Fortune 100 CEOs SHOULD be Social Media Slackers
If you haven’t seen the slide show and information assembled by Uberceo the basic jist of their findings are that the vast majority of Fortune 100 CEOs aren’t participating on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook, and none have a blog.
The original piece isn’t nearly as asinine as many of the articles linking to the results and providing their own commentary about how “…it shows the relatively low importance social media still has in a lot of organizations.”
My first problem is that everyone seems to think that having Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook accounts automatically means you’re connecting with your fans. I’ve said countless times, there’s no right or wrong way to do “social media,” but there are certainly ways that are more conducive to adequately listening to your customers, providing value, and ultimately influencing the bottom line.
And for every Red Bull Fan Page there’s probably 20+ brands doing a crappy job.
Those platforms aren’t ready-made solutions, they take a lot of nurturing to grow and excel, and that’s provided you have the right strategy in place beforehand.
Here’s something else to consider…
Maintaining even one of these (blogs included) in a way that allows for genuine and consistent communication with a large network is very time consuming.
Do I think it’s great that Brian Dunn (Best Buy CEO) is so socially media savvy? Absolutely, but honestly, I’d like to think most CEOs are too busy innovating, managing, and trying to keep their companies among the premiere in the world to have significant time allotted for social networking.
Just because a CEO doesn’t Tweet doesn’t mean he doesn’t embrace social media. It doesn’t mean the company isn’t taking it seriously. It doesn’t mean that they’re putting their company at risk either. I’m certain those CEOs have CMOs who have VPs who can ensure that a competent team of individuals are championing a brand’s social media efforts.
Chances are that team has a half hour to write a weekly report on all the information they gleaned from listening to consumers, participating in authentic conversations about the brand, and whatever else for the CEO. In the meantime, (s)he can keep running the company and we can keep insisting social media is the silver bullet to save the world.
That’s preposterous and so are CEOs spending significant time on social networks.
Do you think CEOs should be deeply entrenched in social media? Better yet, how much time would you allocate to social media if you were the CEO of a Fortune 100 company?
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Oooh! A weekly social media report? I want one! You could go into big business making that happen.
I agree with you that CEO’s probably (i should hope) have more strategic things to do with their time. That said, it probably helps them to have a base understanding of all these tools. While I don’t want to see a CEO managing a company twitter feed, it would be cool to know what they did on a daily basis. The more personal tweets might be fun for them and interesting and engaging for customers. But per your post, they’d have to find a way to do that without distracting from much bigger strategic questions.
When I first became a manager, my boss told me not to do something if I was not the only person capable of doing it (i.e. learn to delegate). You make a great point that the same applies to social media.
Now where do I get me one of them weekly reports!?
.-= Jenny Blake´s last blog ..WSJ: Best Online Tools for Personal Finance =-.
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admin Reply:
June 30th, 2009 at 9:25 am
@Jenny – I think you’re right. I certainly don’t think it hurts anything for a CEO to explore the tools so they have a great understanding of how it all works, and how it can fit into the company’s business goals.
And I think the personal tweets might be cool to follow at first. I’m wondering if the novelty factor would wear off. I suspect it depends on what people are interested in. Again, this is fine I think.
It’s when they’re sending dozens of @replies on Twitter, having full on conversations on their Facebook wall’s etc. that I’d just soon them climb back up into their ivory tower and focus on running their companies.
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[...] Fortune 100 CEOs Should Be Social Media Slackers by Ryan Stephens – Stephens makes a valid point in this post: Social media is time consuming, and CEOs should be spending their time innovating, managing, and leading their businesses. Point: If a CEO isn’t blogging, Tweeting, or Facebooking, this doesn’t mean the company doesn’t understand the value of social media! Companies can engage with consumers via these tools by tapping an employee who gets these channels and can use them effectively to build relationships on behalf of the brand, website, or location. [...]
June 30th, 2009 at 9:11 amFrom a strategic standpoint this makes total sense. However, I think the CEO should still be BRIEFED on all of the activities currently going on about his company. Just like he/she would be briefed on any aspect of the business. I truly think that the CM deserves a seat at the C-level table it’s criminal not to have that voice in the room.
It boils down to the price of milk question that is always asked in Presidential campaigns. Is the CEO in touch with his brand/customer needs? If not…he shouldn’t be the CEO.
.-= Stuart Foster´s last blog ..Is the 15th Explosion Necessary? =-.
