Social media is no longer just a personal platform; it's a powerful tool for leaders to connect, communicate, and shape their brand. Join us as we explore how leaders can harness social media to build trust, drive engagement, and amplify their leadership presence. Join Can You Hear Me? co-hosts Eileen Rochford and Rob Johnson as they welcome Kellie Kennedy, Executive Vice President of Strategic Earned Marketing at The Harbinger Group to discuss The Role of Social Media in Leadership.
Executive Vice President, Strategic Earned Marketing
For Kellie, creating compelling marketing strategies starts with engaging in proper design principles. Much like her personal affinity for interior decor, Kellie carefully weaves a combination of strategic marketing, PR and media relations experience to piece together comprehensive campaigns that satisfy clients and their audiences alike.
With a 20+ year background in marketing and communications with a focus on healthcare and financial services, Kellie employs a style rooted in close client relationships — some of which have spanned decades — while also emphasizing collaboration, brand awareness, problem-solving and deep research to stay ahead of industry trends and drive businesses forward. Following an insights-driven approach, she incorporates competitive analysis learnings to tailor solutions for corporate communications and C-suite clients — all while paying close attention to achieving KPIs. At the Harbinger Group, she draws upon her wealth of experience to manage multiple accounts and provide sage marketing leadership. Among the clients she’s architected communications campaigns through the years include RevSpring, Illinois Biotechnology Innovation Organization, GTCR, First Command, The Habitat Company, Golden Apple, National Louis University and The Federal Savings Bank.
Prior to her work with The Harbinger Group, Kellie was a marketing communications consultant with Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Hill & Knowlton.
When she’s not working hand-in-hand with clients to exceed communications goals, Kellie enjoys spending time with her three children and husband, as well as with her affectionate Goldendoodle, Teddy Kennedy. Kellie earned a BA in political science from the University of Michigan.
Rob Johnson: [00:00:18] Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the Can You Hear Me Podcast. I'm Rob Johnson, President of Rob Johnson Communications. [00:00:24][6.0]
Eileen Rochford: [00:00:24] And I'm Eileen Rochford, CEO of the Harbinger Group, a marketing and strategy firm. Social media has transformed the way leaders connect to their audiences, but how can leaders use these platforms to build trust, drive engagement, and lead effectively? [00:00:38][13.7]
Rob Johnson: [00:00:39] That is a great question. It's one of the big questions we have today, Eileen, and today we're going to get to the bottom of it. We are thrilled to have with us one of your co-workers, Kellie Kennedy, Executive Vice President of Strategic Earned Media, Earned Marketing at the Harbinger Group. Kellie brings over 20 years of experience in marketing and communication with a focus on healthcare, financial services, and nonprofit sectors. One of her many areas of expertise is leadership on social media and creating that online presence for leaders. So, welcome to the show, Kellie. It is great to have you on, and it's great to see you again. [00:01:11][32.4]
Kellie Kennedy: [00:01:11] Great to be here. Thank you, Robin Eileen. Yes! Hello, Kellie. [00:01:15][3.7]
Eileen Rochford: [00:01:15] we never see enough of each other. It's so nice to see each other in the after hours on the Can You Hear Me? Hooray, hooray! So, and I get to see your expertise in the area of leadership on social media on an ongoing basis. Which is why I said I know the exact right person who needs to be our guest for this topic, Rob Johnson. And Rob Johnson agreed with me. [00:01:39][23.7]
Rob Johnson: [00:01:40] I, there's a rare, there is no occasion where I ever disagree with Eileen, because she's always... [00:01:44][4.2]
Kellie Kennedy: [00:01:45] Oh, she's [00:01:46][0.8]
Rob Johnson: [00:01:46] and Kellie, we know each other well enough that I was like, yup, she's the right one. [00:01:49][3.5]
Kellie Kennedy: [00:01:49] Yeah, there we go. I love it. Well, this is fun to be here. I'm excited to talk. [00:01:54][4.2]
Eileen Rochford: [00:01:54] Good, it's going to be a good time. We'll talk as specific as we can about some of the things that we do for the clients that we work on together. So we're diving in here, Cal. Let's let's cover this first. How have you seen social media change the landscape of leadership communications? That's a media one. [00:02:12][17.6]
Kellie Kennedy: [00:02:12] Absolutely. So I saw a statistic the other day that said nearly three quarters of all Fortune 500 executives use social media in some way, shape or form. And of that 74, 75%, 98% of them use LinkedIn. And so we know that, first of all, it's used, this isn't any shocking statistic here, but we know that it's used quite heavily. And it's really changed the landscape because now these executives have increased transparency and engagement with their stakeholders. And it really, that's very cool to have that because there isn't a gatekeeper in between anymore, but it also necessitates. being very thoughtful and strategic in what you're sharing via social media, as well. And the other thing is that leaders now get this immediate response from the people who are following them as well, and so they get this real time understanding and engagement of what people are really thinking and saying about, you know, in response to their posts and, and their different thoughts and their thought leadership, which is cool, and it also shows that we can't just put out copy on LinkedIn anymore. You have to have visuals. You have have to whether it's a photo or a video, there's got to be something compelling and we have to be good storytellers too. And so that's really changed the landscape. a great deal and it's changed it for the better in my opinion. It's really neat to see that engagement and to see these executives on a more personal level. You can understand them and engage with them more. [00:04:01][108.9]
