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More Executives Using Social Media for Business

Company presidents, CEOs, owners and top executives are branching out beyond LinkedIn and using social media for business. A recent article in the Harvard Business Review explores CEOs and  their social media usage. The article explains that since 2010, executive social media use has more than doubled, and nearly 80% of  CEOs of the world’s fifty largest companies  are on social media.

The importance of social media applies not only  to CEOs, but to presidents of all companies, including small businesses. Many years ago, company owners and presidents feared embracing social media   because of possible risks of saying the wrong thing or hurting the company’s reputation.

Having at least some social media presence puts executives in a position to connect with not only a large audience, but their audience. If you are worried about crisis, this is actually an important step for reputation management and crisis management. Building a brand and creating a voice for your company is important in finding loyal customers, and makes employees feel proud when their leaders join them on social media.

These days, people want company transparency and it’s become more important to tell the company’s story and join the conversation as the executive. Are you wondering what changed?

Here are 3 trends that caused Executives to jump on board:

  1. LinkedIn. We all know that LinkedIn is the one social media platform CEOs will use, if any. This platform is safer, professional and a great networking tool. Each year, more CEOs jump on the trend and get a LinkedIn profile.
  2. New CEOs. The new hiring wave of CEOs is quickly taking on social media. CEOs understand from the start that embracing social media allows them to reach wider audiences, faster. It’s easy to set up profiles when you first move into a position.
  3. Women Executives. Women executives are more likely to be on social media Women are natural communicators and Andrea Learned, a social strategist, wrote in The Huffington Post, “ ‘Going social’ has huge potential for helping women leaders elevate their own voices, add fresh thinking to important conversations, and build trusted community with an impact that makes a world of business difference.”

Do you want your president or company owner to get on social media?

Here are our 3 tips to get them to embrace the “digital world”

  1. Education.  Help guide them through education tutorials. Before setting up their Facebook account, make sure they understand the opportunities, risk and implications of social media.
  2. Example. Show them examples of other company president’s accounts that are nailing it. Have them watch, listen and study these accounts before starting their own.
  3. Be real. Don’t make a fake CEO profile and run it for them. This isn’t genuine and doesn’t solve the reputation problems. Don’t get caught in this trap, and teach your executives why this is risky.

 Do you have any tips on getting your executives to jump in with social media? Share us yours on Facebook or tweet @SeafoamMedia!

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