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admin Reply:
June 30th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Could agree more Stuart, and I definitely tried to convey this in my post citing that someone should be providing the CEO with insights gleaned from the companies’ presence in social media.
Usually the top generals aren’t on the front line in the war. They’re stationed where they can see what’s going on and have their ranking officers reporting back to them. I guess that’s how I envision CEOs operating with social media. Know how to shoot the gun, be aware of what the enemy is doing, but don’t go get yourself killed in the trenches unless it’s necessary.
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Stuart hits the nail right on the head. As a CEO, do you need to have you hands entrenched into the social media realm? Probably not, it couldn’t hurt – but (depending on the size and scale of the company) you probably don’t really need to be down in the trenches day in and day out.
That being said – I believe that those CEO’s who are totally disconnected from the various aspects of their business (in this case social media/networking) will ultimately fail. If you have your head too far up in the clouds, you lose track of what you’re really all about.
.-= Matt Cheuvront´s last blog ..Want to Become a Better Man? Start Here. =-.
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admin Reply:
June 30th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
I think most of what I said to Stuart applies here as well, I even included your reference to the trenches. CEOs certainly have the convey the strategic mission of the company, and in doing that they should be aware of how social media fits into that approach (provided it does, even if it’s just listening to you fans), but like someone on Brazen said – A CEO doesn’t have to watch television to value their company’s commercials.
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I agree Ryan, when you have to many important tasks, like the ones a CEO has, deep social media involvement shouldn’t be one of them, at least not personally. Maybe once in a while, but not regularly. You don’t have to be the CEO to have a global vision of the company and udnerstand how you should present it to the online world.
The rule changes if you’re the CEO of a small company I believe. In fact, social media should be one of your biggest worries here, since, if done well, it can help your brand grow a lot with little cash (and lots of time ang good ideas).
.-= Carlos Miceli´s last blog ..Survival Of The Pompous =-.
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admin Reply:
June 30th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Two excellent points and contributions to this discussion Carlos.
1.) Most people chose to look at if from the CEO down. That the CEO needs to be familiar with these tools, but says a lot about you that you envisioned it from the bottom up. “Don’t have to be CEO to have global vision of company.” Especially provided the CEO and his constituents have done a good job making it an integral part of the company eh?
2.) I agree whole-heartily. This information is applicable to Fortune 100 companies, not small digital agencies, or really any kind of smaller shop. There’s a multitude of reasons why these people should take a proactive approach in connecting with not only potential customers, but also their best current customers.
Always appreciate your insight and opinion.
R
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One of the things I admire the most about successful CEO’s at large corporations is their ability to delegate tasks to others and still have their thumb on the pulse of everything. The ones that everyone thinks “have no idea” but in reality they know everything that is going on. I LOL a little hearing people talk about how out of touch some of my superiors are, then they whip out tons of info and the underling is like “Oh.”
Social media would be one of those things that should be delegated. Especially if you want it done correctly. The truth is with everything large company CEO’s have to deal with, I don’t think many would be able to execute it successfully. Social media is yet another form of brand for these organizations. Most people wouldn’t even think twice about a CEO hiring a marketing director, if not whole department. Why should your online brand be any different?
As for the personal Tweets, I think it would be cool at first but I’d also get bored after awhile. I only care for so long what you are eating, where you are going and what you are doing tonight. That goes for social media friends as well as anyone famous.
.-= Elisa´s last blog ..BlogCrush – Sam Karol =-.
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admin Reply:
July 1st, 2009 at 10:03 pm
I think you’re 100% on target with this response Elisa! Admittedly, I’ve known some CEOs who were a bit out of touch with their companies, and a bit too involved in their golf handicap and bass fishing boat, but you’re right, many will surprise you with their vast breadth of knowledge.
And MOST social media tasks should be outsourced to people lower down the food chain. As I mentioned before and Carlos pointed out, you don’t have to be the CEO to have a good grasp of the company and the messaging you should be spreading.
In addition, I think while most people might be infatuated by the CEO participating at first, the likelihood of him responding to your individual messages is probably slim to none. Someone else in the organization might be able to carry on a genuine conversation with you. Whether this is true or not I think one could compare it to a lot of men being scared to talk to the “10″ because she might be ‘stuck-up.’ It’s easier to talk to the 7′s, they’re more approachable. At least that’s the mindset for a lot of people.
Side Note: Obviously if you’re me, and you make popsicle sticks with your head on it, the 10′s approach you.
[:::Deep Breath:::]
And finally, I’m with you on the largely personal tweets. They’re cool mixed in, but if that’s all you got, you better me one intriguing mofo.