Rob Johnson: [00:04:01] Because people are wanting to make an emotional connection, right? Exactly. And so you can sit there and tell your story about the what, but if you don't give people the why, then you're missing an opportunity. And it feels like increasingly, thanks to the help of great professionals like you all, they're understanding. You have to be able to give everybody a little bit more of yourself, tell them a little more about what you do, but also tell them why you do it. [00:04:25][23.6]
Eileen Rochford: [00:04:25] Mm-hmm. Yep. So the trust piece is pretty interesting to me. I was, it was a cast, Nikori. I don't know if you guys follow her at all on social media or LinkedIn. But I was speaking to her last week and she was telling me some very recent data about trust. Meaning how leaders of organizations, kind of bigger organizations really, how their employees expect that what they see those leaders talking about on LinkedIn or social media, but mainly LinkedIn has to mirror everything that they've heard or been told internally, or obviously there's a disconnect and then the trust erosion happens almost instantaneously, right? And that these employees are almost going to LinkedIn more than they would ever go to internets or portals or any of that, even for company information. So, doesn't that seem like a huge driver in change, in kind of leadership communications that's all because of social media and really LinkedIn just coming on, I think, in the last four to five years taking over a really prominent role like that. [00:05:35][69.9]
Kellie Kennedy: [00:05:35] Well, I think it also speaks to the need for leaders to be authentic in their communications because employees can see through that and stakeholders can see through that. Um, and that I think is where, you know, Eileen and I have noticed from many of our clients, when those leaders are authentic and truthful on social media, that's when they get the most engagement. That's when people are really saying, wow, you know what I value and appreciate that they're putting something out there that is making them a little bit vulnerable. And that's where we've really seen some good results. [00:06:11][36.2]
Rob Johnson: [00:06:12] So, I'm curious to know, we gave your bio and you've worked across many different sectors with numerous clients. What would you say are some of the common challenges leaders face when using social media and how can they overcome those challenges? Because you hear a lot of times, leaders will say, well, I don't know how to execute it, so forget it. And it's like, no, no, you need to pay attention to this, figure out how to do it, and then have that present. [00:06:35][23.0]
Kellie Kennedy: [00:06:36] Well, first of all, they need to work with the harbinger group. [00:06:37][1.8]
Rob Johnson: [00:06:38] Yeah [00:06:38][0.0]
Eileen Rochford: [00:06:41] You've never had such a bling? Oh my god, where are you? [00:06:44][3.4]
Rob Johnson: [00:06:45] Well done. That's a company woman right there. That is a company. [00:06:48][3.2]
Kellie Kennedy: [00:06:51] But in all seriousness, they really do need to show vulnerability, that's the first thing we have clients who have gotten much better at this, but they feel like they need to sound like another corporate executive that they have admired and who has a good following, but that voice and that tone isn't their own. So they need to realize, okay, here is my personal brand. And here's how I wanted to come across on social media. So that's a very first step there. And then they need to identify what topics they want to discuss and what topics, they importantly, have a unique perspective about that they can share. Because that, again, is really going to draw more followers. When you can say something that is a little bit different than what you're hearing from other people and that you have a good experience that you can speak to or a good perspective. That's really important. And I would say those are the first two things that leaders need to really think about is what is your brand strategy? What is your voice, your tone? And what topics do you wanna talk about? And then a lot of executives say, I am too busy, I can't get this done. I need help. And of course, there's a team that helps them. But another big thing is to have an editorial calendar and plan out a lot of the, the posts that you want to share so that you're consistent. Because we've seen leaders who don't give social media the time and attention it deserves, and then it just falls flat. So you need to be consistent and share once or twice a week, some really meaningful, thoughtful posts to keep that engagement going in it and increase your engagement as well. [00:08:35][103.5]
Rob Johnson: [00:08:35] And algorithms demand it, don't they? Especially something like LinkedIn, right? Because they want to see that frequency. They want to the unique content, not just reposting things. So there's little tricks there too, right. [00:08:46][10.5]
