Why the Social CEO is the new Big Kahuna

We don’t all have a Richard Branson or an Elon Musk scribbling away and waiting for us to share their wisdom with the world – more’s the pity. A CEO who’ll embrace being a champion for thought leadership content is fried gold. A company leader who’ll take part in a Twitter conversation on the company stream, who’ll embrace the power of blogging and pimp corporate content on LinkedIn is becoming more and more important. Social media is a killer ingredient in the marketing mix, and a socially savvy CEO is rapidly becoming the .50 in many companies’ marketing arsenals.

Customers expect a look behind the curtain, and to be able to understand the ethics and workings of a business from social media. They expect the personal touch and to get their customer service questions answered with a sympathetic ear.

Employees invariably follow business’ social channels out of loyalty. They want to feel as though they’re a part of something real. They want to feel engaged and connected to the company they work for. Having the voice at the top, as part of the message is a fantastic booster for recruitment.

The challenge here is in helping the big boss person to see the value of being involved in social in the first place. A lot of CEOs are sceptical that this will bite into their already packed schedules – or perhaps they’re sceptical that they lack the writing talent. Showing them the impressions/reach rate of the activity usually does the trick. Giving them content suggestions and developing a brand voice just for them, with some sample messaging, is also a big reassurance.

They don’t have to ‘write’ ALL of the content, they just have to influence it and sign off the end results. If they can comment and share a personal vision, someone else can create it. Giving them the training to boost their confidence in social media is a big help. It never ceases to amaze us, as to how well people embrace Twitter, once they know how. Helping them to make it not just a business account, but adding that personal element they can ‘own’, means they’re more likely to want to be involved.

How about this for a PR exercise? Your CEO personally follows EVERYONE in the company on LinkedIn and starts blogging about business and management, as well as sharing company content and his own individual posts hosted on the company website.

Trust me, we’re offering this as a service specifically for industry leaders and we’ve had CEOs from major international brands come to us for our opinion. It’s a growth area that leaders are beginning to see the value of, especially when they see their peers and competition out there making relationships and adding to the mix.

Here’s a few CEOs who stand out, in addition to Richard Branson and Elon Musk. Take a look at Paul Polman from Unilever, founder and BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti, Marissa Mayer from Yahoo, Jon Oringer from Shutterstock, and Jacqueline Gold CBE or even our own Trevor Palmer.

If you need any help, drop us a line.