You finally got a couple of your executives on LinkedIn. You helped them brush up (or create) their profiles. You assisted them in learning how to listen and engage. And they even made a couple posts.

But since then, things have stagnated. Your execs aren’t posting with any regularity. And it’s like pulling teeth to get them to post at all, it seems.

You’re stuck. And you’re at a loss for how to get them to be more active.

What do you do?

First, I would say this is a pretty common situation. Many execs got more “active” on LinkedIn during the pandemic–namely because they had to! Other comms channels dried up. And LinkedIn use surged. It all added up to more execs joining the LinkedIn ranks–which was great! However, since then, things have puttered along. Execs aren’t posting with the regularity they once were, which kinda sucks because when they do post it CRUSHES!

So we’re back to that question: What do you do?

Here are 5 ideas for getting your exec to be a little more active on LinkedIn more frequently:

1 – Talk about recent PR wins

This is low-hanging fruit. Approach your PR team and find out what recent PR wins they’ve earned–and determine if your execs have been featured in any of those. If they have, those are easy pieces of content to build LinkedIn posts around. And even if they aren’t, you can still create a post the exec can share that talks about the PR win since I’m fairly certain it’s important to the business.

2 – Engage employee audiences with polls

I’ve noticed most execs don’t use the poll functionality on LinkedIn–and I’ve always wondered why. Seems like a big miss considering the wonderful feedback loop it provides–especially among the employee audience. Why couldn’t you create a poll a quarter for your exec to share on LinkedIn that specifically targets that employee audience. There would certainly be no shortage of ideas, right?

3 – Repurpose key messages to employees (at least the messages that aren’t confidential)

You probably wouldn’t repurpose every message your exec sends to employees through internal channels. But certainly there would be a few that would translate publicly. The HR and financial info would be off-limits, but what about the big, strategic key messages? Wouldn’t those be perfect for an execs LinkedIn post? Wouldn’t those messages inspire both employees and customers alike? It’s actually the perfect formula for a LinkedIn post as a post like that would most likely drive a ton of likes and comments affirming the message.

4 – Highlight the exec’s recent volunteer or philanthropic work

This is another under-the-radar content bucket for most execs–especially since we all know most are very actively with volunteer work or giving. Why wouldn’t they talk about that on LinkedIn? Actually, the answer in most cases is “I don’t want to talk about that.” Translation: They usually feel uncomfortable tooting their own horn when it comes to giving back. But, they shouldn’t–especially in an environment where employees and customers want to feel closer to leaders. This is an easy way to give them a peek into who the exec is, and what they care about.

5 – Show the personal side of the exec by featuring big life moments

This is, by far, the toughest one for most execs. But, there are certainly case studies out there of leaders who are doing this semi-regularly. Geoff Martha at Medtronic comes to mind. As does Ed Bastian at Delta. I don’t think execs need to get overly personal–that’s what they usually think. Even a simple holiday post with a pic of the execs family would be a nice touch. Or, what about a pic of the exec on vacation talking about the value of PTO? How powerful would that be?!?!? Or, why not get a pic of the exec with their child who’s graduating from college? Isn’t that a moment many parents can identify with? So much opportunity here–you just have to convince your exec it’s not nearly as scary as they think it is (show them a few examples I’ve shared here to get them thinking differently).