Kellie Kennedy: [00:08:46] Absolutely. Yeah. And I would also say that it's important to keep up with and again, this is where a team helps you with this, but keep up with news and trends and be able to share that because in this day and age, so much of news consumption happens on social media and to be able to Share something and comment on it is also really, you know, easy type of lift to do, but really can show that you're current and up on trends too. [00:09:13][26.5]
Eileen Rochford: [00:09:13] Maybe another challenge that listeners could relate to is just this. know, the version of imposter syndrome, like, what can I possibly say that hasn't already been said on the internet, or particularly on LinkedIn, but that doesn't really matter, does it mean there is a uniqueness element, but I wouldn't use that as like your only filter, because if you did, then no one would ever say anything more that you're true to your inconsistent with your topics and area of expertise, and you're, you're willing to share with some frequency, and that you're conscious that there's an expectation of being there, particularly from your employees. Trust leaders who are on social, in LinkedIn in particular, which is interesting, right? But that increases their trust when they have a presence that in and of itself can be your motivation to get on there. And I would just say to anyone who's questioning themselves, if you don't have something of value to say, then how the heck did you get to that position that you hold right now? I'm pretty sure you have a lot to say. You're just wasting too much time doubting yourself. Let's just get to it and figure out what you can say, you know, that kind of fits you. But that being there just because employees instantly have greater trust of their executives who are active on social media, to me, that would be just a, okay, I'm there. Let's do this. [00:10:39][86.3]
Kellie Kennedy: [00:10:41] Absolutely. And sometimes what they can talk about is right under their nose, but they might not think it's as interesting. You know, we have, um, clients talk about their leadership style or, you know, a recent win from the previous week, whatever it might be, it's short, it's sweet, but it's still meaningful and it's impactful. And so a lot of that, it doesn't have to be rocket science or, um you know. hugely deep but it just something that you can share that shows that you're engaging with your employees your stakeholders and something that they might care about and a lot of times we say you look at your stakeholders and say who or what are the problems that they're facing and are there key things that you can share to help them solve those problems just something you know to always be thinking along the lines of what content is most helpful for your followers. [00:11:34][53.2]
Eileen Rochford: [00:11:35] Mm-hmm. I heard from someone recently that very simple way to go about what you've just described, Kellie, is just to think about, okay, your organization probably has at least four core values. Every organization does, or sometimes a few more. Use those as your filter for, hey, so which of the core values did I see our company exhibiting this week? And there might be more than one. And what behavior or event was that attached to that you could tell a video, or some photos or whatever the case may be. But that is often the simplest way to help make a selection. Like, oh, we lived this core value in this moment. And it was really kind of funny. I'd love to tell, let me just jot that story down. And there, boom, you've got something that totally fits with, you know, what you want to be saying externally, what you want your employees to be seeing about you. And that is very, very true to yourself and organization. [00:12:30][54.5]
Rob Johnson: [00:12:31] And telling a story that pops into your mind is the utmost in authenticity. So that's why it's even more powerful. So when you can illustrate what you're trying to do, one of the core values is you're talking about, Eileen, with a story, that pops in your mind that resonates with you, it's going to resonate with them, the audience. [00:12:49][18.3]
Eileen Rochford: [00:12:49] audience. Yeah, and not overthinking it, you know, if you give yourself some kind of simple filter just helping get to the content and write it up, just be careful that it's accurate and all those things, but just don't overthink it. [00:13:00][11.2]
Kellie Kennedy: [00:13:01] And also, go ahead. Well, I was just gonna say it's being mindful of different events and milestones that are coming up to you know, if you're speaking at a conference, you know. make sure your team knows about that so you can be sharing, you know, the social before, during, and after that event. And if you have, you know, a big milestone coming up, make sure that you're including social to celebrate that via social too. So it's a lot of it's planning and thinking ahead of it too, which is why it's important to to certainly work with the team. Definitely. [00:13:32][30.4]
Eileen Rochford: [00:13:32] Yeah, whether it's internal or external, work with the team so that you can get him to get a gut check. We always advise that for sure. Okay, so moving on to our next topic. Are we ready? We're ready. Okay. So Kellie, how do you advise leaders to handle crises or negative feedback that may emerge on social media? What strategies do you advise that they use, particularly to maintain credibility and trust where we're bad situations to come down? [00:13:58][26.4]
