Tourism Ireland CEO Niall Gibbons is the most influential Irish leader on social media, according to The Reputations Agency.
TRA’s Social CEO Report is based on an analysis of the social media activity and LinkedIn profiles of the CEOs of the 100 organisations featured in the agency’s Ireland RepTrak study over a six-month period from March to September 2020.
The CEOs’ influence was measured primarily through their LinkedIn presence on three metrics. Popularity was assessed based on how many followers they had, engagement was based on the amount of likes/reactions received from their posts, while activity was based on how many posts each CEO published.
Niall Gibbons was commended for his popularity on LinkedIn, as well as his work promoting Ireland overseas. TRA’s top 10 ranking of influential CEOs ran as follows:
1 Niall Gibbons, Tourism Ireland
In Association with
2 Anne O’Leary, Vodafone Ireland
3 Francesca McDonagh, Bank of Ireland
4 Robert Finnegan, Three Ireland
5 Cathriona Hallahan, Microsoft Ireland
6 John Paul Scally, Lidl Ireland
7 Paul Kelly, Fáilte Ireland
8 Sharon McCooey, LinkedIn Ireland
9 Kevin Davidson, BMW Ireland
10 Edmond Scanlon, Kerry Group
The study showed that 85% of the 100 Irish leaders examined have a LinkedIn account, but only 38% posted in 2020. A post is deemed as anything they have posted on their own feed – from posting an image, video or an insight or sharing another LinkedIn users post.
Fewer than three in 10 Irish leaders are active on Twitter, according to TRA’s research. Of those studied, 30 CEOs were noted as having a well-executed social media strategy, ensuring they maximised their connections and their content to elevate their organisation’s vision and purpose.
Leaders of Indigenous Irish organisations account for 40% of the top 10 and 50% of the top 30 positions. Irish semi-state bodies were also strongly represented, with their CEOs taking one-third of the top 30 positions, led by the CEOs of Tourism Ireland, Fáilte Ireland, IDA Ireland, RTÉ and An Post.
During the period under review, all of the top 10 leaders addressed Covid-19 in their posts, with almost half of content directly promoting support measures for their industry and customers specifically for the pandemic.
Common Themes
Displaying internal resilience and communicating a strong business continuity plan was the second most common theme, with one-third of all posts from the top 10 relating to internal business news and initiatives.
“A leader who can communicate openly, authentically, and transparently can help win the hearts and minds of their stakeholders,” said Niamh Boyle (pictured), managing director at The Reputations Agency.
Anne Browning, director at The Reputations Agency, added that the study highlighted the importance of a strong leadership strategy. “Organisations who are perceived as well-organised, managed effectively, with appealing leaders, and a strong vision for the future can help build stronger corporate reputations.”
The release of the report marks the launch of the TRA’s Leaders Reputation Programme, a tailored three-month leadership communications programme, designed to build confidence in business leaders to communicate and advocate for their organisation externally.
The programme consists of four building blocks - the role of leadership in reputation management, social media training, preparing for media interviews and a national media profiling programme.
“The appeal of a senior leadership team and their ability to communicate not just about financial performance or the latest product or service, but to provide a clear and compelling corporate vision is becoming more and more important,” said Boyle.
