6 Reasons Your C-Level’s Should Be On Social Media

It’s been doing the rounds recently – and it’s not looking too good for the ole’ C-levels. Social Media. It’s seemingly everywhere but in their more than capable hands.

Take Forbes breakdown of Fortune 500 CEOs last year: 7.6 percent present on Facebook, four percent on Twitter – and a meagre one percent on Google+. IBM’s survey of just over 1700 CEOs around the world didn’t come out much better, reporting around 1 in 6 actively participating on the social web. But what if things were different? What if Bodyform’s faux CEO response to a customer’s boyfriend’s Facebook became a reality? What would that mean for your brand’s social audience? What would that mean for your senior executives? What would it mean for you?

Fortunately it’s not all doom and gloom, as the grey matter over at IBM reckon that number will likely grow to 57% within the next five years. To offer a helping hand, we thought we’d put together a list outlining the benefits of helping your C-level’s shake hands with the world of social.

It’s not the 80’s anymore – and solely working the event carousel won’t get your executives remembered as thought-leaders; not when people expect to follow-up with them online. From industry peers to wider leadership audiences, making sure their social media needle is ticking over means more than just followers. It means an opportunity to spread knowledge and expertise across a previously unavailable —take for example, GDS Group on LinkedIn. And, certainly more importantly, it means enabling an audience and giving them an avenue to engage with your C-level on a personal level.

Avoid: Forcing opinions down people’s throats. If you offer value, they will come.

BRANDFog, a social media leadership firm geared to walk the world’s C-level through the social ether, recently produced a survey unveiling that 68.7% believe “C-suite social media engagement enhances the perception that a brand is honest and trustworthy”. In the world of digital, brands have realised that trust is key to good relationships. Get the captain of that ship contributing, and trust levels increase exponentially. Why? Because you’re humanising the brand.

Avoid: Your C-level becoming a one man brand (a-thank you).

It’s not just your customers that feel a C-level’s presence on social platforms breeds better trust. BRANDFog also revealed that 82% of employee respondents “…trust [their] company more when the CEO and leadership team communicate via social media”. In other words, a well-placed C-level social presence works both externally and internally when it comes to building trust, which brings us onto number four.

Avoid: Acting like a parent with a ‘new piece of kit’. No-one wants to know about what your boss ate for  lunch.

We already know that having a social C-level in the world of binary builds trust – and one of the undoubted tools of doing so is with transparency. As the well-known saying goes, “people talk to people, not brands” on social. Being that C-level makes them a face of your brand. Add integrity and honesty (and a dash of excitement) to the messaging, and you’ve got a working recipe for transparency. What does that mean? Trust? A better business narrative? Increased visibility as a thought-leader? Your choice.

Avoid: Adding negativity to transparency. Remember your C-level is a voice of your business – not a Tannoy for internal crises.

Let’s not beat around the bush here: the vast majority of employees are on social media, whether you want them to be or not. By cutting the ribbon to your executive’s social shop, not only are you allowing them to learn about the internal culture of the business – and in turn, getting to grips with any sentiment held within – you’re educating them on why employees engage on social platforms, and highlighting potential strategic areas (HR, recruitment etc) that could be evolved as a result.

Avoid: Turning this into an exercise in snooping.

You could quite easily tie this in with growing as a thought-leader (if that’s a goal). Either way, having a social media presence allows you C-levels to connect, engage and offer value to their peers – both in industry and discipline – in turn, growing their online network. The result? A wider knowledge base, better personal branding opportunities and avenues into discussions they thought were only in your head.

Avoid: Them detailing every conversation they have in their heads.

Anything you’d add into the mix? Drop it in the comments below and we’ll click in the updates…

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Marketing