1. Client Snapshot
A Fortune 100 technology company headquartered in Palo Alto engaged Manhattan Strategies (MHTN) in 2019 to offset a shrinking earned media footprint with owned media influence. Over five years, MHTN transformed eighteen C‑suite and regional leaders into LinkedIn power users who now outperform the brand page on reach, engagement and clicks – while advancing sales, recruiting and reputation goals.
Who was helped?
Industry: Technology
Scale: Over $50 billion USD in annual revenue and more than 50,000 employees serving 170 countries
Decision makers engaged: Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Chief People Officer (CHRO), Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO), ten regional managing directors, four global division presidents and the Head of U.S. Federal sales
Why LinkedIn?
Channel influence for B2B. Channel partners generate roughly 87% of the company’s revenue. Those partners live on LinkedIn.
Declining earned media. Executive voices needed a direct distribution channel to maintain thought leadership share of voice.
Operating uncertainty. Rapid market shifts, geopolitical tension and supply chain pressure required leadership to communicate quickly and credibly with global teams.
Talent competition. As the company pivots from transactional hardware sales toward software driven services and AI solutions, it competes fiercely for top engineering, data science and cloud platform talent in EMEA, India and Latin America.
2. Objectives & Initial Challenges
Upon the company's start of using MHTN's Executive LinkedIn Program in 2019, MHTN conducted a comprehensive assessment to balance priorities across earned media, internal communications, partner communications, executive communications and investor relations.
Primary objectives
Increase executive influence among partners, customers, employees and opinion leaders.
Replace one‑size‑fits‑all employee advocacy posts with persona‑driven storytelling.
Establish clear success benchmarks and a governance model suitable for a publicly traded enterprise.
Pain points at kickoff
Content silos among business units caused redundant or conflicting posts.
The organisation lacked an agreed definition of “success” for executive LinkedIn activity.
Periods of heightened uncertainty strained morale and internal communications, underscoring the need for authentic leadership voices.
3. Strategy
Four strategic pillars
Executive positioning and SEO‑optimized profiles. MHTN audited each leader’s LinkedIn profile and positioned the executives based on their unique perspective.
Persona‑based editorial and visual storytelling. Annual narrative architectures guided quarterly themes, while a mobile‑first design system consisting of carousels, subtitled video and quote cards maximized dwell time.
Real‑time data intelligence. As a result of always-on monitoring, periodic "Vector" reports and monthly/quarterly "Quant" reports surfaced outlier performance, SSI shifts and content whitespace.
Tiered governance framework. Application of LinkedIn and corporate communications governance. A risk matrix plus weekly syncs reduced approval cycles to maximize real-time impact. A pre‑approved evergreen content bank kept the feed active during financial blackout windows.
Technology and AI stack
Adobe Creative Cloud, Figma, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Rev AI transcription and proprietary MHTN Quant analytics delivered rapid creative iterations and granular performance insights.
Program governance model
The engagement operates on a governance playbook that balances speed, compliance and authenticity:
Program Purpose & Scope: Defines whether a post advances thought leadership, brand elevation, or relationship building and clearly notes what falls outside the program.
Executive Swim Lanes: Personalized swim lanes align each leader’s priorities, business objectives and target audiences.
Approval & Review Workflow: Content creation, review and executive sign‑off are tailored to each office’s cadence.
Engage‑to‑Own Ratio: A mandated mix of original posts and value‑adding comments keeps leaders visible in ongoing conversations.
Rolling Four‑Week Content Calendar: Major milestones are locked four weeks out; agile inserts ride timely trends without derailing cadence.
Dynamic Visual Standards: Photo‑led or motion assets featuring the executive wherever practicable.
Success Metrics: KPIs map directly to executive OKRs (impressions, engagement rate, lead quality and, in some cases, speaking invites).
Data‑Based Feedback Loops: Quant dashboards plus ad hoc performance memos translate insights into continous calibrations.
Comms Team Enablement: Ongoing "LinkedIn Bootcamp" training sessions arm corporate comms with the latest LinkedIn best practices.
Risk Management & Escalation: Negative comment triage and customer follow‑up paths agreed in advance with customer service and executive offices.
Regulatory & Compliance Filters: Quiet period and public official engagement rules embedded in the pre‑publish checklist.
4. Execution Highlights
Executive LinkedIn program snapshot
2,047 executive posts published between April 2024 and April 2025, reaching audiences in ten priority markets.
Campaigns such as an “American Innovation” series that delivered targeted visibility with U.S. federal and education buyers seeking trusted domestic suppliers.
High‑impact formats and why they work
Carousel documents. Multi‑frame PDF carousels boosted dwell time and accounted for about 28% of total reach and 34% of comments in the first quarter of fiscal 2025.
