The tweeting, blogging, LinkedIn-savvy CEO: An update

CEO blogs and social postings are like catnip for customers, offering the promise of access and a listening ear and all perspective from the corner office. The good news: There are more CEOs and presidents than ever participating in social media. The (maybe) bad news: That group may not include yours. I say maybe because you just shouldn't get caught forcing someone to blog or tweet, even if she's the CEO--and because there are plenty of CEOs who just shouldn't tweet in the first place. Check out these data-laden reports, good and bad examples and case studies to figure out whether and how your CEO should tweet or blog:

• The small biz CEO is mightier on social: A CEO.com study shows a big gap between Inc. 500 CEOs of small businesses and Fortune 500 CEOs when it comes to social media, showing that "Inc. 500 CEOs are 13 times more likely to be active on Twitter, 5.3 times more likely to be on Facebook, and three times more likely to be on LinkedIn than CEOs of America’s largest companies." The writer makes the case here for why big company CEOs should follow the lead of their small-biz counterparts.
  
• What CEOs really think about social media: IBM surveyed 1,700 CEOs about the "connected economy" created by social media, a useful resource for you to mine when making the case for your CEO's participation--you can see which sectors' CEOs are most inclined to use this new tool. Social Media Today  reviewed the report and notes that your CEO is more likely thinking of social media as a customer-listening tool, rather than as outbound marketing. Inc. agrees with 5 reasons your customer service needs to be social.
• World domination via Twitter: Three out of four heads of state worldwide, or 123 leaders in 164 countries, are on Twitter, making them accessible to millions. That good enough as an example for your CEO? If your work is international, political, cause-related or just involved in many economies, your CEO may also wish to connect with these tweetable leaders. The full report is embedded at the link.
• Call it the social cliff: Only 3 of the 79 newest members of the U.S. Congress do not have Twitter accounts, and even Facebook provided the newest class of senators and representatives with a solid guide for getting started on FB. Congress isn't just a good model for your social CEO, but a group she may want to connect with on social sites.
• Too cool for school: University presidents and chancellors participate in social media no more or less than other CEOs, and. as elsewhere, some are better at it than others. @HipHopPrez, aka Dillard University president Walter Kimbrough, is one to watch for style and substance in his tweeting. And in honor of Missouri S&T's chancellor joining Twitter, communicator Andrew Careaga shares several useful resources for tracking down college presidents who tweet, so you have more models to follow.
• Taking flight online: Virgin CEO Richard Branson is the "million follower man" on LinkedIn, which recently enabled celebrities and others to be followed by users. Of course, Branson's been a leading CEO in using online video and blogging, and his LinkedIn presence serves to amplify those channels.
• Rethinking CEO tweets, even at social media companies: If your CEO comes to Twitter thinking of it as insignificant due to the small size of a tweet, he may be surprised at the legions who are paying attention. Larry Page, CEO of Google, had to ask Vic Gundrota, Google+ CEO, to stop tweeting after he posted snarky tweets about rival companies. Sounds like he doesn't know the best control in social media, a problem common to many CEOs.
• By their speeches, ye shall know them: CEOs with no time to tweet and blog can still be a presence by using social media to share speeches, announcements, and letters. The White House has a new presidential documents app that does this for President Obama, and it's a good model for your CEO.
• Tripwire Twitter? The Wall Street Journal notes that some CEOs see Twitter as 140 characters of risk--and some of them should think that way. In this example, the communications director helped avert a crisis: "Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. is pushing CEO Randy Papadellis to start tweeting. But when Mr. Papadellis said in a recent interview that one of his first tweets would mention drinking cranberry juice before eating sushi to prevent food poisoning, his director of communications, Cindy Taccini, quickly nixed the plan, noting that the claim hadn't been clinically proven." Note to the rest of us: Might want to tell your CEO not to discuss future tweets in interviews. I admit it: I wouldn't have thought that necessary a week ago, but now I do.
• Shyness and the CEO: The opposite extreme, the CEO who's uncomfortable putting herself "out there" on social media, also exists. (Really, it's true.) This HBR post offers some good tips for helping that type of social CEO get comfortable, one step at a time.

If you've got a CEO who's ready and willing to blog/tweet/get a LinkedIn following, but there are smaller logistical barriers in the way, check out my 6 ways to get past CEO barriers to social media. And it's always worthwhile to start with solid guides like The Twitter Book,or The Corporate Blogging Book. Can I help you come up with a smart strategy for your would-be social CEO? Email me at info[at]dontgetcaught[dot]biz.

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