The CEO Content Framework for LinkedIn Thought Leadership

Your CEO’s voice is one of your company’s most valuable brand assets.

Read that again.

When leaders share high-quality content on social media, it builds trust, attracts talent, and creates direct engagement with customers and investors.

But let’s be real: most CEOs don’t have time to sit down and craft LinkedIn posts 🫣

So, how do you make it happen without adding another job to their plate?

Enter The CEO Content Framework: a streamlined, five-step system that makes content creation effortless, authentic, and consistent for your senior leaders 👏

Since you’re here, I assume that you already have a reason (or several) for wanting your CEO to become active on LinkedIn. But maybe you’re not aware of the full impact it can have. Either way, I’ve got some data for you.

Here at DSMN8, our data team regularly researches and analyzes LinkedIn activity, ranking organizations based on employee advocacy efforts.

We noticed that companies with active C-Suite executives typically had much higher levels of employee engagement, and better results, too.

In fact, we found that 10% of engaged executives generate 55% of their company’s employee advocacy results.

We also took a deep dive into 11,107 employee LinkedIn posts from a prominent civil engineering organization last year.

And the result was clear:

The CEO could generate the same number of reactions as the company page, all with only 1.67% of the follower count 🤯

And this ‘executive influence,’ as we call it, extends beyond the CEO.

The team at Backlinko saw the results of founder Brian Dean‘s personal brand first-hand and decided to replicate it. Head of SEO, Leigh McKenzie says:

“We knew we wanted to promote our blog content, and posting from both my profile and Backlinko’s company page just made sense. The company page is more straight to the point—sharing tips, strategies, and blog updates. My profile? That’s where I mix in more of my own thoughts and experiences.

Brian Dean built Backlinko by creating a real connection with his audience. People didn’t just trust the content—they trusted him. After the acquisition, we knew we wanted to keep that personal touch alive. So, I figured, why not start with me?” 

The result of this experiment?

Over 3x the number of reactions and over 5x the comments… with half the number of followers as the company page 👏

How can you start seeing results similar to those of the companies we’ve discussed without turning your CEO into a copywriter?

Without further ado, let’s jump into the CEO Content Framework.

This is a no-fuss system for creating consistent thought leadership content.

In our experience supporting hundreds of employee advocacy programs and turning executives into influencers, the key to getting buy-in from your CEO is to keep it simple and efficient.

By all means, you can adjust this framework to your requirements, but try not to make it more complex than it needs to be. Otherwise, you’ll risk resistance!

Time required: minimal, a minute or so here and there!

Not all great ideas come from structured conversations. The best thought leadership often comes from real-time reactions to industry trends, customer insights, and challenges.

How to make this effortless:

• Set up a Slack channel where they can drop quick thoughts (a voice note, a sentence, a screenshot).
• Use AI transcription tools to capture meetings and speeches for potential insights.
• If they’re too busy, observe and extract from their public talks, calls, or internal all-hands meetings.

CEOs already have valuable insights that make for great content; they often just don’t realize it.

Time required: 30 minutes.

Schedule 30 minutes in your calendars for a debrief session:

Ask them:

• What’s a conversation that stood out to you this week?
• What’s one mistake or misconception in our industry?
• What’s a piece of advice you’d give your past self?
• What trend are you paying attention to?
• Ask them to expand on an interesting insight you noticed from step 1.

From this interview (or Slack thread if they can’t commit the time for a call), extract one to two content-worthy ideas.

Time required: 45 minutes (you), zero from the CEO.

You’ve gathered insights from your CEO and their opinions on trending topics.

Now it’s your time to shine by crafting a compelling LinkedIn post for them to share.

Here are some tips:

• Understand your CEO’s tone of voice. Would they use slang and conversational language or be more serious?
• Make it skimmable: Use line breaks, lists, and bullet points.
• End with a hook: A question, key takeaway, or call-to-action.

Time required: 10 minutes maximum.

At this point, your CEO will receive the content you have created and spend 10 minutes (or less) reviewing and approving it.

Be clear about what’s expected here:

• Remind them: “This is LinkedIn, not a whitepaper.”
• Offer two simple choices: Approve as-is or tweak something.
• Keep it light: no endless revisions!

CEOs like to be in control, but they also need a simple “yes/no” process to avoid delays.

Time required: 5 minutes.

Now it’s time to post or schedule the content and engage in the comments.

Ask your colleagues to ‘boost’ the post by liking, sharing, or commenting on it. Even just one or two comments can increase its reach significantly 📢

DSMN8 has a popular ‘boost post‘ feature that makes this ridiculously easy. Simply request a boost on your CEO’s post, and your colleagues can like or share in just one click without even needing to open LinkedIn 😎

With this framework, your CEO will go from “I don’t have time for building my social media presence” to “Wow, this is actually working.” There are 4 simple reasons why:

The bottom line? A CEO who posts consistently isn’t just building a personal brand, they’re building the company’s future.

Even with a streamlined framework like this, managing a CEO’s LinkedIn presence can still feel like a juggling act. That’s where DSMN8 comes in. Our platform takes the effort out of approving, scheduling, and amplifying content.

✅ Schedule and Automate CEO Content

With DSMN8’s content scheduling, you can plan and queue up CEO posts in advance, ensuring a steady flow of thought leadership without last-minute scrambles. Plus, AI chooses the best time to share! 👌

✅ Easy Workflow Approvals

Forget back-and-forth emails or Slack conversations: DSMN8’s workflow approvals allow you to draft content, send it for quick CEO review, and get instant approval.

✅ Hands-Free Posting with Delegate Access

Some CEOs prefer to stay involved, while others want a completely hands-off approach. With DSMN8’s Delegate Access, content can be posted on their behalf securely and effortlessly.

✅ Secure and Compliant (No Password Sharing!)

Managing a CEO’s LinkedIn profile shouldn’t mean passing around login credentials. DSMN8 integrates with SSO (Single Sign-On), ensuring a secure and compliant way to manage their social media presence.

✅ Boost Engagement with One-Click Employee Advocacy

A CEO’s voice is powerful, but engagement from colleagues amplifies that message even further. With DSMN8’s Boost Post feature, employees can like and share executive influencer posts in one click.

Whether your leader wants to be hands-on or completely delegate their LinkedIn presence, we make it seamless, secure, and scalable.

Combining the CEO Content Framework with the DSMN8 platform is an unbeatable combination. It’s time to transform CEO content management from a chore into a growth driver 📈

I’ll leave you with a podcast episode featuring our very own CEO explaining how to get your CEO active on social media👇

More on executive influence and CEO content:

• 28 Executive Social Media Statistics You Need To Know.
• The Impact of Executive Social Media Presence.
• CEO Sabotage: How a Disengaged CEO Impacts Employee Engagement.