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A survey/study of the CEOs of Fortune 100 companies reveals that social media is not a priority.
Well, I understand that CEOs of the world’s largest companies are probably pretty busy. But to have no Fortune 100 CEOs writing blogs, and only a few using Twitter, seems rather odd. I mean, wouldn’t you want a figurehead to be one of the people extending your brand?
As the linked blog post suggests - this leaves me with the notion that most CEOs are “old school” and simply don’t get the power of social media in today’s economy.
But what is the answer. On the one hand, these brands come off as stodgy and out of touch. But to force a CEO into the whirlpool of social media could have other consequences. The consumers and business partners out there in the 2.0 universe are savvy, and can pick up the scent of hacked together, phony social strategies like a shark in bloody water.
To come off as just trying for the sake of it can sometimes be worse than not trying at all. There’s a fine balance here.
In my opinion, I think these CEOs, and their firms, should be (if they are not already) taking a careful look at the engagement and interaction strategy of their highest managers. Consumers of all products and services (B2B and B2C alike) are expecting transparency and essentially to be presented with a flat organization (even if it isn’t flat at all) that is dedicated top to bottom to creating a strong customer experience.
I don’t have all the answers…but it seems like there is so much low hanging fruit here that it wouldn’t take a social media genius to get it all started.
Evidently this survey from UberCEO is getting a lot of mileage. Ryan Stephens recently wrote a blog post ( http://www.brazencareerist.com/2009/06/29/fortune-100-ceos-should-be-soc... ) about this survey.
One of my comments was - "I think they should experiment with one aspect of social media they think may work out for them. How else are they going to know if it will work?" Obviously they aren't going to open an account and just start entering data on themselves and their company as thoughts pop into their head. Mucho coaching prior to engagement will be happening here. So I agree with you regarding the fine balance issue. I'm wondering which Fortune 100 CEO(s) will be the first to blog in some capacity and where the catalyst will come from (i.e. - board of directors, shareholders, consumers, or the CEO themselves).
I especially agree with your statement about the consumer wanting a strong customer experience. Social media is one very good way to deliver it but ultimately they just want a strong customer experience however it may be delivered.
If I owned stock in a company, I want to know that the CEO is on the job, not Twitter. That's why PR depts. exist. I think your premise is rather naive.
Anonymous...I think you're the naive one if you think that CEOs actually are heads down, neck deep in work at the largest companies...as a former executive of a very large company - I assure you that these are figureheads in many ways...not that they don't do work, but the management aspect can be handled while occasionally sending tweets or writing a blog - and the marketing benefits form actually showing that you care about your customers and want to engage with them in the most modern ways - that has a major impact in the modern marketplace in my opinion.
More research shows that consumers wants this - it's where we as buyers and sellers are going - it's that simple.
If tech CEOs can blog and tweet all day - why can't the CEO of GE?
Instead of focusing on what I had done professionally in the past, I focused on what I wanted to do in the future. More...
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