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“Those platforms aren’t ready-made solutions, they take a lot of nurturing to grow and excel, and that’s provided you have the right strategy in place beforehand.”
This is the most important point to take away. People put way too much emphasis on social media as a guaranteed solution, rather than a tool.As if whether or not a CEO is ON twitter is more important than how he is actually using it to achieve a goal
It’s true, as more and more people turn to the web, brands face the challenge of attracting and engaging their customers. Social media is proving itself as an effective way to do that, but not the only way.
When a CEO doesn’t understand the importance of making customers happy, that’s when you have something to worry about.
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admin Reply:
July 7th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
I genuinely could not have said it any better myself. Thanks for the comment Patrick!
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My observation from working with business owners and CEO’s of mid-size and large companies is that many of them now ‘get’ social media, BUT they are very constrained by their position.
The risk of being misunderstood by regulators and media; the risk of sounding quite a bore [esp to employees] because there are so many things ‘at office’ you cant really share with everyone; and they don’t want to talk about people met/ parties they at the risk of sounding like a brag.
Politicians / artists/ musicians/ authors can get away with a mistake.
If you’re a business owner/ CEO, you are now assumed ‘guilty’ by default however big or small or even non-existent the infarction may be!
So for many, it isn’t worth the risk?
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admin Reply:
July 7th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
Anita,
That’s a really great observation and I think you’re right. While a lot of us in this ‘social media sandbox’ are going to either a.) ooh and ahh that they’re on Twitter or b.) jump to conclusions and insist they’re doing it wrong after on Tweet,post, etc. the average person is probably just going to be somewhere in between. And because they’re a business owner/CEO the assumption probably is that they’re already “guilty.”
I wish people tweeted about meeting me at parties. I think I’m kind of a big deal
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I agree with your point on CEO’s not having to be social media innovators when it comes to the regular suspects – Twitter, Facebook, etc. However, I do think that every CEO should be communicating with their employees. Whether this is done via the company Intranet, a weekly newsletter or whatever the medium – there’s no reason why a CEO can’t spend 10-15 minutes a week doing this.
I understand that they have a stressful role of trying to ensure their employees have a company to work for and ensuring the company remains competitive, but a company’s biggest asset is its employees. To me, an organization’s staff is its biggest audience – one the company NEEDS to social with.
.-= Kasey Skala´s last blog ..Hyper-sexualizing isn’t attractive. Sorry. =-.
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admin Reply:
July 7th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Could agree more Kasey. That’s a great point and addition to this conversation. While it’s out of the scope of my original post, I’m glad you brought it up because I think they should spend more than 10-15 minutes communicating via the Intranet.
They should be scouring that thing like a mad man ensuring that their vision is being embraced throughout the ranks, and just letting employers know that they’re willing to come out of their massive office and give a damn.
Good stuff.
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Although currently I’d agree that it doesn’t make much sense for CEOs to be very active in social media, I think that in the future it would be a much more reasonable proposition. Right now, most CEOs, which are typically at LEAST 40 years old, weren’t exactly raised using social media, like many people entering the job market now are. Since they’re not as accustomed to it, it would be much more of a burden to learn how to use it effectively. However, when our generation starts moving into CEO positions, I think social media will have more of a place in these senior level positions, because social media just comes naturally to us. Of course, by the time we get there, all the things we are using right now will probably be on VH1′s “I Love the 2000s.”
.-= Jackie Adkins´s last blog ..Marketing Through the Recession =-.
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admin Reply:
July 7th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Though even if it comes natural to us I’m not certain I would welcome a CEO using it except in moderation to help spread really important news (I’m talking BIG companies here mind you.) I just think for me, a CEO’s time would be better spent worrying about more important things and delegating the vast majority of social media outreach, et al to someone lower on the proverbial food chain.
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It depends on how CEO’s allocate their time. Some can tweet with ease and use Facebook, but some are so busy working and even having a family that it’s not quite an option for them. Our CEO has all those accounts for social media and uses them, but not every single day. He has ensured that our marketing team is on top of it and he knows all the mentions, who is talking about our brand, etc. but has a hand in every piece of the company. That’s not easy to do. I barely have time to participate in social media and only because my job IS social media, blogging and tweeting that I am able to do it frequently. Good points, Ryan!
.-= Grace Boyle´s last blog ..Women, What Does Your Body Language Say? =-.
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July 7th, 2009 at 8:56 pm