Missing: C-suite executives on social media

SPONSORED BY: Cision

Any communications and marketing pro worth her salt knows social media is a vital channel for brand promotion, but what’s stopping her C-suite from helping to amplify the program?

This year’s Signal Social CEO Index revealed that only 53 per cent of Canada’s top CEOs are on even one social media platform, and only 16 per cent use two or more networks. With 78 per cent of Canadian journalists using social media for work purposes, an executive’s absence spells missed opportunities for brands.
A lack of social activity may also imply that you’re out of touch or behind the times – a potential reputation issue for any brand hoping to appeal to anyone with internet access.

Learn everything about your target consumers by analyzing your brand’s social following

Are you a senior leader missing on social media?
It’s time to fix that. At this point in your career, you’re well known and wield more influence that you think – so put it to good use by spreading the word about your company’s brand.

Concern about making a mistake on social may be what’s been holding you back, but silence – or absence, can bring about worse consequences. In a crisis situation for example, all eyes look towards the brand leader and they look online first. If you’re the CEO and are nowhere to be found, you’re missing a narrow window to take a leadership role and own the story throughout the news cycle.

C-suiters may find comfort in the ability to dip their toes in the digital waters before taking the online plunge. Use social networks for observational purposes first, taking a watch and learn approach. This will help guide a personal social media strategy and style, which can be created to suit your time commitment. But don’t lurk too long. Once you’ve grasped the two-way communications function of social, it’s time to get started.

For most executives, LinkedIn is an easy place to start. Creating a profile demonstrating a career’s worth of impressive experience can help add credibility to any brand. The platform also returns very well in name and company searches on Google. Find someone you admire in your LinkedIn feed and borrow from their approach to posting. Be sure you understand the security and visibility settings on LinkedIn as well.

Twitter is a perfect platform for most C-suite execs as it provides ample opportunity for engagement especially around breaking news stories.

You may also wish to explore visually-dominant mediums like Instagram. This can give your stakeholders an exclusive window into your company’s happenings, humanize the executive team and showcase a healthy corporate culture, to help attract high quality job candidates. While Facebook works well for brand marketing and can provide tremendous reach, execs can let the brand page do all the talking there, and should be sure to lock down all the security settings on any personal FB accounts.

Take guidance from the PR and marketing team
Watch the techniques these pros use on their personal accounts to amplify messages promoted by the brand’s social properties. And then do this too! This team will also contain at least one person willing to snap a few pics of important speaking engagements that you can share on your channels – but it can’t be an “all about me” show. No one likes that. To build and maintain an appreciative online following, share content produced by other business leaders, legitimate news media, or even other brands.

Cision and CNW are working together to help you map out, deliver and reap the rewards of a successful content strategy. To find out more, read our exciting Cision Communication Cloud announcement.