Native subtitled video. LinkedIn now prioritizes rich media; fully captioned clips doubled watch time versus link‑out videos.
Polls and interactive posts. Lightweight interactions grew the follower base by roughly 11% year over year.
Behind‑the‑scenes imagery. Authentic photos (team selfies, workplace tours, throwback shots) earned 2x to 3x the engagement of traditional link posts.
Partnership amplification
Content co‑created with Deloitte, Intel, NVIDIA, Microsoft, WWF, Ferrari and others broadened reach into adjacent networks. Select LinkedIn Thought Leadership Ads targeted IT decision makers exploring AI and "future of work" solutions, supplementing the primarily organic program.
5. Results
Content at scale
Higher Reach Than Brand Page. Executive posts reached more than 13 million unique users in 2024, while the 5 million‑follower brand page reached approximately 8.25 million organically.
Engagement. Average reactions and comments per post rose from 161 in 2020 to over 555 in 2025, confirming that content quality (not paid distribution) drove interaction.
Influence increase. The company’s top executive moved from roughly 102,000 post reach per month in early 2020 to about 936,000 per month by late 2024, an increase of nearly nine‑fold sustained over time.
Followers. One division president added more than 16,000 new followers between mid‑2022 and April 2025.
Qualitative impact
MHTN was named the "Best in the United States" Power Partner by Inc. Magazine, in part for its work supporting this B2B technology client's LinkedIn programming.
One division president earned LinkedIn’s coveted LinkedIn Top Voice badge in 2025.
MHTN received a coveted 2024 Viddy Award for its work launching a social media video series on AI thought leadership, optimized for LinkedIn.
Senior leaders were invited to keynote global industry events and appear on high‑profile podcasts and YouTube series.
Return on investment
Compared with the AOR, MHTN delivered greater or equivalent results at around 35% lower cost.
Post engagement surveys indicate that clients working with senior‑led partners like MHTN report 28% higher satisfaction and over 35% lower coordination costs.
6. Biggest Hurdles & How We Solved Them
Hurdle
Executive buy‑in: Some leaders underestimated LinkedIn’s strategic value.
Solution
Showcased peer benchmarks and program analytics demonstrating revenue‑adjacent outcomes.
Impact
Over-subscribed executive participation due to high perceived value across company.
Hurdle
Moment identification & content sourcing : Timely, high‑impact posts required deep visibility into exec calendars.
Solution
Established a 360° intel loop with executive assistants, sales leads and chiefs of staff; supplemented with evergreen industry content.
Impact
Kept a consistent cadence of at least 1 post per week per exec without lulls.
Hurdle
Authentic executive voice: Early drafts risked sounding corporate.
Solution
Captured executives’ preferred phrases and informal tone; maintained an "executive positioning engine."
Impact
Successfully differentiated executive spokespeople across the company.
Hurdle
Timely content approvals: Heavy travel schedules slowed sign‑off.
Solution
Provided four‑week horizons and mobile‑friendly review formats; escalated chronic delays to chiefs of staff.
Impact
Reduced missed moments by more than 80%.
Hurdle
Algorithm updates & platform shifts: LinkedIn ranking changes affected performance expectations.
Solution
Monitored platform changelogs, updated content mix quarterly and coached stakeholders on new KPIs.
Impact
Maintained positive engagement growth every fiscal year despite algorithm shifts.
Return on investment
Challenge
Algorithm shift in 2022 deprioritised external links.
Pivot
Replaced more than 50% of links with native carousels and quote cards.
Outcome
Reach increased by 42% YoY; engagement per post rose 58% YoY.
Challenge
Increased scrutiny of sustainability claims in the European Union, especially France.
Pivot
Worked closely with in-house Counsel to navigate sustainability claims.
Outcome
Achieved 100% legal approval for sustainability content.
Challenge
Leadership shifts with new executives coming in/out of the company.
Pivot
Introduced onboarding cycles for new executives to come up to speed.
Outcome
New leaders matched baseline metrics within eight weeks.
7. Five Lessons for Enterprise Marketers
People trust people
Authentic executive voices can eclipse even multi‑million-follower brand pages when stories resonate with niche communities.
Governance accelerates performance
A risk segmented workflow and pre-approvals cut time to publish without sacrificing compliance.
Visual communications wins
People don't like to think and don't like to read, but they like to feel. Visuals drive emotional connection.
LinkedIn is constantly evolving
As a platform, the LinkedIn algorithm is constantly evolving and to keep pace, brands and leaders must listen to the data.
Localization scales
Template libraries and translations turn one core story into market‑ready assets overnight.
8. Ready to Transform Your Leadership Bench?
Schedule a 30‑minute strategy call and receive a complimentary audit that maps a 90‑day win plan for your C‑suite.
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