A Practical Guide For CEOs On Using Social Media – B2B Edition

“Some CEOs say they’re too busy for social media. I say it’s part of the job.” Jack Salzwedel – CEO of American Family Mutual Insurance Company

Salzwadel’s advice seems to be falling on deaf ears if a Domo and CEO.com study is to be believed. The report, published earlier this year, found that fully 61% of CEOs of the Fortune 500 had no presence on any social channel and the usage of social media by even the other 39% is underwhelming. No one is saying this is a good thing, though, and digging deeper into the “why” of such low CEO participation reveals that many of the reasons are internal to them rather than business-driven. Apart from a belief that social media is a young person’s game and a fear of repercussions from sharing something inappropriate, among the chief causes cited by CEOs was a lack of understanding of what to do on social platforms. At Midas Touch, we work with a bunch of B2B clients. As we go about getting their company on the social media wagon, the question of how the CEOs in these companies should use social channels often comes up. Let me use this post to share the recommendations we usually end up giving.

First some caveats. In keeping with the “practical” nature of this guide – this is a “nuts and bolts” set of suggestions intended for CEOs of mid-sized companies looking to leverage social media to help their business get ahead. We are not really addressing loftier goals like branding or creating thought leadership. Using social media for personal branding is also a story that will have to wait for another day.   

LinkedIn

A TrackMaven analysis of content shared by B2B brands across the leading social media networks over a 12-month period starting mid-2015, revealed that across several measures LinkedIn was the most popular and effective platform. That’s reason enough to have it front-and-center in our plans too. Here’s what the time-strapped CEO should do on LinkedIn.

1. Networking really is LinkedIn’s primary raison d'être. As soon as the, hero of our blog, CEO connects (meet, emeet etc.) with a customer, prospect or influencer, we recommend connecting on LinkedIn as well. As a matter of practice, the connect should occur very soon after the meeting so the interaction is still fresh in their minds. This also means that the LinkedIn profile of the CEO should be complete, with a professional head-shot and the relevant amount of information about the organization they represent. 

2. This CEO should post occasional, but regular LinkedIn status updates from their profiles. Except to share significant news, preferably the updates should be to about the industry at large rather than about their own company. This is to get into the eye line of a wider audience, positioned as someone with an interest in and a contribution to make to the space.

3. Our, now emerging from social exile, CEO should follow the company’s LinkedIn company page and like and share the content being posted there, especially if it leads back to the company website. This will help the visibility of the posts.

4. Keeping in mind that the CEO, who is the subject of our post, is time-strapped, having a regular blog may remain an ambition only. That being the case, blogs from the company blog absolutely can be posted from the personal profile of the CEO (with attribution). The topic of the blog, their tone and message and even the frequency of posting has to fit in with the overall positioning and network of the CEO. This helps to showcase the thought leadership of the company.

Twitter

Last year Social Media Today reported that B2B Marketers who used Twitter generated twice as many leads as compared to those who didn’t. Most B2B Marketers rate Twitter as the 2nd most effective social platform behind LinkedIn. Here’s how the CEO can work Twitter like a (near) pro.

1. Well, of course, create a Twitter handle and tweet regularly. Yeah – we already agreed that the CEO doesn’t have a lot of time so this does not have to be a flood of tweets daily. Let’s start with a measured, steady, sustainable pace. Remember, the tweets cannot all be promotional. We suggest a mix of personal thoughts that relate to the business, company news and content and also relevant content from the industry at large. People will follow the CEO if they see the twitter channel as a worthy source of informative content.

2. Something that should please the sales team - this is also a good way to connect with senior prospects, customers, and decision makers directly. I’m fond of saying that if you start a tweet with @BillGates, it will reach the man – he won’t react to it in all probability but really which channel gives you that kind of direct access? With such great power comes great responsibility, though – these connections are not to be milked too blatantly, be slow, be sure and don’t be salesy.

