through his work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He has almost 40 million followers. His LinkedIn account has a more modest volume, but not less abundant: more than 10 million users follow the co-founder of Microsoft in the professional network. Its Klout (an index that measures the level of influence in social networks) is 91, one of the highest in the digital sphere.
  2. Richard Branson, president and founder of Virgin Group. Almost seven years ago he joined Twitter and sums now 11.6 million followers. He defines himself as ” an adventurer, philanthropist and troublemaker” and highlights his role as CEO at Virgin. And that’s how you connect so effectively with your audience: combining your personal life with the professional. His LinkedIn account slightly surpasses Twitter, with 13 million followers, and an index in Klout of 90.
  3. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors. The man behind Tesla’s car company has 13.6 million followers on Twitter. His influence index in Klout is 88 points. Surprisingly, he’s not on LinkedIn, the professional social network par excellence, but his Instagram account shines with pictures of his rockets, his travels and personal life.
  4. Jack Dorsey, co-founder and CEO of Twitter and Square. He was the first person in the world to tweet and today has 4.08 million followers in the social network he co-founded. The 140-character visionary has a profile on LinkedIn, but has never made use of it, much like Elon Musk.
  5. Arianna Huffington, president and chief editor of Huffington Post Media Group. She is one of the most influential women in the business world globally after revolutionizing the digital media and their social network accounts prove it. It has more than 6 million followers on LinkedIn and almost 3 million on Twitter. It has a Klout influence index of 86.
  6. Reid Hoffman, CEO and co-founder of LinkedIn: In the social network he created he has almost two million followers and on Twitter 472K, and although the figures are not as overwhelming as those of his predecessors in this list, he has an high influence index in Klout, 83, determined by his high level of engagement with his followers.

CEOs should take care of their online positioning and their actions on social networks must respond to a strategy that should go in line with company values. We cannot forget CEOs are more and more, a visible face of the company. Their actions online, as much as the offline, are the public portray of their organizations.