Kellie Kennedy: [00:13:58] Yeah, so this is a good segue from our point from the last question about, you know, working with a group, whether it's internal or external, because when a crisis hits. everybody needs to be on the same page with messaging and next step. And a lot of times with a crisis, legal counsel needs to get involved as well. And so it's really making sure you're collaborating. You're not just going rogue and you see a post and you know, the initial reaction is you want to defend yourself and respond, but you need to wait and make sure that you're working with your team to have the same messaging that goes through all of the responses regarding the crisis and when to respond and in what order you're going to be responding. Key things like that are really, really important. Most times on social media, there might necessitate an immediate response and you certainly want to be transparent when you do, you know, to have the form, you know, the kind of vanilla statement that people just kind of shake their heads and say, what was that even? You don't want to share that via social, but a lot of times you do want to put something out there, but it's on a case by case situation, it all depends on what's going on the legal implications to things, something, but when you do say something and if you do, it has to be factual and transparent. It goes back to the crisis communications 101. [00:15:19][81.0]
Rob Johnson: [00:15:20] I love you talked about bringing in the legal counsel because a lot of times people are like, oh gosh, this person is going to pour cold water on everything I want to do. And at the end of the day, you have to get buy-in from them because they're going to keep you, hopefully, going to keep you protected from any legal ramifications that there might be. [00:15:36][16.5]
Kellie Kennedy: [00:15:37] Absolutely. And you don't want to have two different messages going out because there might be facts that the leader might not be privy to at that time. And then once he or she joins with their team to talk, they find out more information and that might change the messaging. So again, just that collaboration is key. [00:15:54][17.1]
Rob Johnson: [00:15:55] So let's talk about, we talked about it a little bit, how does a leader decide which social channels are best for them? We talked about how important LinkedIn is and how an overwhelming number of leaders use it as they should. Should they be looking for any other of the social channels as well? And if so, is the message the same? Do you convey something different? How does that work as you sit there and try to connect with your, with the public and other external stakeholders? [00:16:22][26.6]
Kellie Kennedy: [00:16:22] Yeah, you obviously want to identify your key audience and where key audiences and where they are, which social platforms they're using, and then you want to be out there on those same platforms. And you certainly don't share the same message via each of those platforms because they're, they're different, you know, something like, you know, Instagram is very different than LinkedIn, which is very than something like you know X and so you have to be very mindful of what what you're saying and how you're seeing it for each platform and it might not be appropriate to be sharing the same topic or content across all of them either. But again, we found that LinkedIn has been very helpful for our clients in the B2B space and B2C to some degree as well. But again it just depends on where your target audience is. [00:17:18][56.1]
Rob Johnson: [00:17:19] Right. Agreed. So, before we wrap up, what steps would you recommend for leaders who are just starting to build their social media presence? Are there specific tools that they find particularly effective? You just explained the different platforms a little bit, which is very important to understand. What about some of the tools they should be using as well to kind of get their message out there and to gain comfort? [00:17:41][22.1]
Kellie Kennedy: [00:17:41] Yeah, you know, I think part of it is you just have to, you have to plan and you have to, some of the things that we've talked about already, know your audience, but also know the brand identity that you have that you want to share externally. I think it's really important to define that first and to look and say, okay, here are the topics that I really want to be out front on and talk about that. So then, you know, for example, if you know that you want to be talking about... financial readiness among military members, then you're looking for news articles about that you're thinking of experiences that you've had and milestones that you want to talk about that that pertain to that topic. And so it's really identifying that because you can't be all things to all people. So you really need to think through what do I want to be sharing and what perspective do I have on these topics that's unique and to be able to share, share those and again, work with the team to make sure you're consistent, don't do it for a month or two months and then drop off the face of the earth. You want to be, you know, consistently and again, I say one to two times a week, contributing something to whether it's LinkedIn or X or whatever platform you might be on most regularly and make sure to also this is an important thing, engage with others. It's not just about you putting out the information, you want to make sure that you're engaging with other people's information and liking it and commenting and sharing it as well because that's a good way to engage and increase your followers too. [00:19:15][93.3]