3. This is also a great place for our, now socially-savvy, CEO to listen. The aim is to participate in ongoing conversations by searching for #s (sorry – I should explain that is this an easy way for those in the know to identify tweets across the Twitterverse that refer to a particular topic) that are relevant. This gives great insights into what others have to say about the area you work in, or even what customers, prospects, and competitors consider important at the time.

4. Now that our CEO has become quite the social media pro let’s up the ante. Next on the agenda – live tweeting. Think of the many events and occasions CEOs attend. This is the time to make the handle more active – live tweeting the occasional relevant impression from the event floor is a great way to contribute to a larger conversation and gain some visibility for your own and your company’s point of view.

I think our CEO is now ready for the social world – right? In closing a word of advice. Not from me, but from Marketing and Customer Service thought-leader Jay Baer. He said, “Focus on how to be social, not how to do social.” That’s sound advice for all CEO’s looking to dive into social media.

Going Full Mentor – The TiE Pune / Lufthansa Start-up Mentorship Camp

Kicking off the session.

Lufthansa has, for the last three years, sponsored a start-up focused show called “Runway to Success”, on business channel ET Now. The program is a kind of start-up version of “Survivor” with a bunch of start-ups applying for prizes (and attention) and rising through levels. This year, in an attempt to elevate the level of the participation the show Lufthansa, in partnership with The Indus Entrepreneurs, organized a series of mentorship camps across 6 Indian cities. My partner at Midas Touch, Radha Giri, and I were invited to join the panel of mentors and help the participating start-ups understand the value of and the approach to branding. The event was a great success with close to 140 start-ups registering for an intense half day exercise.

The presentation we used, “The case for start-ups and entrepreneurs to embrace social media”, is at the link below but let me take this opportunity to talk through the essence of what we presented.

Clearly, there is value in establishing the start-up’s brand. As Alina Wheeler had said, “Brand is the promise, the big idea, the expectations that reside in each customer’s mind about a product, services or company. Branding is about making an emotional connection.” Given the resource constraints and the focus of most start-ups, a convincing case can be made for them to focus their brand-building efforts on the digital and social space. Start-ups can effectively leverage social media to:

Ø  Let the world know about them – who they are, what they represent and how they are different

Ø  Connect with their target audience

Ø  Let it be known that they are active and open for business

Ø  Let their content play at the same level as the content from their more established competitors

Ø  Get traffic to their web properties and also, provide support to offline sales or campaign activities

Full House.

Having established the value of adopting the digital world it is important to understand what should guide the initiative. It is important to not do too little while being conscious of not spending too much. It is also important to remember to give the initiative the time it needs to take root and to be “genuine” in the content you share. Borrowing from Sean Gardner, “Social media is not just an activity, it is an investment of valuable time and resources. Surround yourself with people who not just support you and stay with you, but inform your thinking about ways to WOW your online presence.”

Radha Giri talking Personal Branding

Start-ups considering social media have their own concerns, some of them coming down to a mismatch of expectations on what can or cannot be achieved. While start-ups can expect a sharply increased awareness of their brand and more “warm” connections when they do connect with their target customers it would not be appropriate for them to expect their social media efforts to become a lead generation engine or to be a substitute for sales efforts!

The other critical branding pillar for start-ups is the personal brand of the founder -among the biggest assets of the start-up. Like Jason Hartman said, “Your personal brand is a promise to your clients.. a promise of quality, consistency, competency and reliability.” Creating an appropriate personal brand for the founder, just like creating an appropriate brand for the start-up comes down to creating well-thought out content addressed to the target customers and then promoting it on the social channels those target customers are likely to frequent.

The Mentors.

Bernard Kelvin Clive had said, “In a competitive crowded world market, it's the well positioned brands that Stands Out!” In today’s social age, it is also clear that brand-building is no longer an activity for the big boys. The upstart start-ups can build just as powerful brands and reap the benefits.

SlideShare Link to Full Presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/MidasTouchConsultants/the-case-for-startups-entrepreneurs-to-embrace-social-media