Did you know that 76% of company executives believe that it is a good idea for CEOs to participate on social media networks? Yes, that’s right. First, take a look at the findings represented in this graph:
The graph (collected from marketingland) tells us a lot about the advantages of using social media. Now let’s dive deep and analyze this graph further.
1. Trust:
Trust is one of the most important components of attaining business success. Just consider this, if you are in a bank and the help desk officer provides you with some information and the bank’s CEO also provides some information on the same topic, which source are you likely to trust more, the help desk officer or the CEO? I am sure you will give more consideration to the CEO’s information. Therefore, when a CEO involves himself/herself in social media activities to share information on the brand or on the business niche/industry, people give that more credence, confidence, and trust. For instance, I follow Rand Fishkin (CEO and Co-Founder of MOZ, formerly SEOmoz) in the SEO industry and I believe what he says and trust his business actions.
2. Customer Engagement:
If Larry Page or Mark Zuckerberg were to like my Facebook status or comment, or view my LinkedIn profile, or retweeted my tweet, can you imagine how I would feel? And it’s not just me, almost any other professional whether for a big firm or small, would feel the same excitement that I would. It is also true that when you are following some brand and they follow you too, they will feel as special as you will.
You may have the feeling that your firm is not as big as the firm you are following and ask yourself why you should be active on social media or whether your influence will result in such feelings from those who follow you. Do not have such backdated thoughts. Your firm may not be as huge as Google, but your influence does matter.
Therefore, by engaging with your customers on social media you will definitely increase your brand reputation as well as customer satisfaction.
3. Self Branding:
Think for instance, if you visit quore and search about anything regarding SEO, you may find some important answers from Rand Fishkin. Then you might get curious to know who he is and find out he is the CEO of Moz (formerly known as SEOmoz). And from that point onwards, you may want to find out more about Moz and maybe even become their customer. From such an example you can clearly see that by becoming active on social media, the firm can not only introduce the CEO, but the CEO too can introduce his/her firm.
4. Media Coverage:
Yes, it is true that by becoming an active participant of social media networks, you will be able to get more media coverage. For example, in other media forms you cannot say or write a column or share your opinions on a regular basis. But using social media platforms you can share your messages, announcements, thoughts, and opinions anytime and it will be instantly followed by offline and offline media coverage.
5. Feedback:
Most reputable firms have their own market research teams, but it is always a plus if the CEO can get live updates of customer expectations directly. By being active on social media, a CEO can get such information very smoothly, and direct from the affected client(s). Such direct feedback may include what the individual customer’s expectations are and whether or not they are happy with your products and services. Such data can really help the firm make the right decisions to take their business to the next level.
In this article I briefly described the 5 most common advantages though there are many more that could have been included. Besides the benefits, there are some problems that can arise when the CEO gets active on social media. We will write about these problems very soon and recommend ways to avoid or solve them. We would love to hear your comments.