To stay on top of the nursing narrative, CNOs must jump at the opportunity to connect with the public and with their own staff through social media.
In the realm of social media, many CNOs are late to the game.
The narrative surrounding nursing has run away from nurse leaders, and while there isn't a way to completely own a narrative on social media, it's not too late for CNOs to jump into the conversation.
According to Rebecca Love, chief nursing officer and nurse influencer, and Dr. Marion Leary, nurse innovator and also a nurse advocate, it's important for CNOs to be on social media themselves.
"[CNOs] have this knowledge and leadership skillset that really needs to be seen by nurses across platforms," Leary said at the AONL 2025 conference.
Why CNOs should post
According to Leary, partnering with influencers is one way to enter the narrative, but the more effective method is to join social media directly. CNOs across the country are all trying to address similar issues, so forming relationships on social media and collaborating is a great way to help solve problems.
"Make sure you're on LinkedIn especially," Leary said. "Create a profile and just document what you do on a day to day, like what the struggles are that you're seeing at your institutions and then making sure that you're engaging with other CNOs across the country."
Love referenced the Woodhull Study on Nursing and the Media, which found that nurses were cited as sources in only 4% of health news stories 20 years ago. The revisited study in 2018 stated that nurses are the source of only 2% of quotes in articles, and were never sourced in stories on health policy.
"So, what that's telling you is 98% of relevant news stories go to others to speak on behalf of nursing," Love said. "CNOs must participate because other people are writing the narrative about nursing without nursing."
Love explained that traditionally, nurses were told they couldn't speak about the profession because of HIPAA, which Love identified as incorrect.
"Most people are getting their news now from social media and the older traditional ways of journals and publishing are not the ways to engage with the population and scale," Love said. "If we are going to advance our profession, we need to move forward by doing that on the platforms that are engaging with the front line of humanity, which is social media."
Many reporters will also use social media as a way to find industry voices and experts, which is another reason why CNOs must engage on those platforms.
"The truth is that the power of social media to drive change and drive good on behalf of the work we do is exactly what is necessary, because fundamentally, that is our goal, is to alleviate suffering and to fight for humanity," Love said.
Shifting the narrative
While the publicity surrounding nursing can be quite negative, it's important that CNOs and other nurse leaders try to pivot the narrative to show the broader impacts of the nursing profession.
"Nursing is a wealth of different experiences and knowledge, we're not just one thing," Leary said. "Yes, we work at the bedside, but we work in policy, we work in research, we do innovation and startups, all these things that are attributed to other fields and professions, nurses are doing those things and leading in those spaces."
To Love, CNOs need to provide a counternarrative to the negativity coming from many frontline nurses on social media. Both CNOs and frontline nurses want the same things for nursing, like better outcomes, conditions, pay, and a future for the profession.
"The truth is that bridge is only going to get wider, that gap is going to get wider until [CNOs] get on social media and start creating an open, honest dialogue that creates a counternarrative to what these nurses are experiencing, but also transcending where we want nurses to go because I think that there is shared mission and vision," Love said.
Getting started
Love and Leary both provided posting tips for CNOs who are just getting started. First and foremost, Leary recommended understanding what point of view you want to post from.
"You have to understand and create your own persona for social media," Leary said. "What I am on social media is not necessarily what I am off of social media, and you have to be okay with creating that persona and leaning into it."
Leary also suggested starting with a buddy, or someone you can run posts by before hitting 'send' or 'schedule.'
"For CNOs, having a buddy within their health system would be helpful so that you're always keeping your health system's priorities in mind," Leary said.
Leary and Love's third tip is to distinguish between your personal and professional social media, and to decide which you're going to post as.
"You've got to pick your persona on social media, either you're representing the institution you are, or you're representing the person you are," Love said. "I would strongly suggest you represent the person you are."
Love also recommended leaning into your nursing expertise and into the subject matters that you're most passionate about. The most important part as well is to actually engage with the audience.
"You get what you put out and what you give," Love said. "If you just post and don't engage with others, people aren't going to engage with you. Social media is a two-way street."
Lastly, Learn emphasized the importance of being kind online.
"Be nice," Leary said. "Don't engage with trolls and negativity, it just never works out."
G Hatfield is the CNO editor for HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
CNOs need to engage on social media to be the voice of nursing in the public eye.
Nurse leaders can use social media to engage with frontline nurses and bridge communication gaps between them.
CNOs should determine what point of view they want to post from, and then have a buddy from their health systems who can review posts before they go live.