Eileen Rochford: [00:19:15] This is all very, very good advice. Thank you, Kellie. [00:19:18][2.4]
Kellie Kennedy: [00:19:19] Well, thank you guys. This was a lot of fun. Good. [00:19:21][2.5]
Rob Johnson: [00:19:22] It's also important and I think the executives that understand it are the ones that are kind of separating themselves from the pack and the ones who don't are the one that are still probably mired in how do I do this? Why is it so hard to do and here are the 10 reasons I'm not doing it. So just doing it matters, don't you think? [00:19:38][15.9]
Eileen Rochford: [00:19:38] Yeah, it does. And I will just add for our listeners benefit, we'll add to the show notes of kind of a beginners, it's like a little starter kit for how do I create, you know, my, I, what we call an editorial calendar is the simplest way to map out. Here's six things I can confidently talk about, and, you're walking through some exercises. So how do I break that down into, you can get 18 different host ideas out of six topics, and then kind of keep moving that forward. And basically this walkthrough will help you get about six months worth of twice a week post content. But mapping that out is what I heard Kellie say is one of the most important things that you have to do before you get started. You're not just jumping on and then randomly posting you're there occasionally, sometimes never. You kind of have to have a vision of sorts. There will be lots of spontaneous things that come to mind once you get the hang of it, but having that vision is really important. So we will attach to the show now. um a start editorial guide um that's i think we found that on hot spot that's great so we'll just share that as for the benefit of everybody who might be considering either getting started or even helping up the consistency and perhaps quality or organization of the content that they Thank you for watching. See you next time. [00:21:01][83.0]
Rob Johnson: [00:21:02] Like to give giving them a roadmap cuts out all the excuses for not doing it, doesn't it? [00:21:06][4.2]
Eileen Rochford: [00:21:06] It kind of does. There's still work that you have to do as an individual. Just make that clear. But it doesn't make the structuring aspects very straightforward. So yeah, it does remove a barrier. That's for sure. So we'll share that in the show notes. But thank you. We've had a good chat here. I think we've surfaced quite a few actionable steps here. [00:21:26][20.4]
Rob Johnson: [00:21:27] Kellie thank you so much for joining us uh... i know this is where you live all the time and and you're focused on all the time person to talk to us so thank you so very much [00:21:35][8.2]
Kellie Kennedy: [00:21:36] Wonderful good chatting with you guys. Thank you Thank you. [00:21:37][1.8]
Rob Johnson: [00:21:38] Likewise. All right. That's going to do it for another edition of Can You Hear Me? I'm Rob Johnson. If you'd like to weigh in on the podcast or give us an idea for a topic that you like and more and more of you are, so thank you. Keep them coming. Please contact us at our Can You hear Me podcast page on LinkedIn. [00:21:53][15.2]
Eileen Rochford: [00:21:54] And I'm Eileen Rochford, if you like what you heard, please think about giving Can You Hear Me a positive review wherever you find your podcast, like Apple or Spotify. Just write one up for us. We'd really appreciate it because your reviews, should you choose to write one, will help other new listeners find our show. We appreciate that. Thanks everybody for listening. Well, I'll tell you what, guys, it's strange, but I cannot stop the recording and normally I can. So I don't know what I'm doing on today. [00:22:21][27.1]
Rob Johnson: [00:22:21] So don't say anything that you don't want everybody else to hear. [00:22:24][2.8]
Eileen Rochford: [00:22:25] I'm pretty sure once we all leave, that will stop that will stop. Yeah. [00:22:29][3.3]
Rob Johnson: [00:22:28] That will stop, yeah. That came in at $24.51, that's fine. That's good. We got right to it, Kellie. You're like a well-oiled machine. I realized I changed something and added something and changed some of the reads. And I was like, oh, I bet Eileen didn't, she wasn't coming straight from the Google Doc itself. It may have been printed out. So when I heard a pause, I was like, Oh, you may not know about that. I'll jump in with the next thing. So thank you. That's what happened there. And I should have communicated that since I'm big into over-communicating, as you know. [00:22:55][27.2]
Eileen Rochford: [00:22:56] Yes, you are, Mr. Well, having spent five hours in one client meeting and then rolling into two other short meetings and then onto this, I thank you for the assistance. [00:23:05][9.6]
Rob Johnson: [00:23:06] Yes, we appreciate it immensely. Thank you so, so much. [00:23:12][5.7]
Eileen Rochford: [00:23:12] Okay, let's see if it stops when we leave. [00:23:14][2.1]
Rob Johnson: [00:23:14] Hey, so we're we're where we love doing this so much. We're doing it again Wednesday with with Patrick, right? [00:23:21][6.4]
Eileen Rochford: [00:23:21] That's right. Yeah. [00:23:21][0.6]
Rob Johnson: [00:23:22] 9am as I recall. I believe so. I will see you guys then. I'll talk to Eileen before that, but have a productive trip to Big D to see Mark. [00:23:31][9.4]
Eileen Rochford: [00:23:32] Thanks! We're going to have fun! [00:23:32][0.7]
Rob Johnson: [00:23:33] Alright. All right. [00:23:33][0.4]
Eileen Rochford: [00:23:34] Yes. Take care. All right, thanks, Natalie. Take care, bye, guys. Bye bye. [00:23:34][0.0]
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