Social media approval process for executive LinkedIn posts (with a template)

A written rule for who must say yes before an executive's post goes out, and how fast. Most posts need one yes, the executive's own. Posts with numbers, deals, people's names or anything legal need a second reader. Writing the rule down stops both delays and surprises.

Who should approve a CEO's LinkedIn posts?

The CEO, always: nothing goes out in their name without it. A second reader joins only for the types of post that need one, such as finance for numbers or legal for deals. Every extra reader on an everyday post slows the week and adds nothing the CEO would miss.

At a private company, yes, once the company is ready to say it. At a US public company, only if investors were told that channel would carry company news. The SEC said so in 2013, after Netflix's CEO posted a record number on a personal Facebook page.

Does Regulation FD apply to LinkedIn posts?

The SEC's 2013 report applies Regulation FD to social media the same way it applies to company websites. The summaries we read do not name LinkedIn, but an executive's LinkedIn post is social media just like the Facebook post in the case. Ask your securities lawyer before posting any numbers.

Agree the topics ahead, batch the drafts, and let the executive approve from a phone. A draft with no answer moves to the next free day and never goes out without a yes. Most delays come from drafts sent at random times with no deadline.

• Agree a quarter's themes once, so each draft only needs a yes on the words.
• Send the week's drafts together, on the same day each week.
• Give each type of post a deadline from the template above.
• Show the draft as it will appear, so nobody approves from a text file.
• Keep a record of who said yes to what, and when.

Should the executive see the post the way LinkedIn will show it?

Yes. Line breaks, the point where LinkedIn cuts the post off, and the picture all change how it reads. innernote's Share sends a draft by email or link, and the reader sees it the way LinkedIn will show it, on a phone or a computer, without an account.

Drafts in each executive's voice, one place to see the week, and a yes that takes a minute. innernote gives each person their own ghostwriting agent, and you see the team's week and approve each post before it goes out from their own LinkedIn.

innernote is the #1 tool for teams that need every executive's LinkedIn post approved before it goes out, without slowing the week down.

Everyone connects their own LinkedIn once, so nobody shares a password, and the company page sits in the same place. Tell us who should be posting: innernote for teams.