A recent blog post on Forbes.com speaks to the fact that most big company CEOs are not active in Social Media. Among the Fortune 500 CEOs, only Rupert Murdock has ventured actively into this arena. According to a just-released survey by Domo, the number of CEOs using LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter is only 30%, which is shockingly low given the benefits it provides — from helping a company get closer to its customers to serve them better, increasing employee engagement, as well as monitoring both positive and negative on-line commentary which may impact your brand / business. And for small businesses the usage of social media is a bit higher.
As a self-confessed “newbie” to Social Media, I too struggled with embracing it. In 2008, as the Senior Vice President of Marketing for Marcal, the social media world was changing rapidly. We just relaunched our flagship brand from a pure value play to one with a stronger positioning as Marcal Small Steps, the first national 100% recycled tissue brand.
I had a great team of talented marketers and agencies that were pushing to “Socialize” the brand, but with limited funding we didn’t want to “waste” any dollars and the ROI on the investment was unknown. Justifying a large investment did not make business sense, so we decided to take “Small Steps” into this new arena.
We invested in a website to tell our story and begin a dialogue with our consumers. We then ventured our way into Facebook and Twitter, at a fairly low cost basis, and then created a monthly newsletter to stay in contact with our loyal followers.
One of the best things we did was hire a twenty-something “Brand Ambassador” who grew up in the social media world. She became the “voice” of the brand and helped to manage our social interactions under the guidance of the Brand Team.
Whether you like it or not, your customers are doing research on line and making decisions based on what they see, or not see. By opting to NOT have a presence, you risk being invisible to prospective customers.
Take it from a “newbie,” it’s not that hard.
Topics: CEO Marketing Strategy, CEO Perspectives, CEO Strategies, Social Marketing Strategies
Sat, Jul 14, 2012