Leaders + executives on social media: it’s no longer a question of ‘if’ but ‘how’.
To succeed today, a leader’s brand must be purposeful, accessible and, most importantly, consistent across all platforms. Executives, whether you have set yourself up on social media or not, watching from the sidelines is – sadly – no longer an option. Any leader who lacks visibility and a voice online no longer has control of their reputation.
But this shift shouldn’t be seen as a negative. In fact, it’s a huge opportunity for leaders. I truly believe authentic online engagement fosters good leadership – you become a better listener, more empathetic, more aware of stakeholder needs.
Far from the ‘norm’ of social media chest beating and peacocking, we need to see more examples of genuine executive leadership on social media to change the way leaders approach it. And I remain optimistic that as people see more examples of good leadership online, we can actually change social media algorithms to reward and elevate the best of humanity.
Do you know the best thing? There’s a misperception that social media needs hours and hours of investment every week to be effective.
Not so.
Recent research from SWOOP Analytics shows by committing to just 5-10 minutes a day, leaders create exponentially more value and impact on their organisations to justify their efforts.
So whether you’re in a leadership position yourself or advising someone at that level, I want you to consider these five vital reasons to rethink social media and its role as a strategic leadership tool today:
- Your reputation is your most valuable asset – don’t leave it in the hands of others.
- Your staff are looking to you for guidance, and they’re looking online.
- Your partners (and prospects) value connection and insight.
- Your stories and strategy must be communicated.
- Your customers demand digital engagement (as do shareholders).
Let me expand further on these.
Your reputation is your most valuable asset – don’t leave it in the hands of others.
Like googling your own name, it’s worth asking yourself a few important reputation questions:
– Do you leave discussions around your business or brand to others, or do you have a voice in the debate, influencing and reassuring key stakeholders like staff, customers, shareholders, media?
– In a crisis, do you have an established online network ready to receive timely, crucial information? Or will your reputation be shaped by the opinions of others as you stay silent?
– If an error from a frustrated service agent on Facebook leads to widespread media coverage, how well placed are you and your leadership team to respond and contain issues?
– If there are issues that need to be addressed, how will you influence the message around your organisation’s – and your own – brand? What impact could a lack of profile have on your future credibility and market value?
– Above all this, the most crucial social media question for leaders today is: if any other ‘tool’ held this power, who would hold the keys?
Who would you trust to hold the keys?
Your staff are looking to you for guidance, and they’re looking online.
The case here is very simple – employee engagement and talent attraction. According to Brunswick Group, 86% of people now expect leaders to publicly speak out on societal issues of importance. Furthermore, 80% of employees say the reputation of their CEO is an important retention factor. And 75% expect leaders to use social media to communicate publicly.
How can leaders meet these expectations? Build and manage an effective digital brand.
This is a wonderful opportunity to not only meet employee expectations, but to use a public platform to reinforce internal messages that resonate with both current and future staff. Again according to Brunswick, employees would prefer to work for a CEO who uses social media – compared to a CEO who does not – by more than a 5:1 ratio.
Are you limiting your organisation’s ability to attract and retain quality talent?
Your partners (and prospects) value connection and insight.
In the years prior to COVID, I worked with many executives who recognised the importance of social media and digital channels to help them stay connected with crucial business partners. Why did it take a pandemic – when physical channels like conferences, town halls and sales events suddenly stopped running – for so many others to reconsider the power and value of social media?
An effective digital brand combines targeted network growth and engagement with the ability to share timely thought leadership and insights. It allows you to celebrate their successes and give them a platform to deepen ties. It helps you to both remain present, sharing relevant insights with partners, and also keep an ear to the ground on real-time opportunities to respond to partner activities to build new, strategic opportunities. Particularly for those in different regions and time zones. If you’re not connecting with your partners online, strengthening those relationships, who is?
Your stories and strategy must be communicated.
Leaders and their advisers are used to relying on traditional media channels to share stories and strategy with key audiences. But with access to media getting tighter and tighter over the past decade – and media consumption preferences shifting permanently in that time too – leaders must find other channels to influence.
Active social media users globally grew by 13.2% in 2020, almost 2x the growth of internet users. And the average time spent on social media has grown by 30% during the COVID-19 crisis.
These audiences are actively seeking information and inspiration online. As a leader, if you don’t have a voice in this environment you leave others to share their narrative in your place (or – worse – determine yours).
Your customers and investors demand digital engagement, and you only stand to benefit.
Given the growing number of people online, what are they expecting of leaders? And what happens if those expectations aren’t met?
According to Conversocial, 94% of those who use social media for service expect a response within just four hours. That becomes even more pressing in a crisis. Hot Paper Lantern’s Crisis Response Index measures the average impact on stock prices based on speed and quality of responses of organisations. They found:
- Responding to a crisis within hours translates to a 4% stock decline;
- Responding to a crisis within days translates to a 10% stock decline; and
- Responding to a crisis within weeks translates to a 14% stock decline.
As a leader, audiences are looking to you for guidance and reassurance and, again, they’re looking online. It’s too late to build the fort in a battle.
On the flip side, a study by Middle Tennessee State University revealed: “investors who view CEO tweets perceive a greater sense of social connectedness with the CEO, as compared to those reading identical information in a web-based format. In turn, this feeling of connectedness leads to positive recommendations for CEO pay.” Participation has far more upside than avoidance.
Executives on social media: Best practice examples.
Which CEOs do an amazing job on social media – where can you look for inspiration? We’ve been monitoring a cohort of capable, confident and effective executives on social media for some time now and I’d be happy to share more examples with you. But for immediate inspiration:
- For reputation management, look at Peloton’s John Foley.
- For staff engagement, look at ANZ’s Shayne Elliott.
- For partner engagement, see Amy Brown.
- For communicating strategy, see Mirvac’s Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz.
- And for meeting stakeholder expectations, look at Atlassian’s Mike Cannon-Brookes.
This certainly isn’t the full extent or value of these leaders’ digital brands – they simply serve as examples to learn from, related to the five key reasons leaders should be on social media.
Your immediate next steps.
I’m determined to break down the preconceptions and barriers around social media for leaders. The stakes are too high and the opportunities too great for leaders to simply opt out. You can read more about my passion for this in my “Why leaders need to be on social media: A Manifesto”.
Start a conversation with your social media or communications team leads – ideally even at a board level – about how you can reframe risk and take control of your digital brand. I love talking to executives and leadership teams about how they can safely navigate social media and unlock its real value, and would welcome the opportunity to speak with yours.
There are just too many good reasons to be involved, and the world would be a far better place if authentic, collaborative leaders harnessed online channels. It’s time to take back control.
