Executive positioning of EURO STOXX 50® CEOs and CFOs on LinkedIn: implications for financial communication

Purpose Social media platforms such as LinkedIn have become crucial tools for corporate communication, enabling executives to engage directly with stakeholders. This study investigates how CEOs and CFOs of EURO STOXX 50® companies are positioned on LinkedIn, focusing on the alignment of their social media communication with their distinct organisational roles. Design/methodology/approach Based on 4,559 LinkedIn posts from 86 identified CEOs and CFOs over up to three years ending in December 2024, we use natural language processing (NLP) to train a bi-term topic model (BTM) to decode the social media narratives of selected EURO STOXX 50® C-level executives, identifying 14 distinct topics. Findings The study reveals a distinct positioning of CEOs and CFOs on LinkedIn. CEOs post more frequently, communicate on a broader range of strategic topics, and maintain year-round visibility, while CFOs focus more narrowly on financial topics and concentrate their activity around disclosure periods. Contrary to common assumptions, financial content – especially when shared by CFOs – generates higher engagement efficiency than visionary or strategic content. Research limitations/implications Despite the growing prevalence of executive communication on social media, this study focuses only on European firms, which might restrict its generalizability to other regional contexts. As a content analysis, it captures only the observable communication output of executives but not the underlying strategic decision-making processes. Originality/value This study enhances our understanding of how organisational roles inform executive positioning by revealing role-specific positioning strategies on LinkedIn. The study also highlights the complementary roles of the CEO and CFO as financial communicators. It provides actionable guidance for corporate communication and IR teams to align executive messaging with organ-isational objectives and stakeholder expectations.