Individuals make the whole. Individuals, teams and organizational units make up the foundation which integrates value alignment for an organization. Corporate juggling of social media campaigns is no different: online engagement of social media has gone from marginal to mainstream. Engagement is no longer optional for companies, it’s mandatory to stay relevant. This engagement starts at the top.
“CEO social engagement is a reputational must today,” Chief Reputation Strategist, Leslie Gaines-Ross from Weber Shandwick stated (Weber Shandwick, 2014, p. 2). CEOs are more engaged. They are personally engaged. It’s about more than the company, profits or merely stakeholder value. Their personal reputation is at risk, their brand is in jeopardy. This increased level of executive engagement presents an opportunity for companies that decide to harness it. Customers are looking for executive engagement to stamp products and services and provide visibility moving from headlines to trend lines. Show me ‘where’ the company is headed. Explain to me ‘what’ the company is offering. Show me ‘why’ it has value for me as a consumer and make it a personal experience. These are the questions customers ask and they expect answers to be measured in seconds not in days. The lite fascination over social media campaigns and unfocused outreach is leading CEOs to target messages attaching where, what and how customers matter.
Weber Shandwick conducted research on 50 of the 2014 Fortune Global 500 companies (17 in U.S., 19 from Europe, 11 from Asian Pacific, and 3 from Latin America) concentrating on global CEOs and how they used social media to strengthen their social image and brand awareness while, opening conversations with customers. The results they found strongly indicated executive social engagement is found within 80% of the fortune 500 companies they interviewed. Engagement matters and CEOs know it.
Where do the CEOs engage with the customers? Savvy CEOs use social tools to their benefit. In the March 2015 issue of Harvard Business Review Thomas and Silverstone dial into three behaviors to effectively employ digital media aligned with a shared purpose.
- Tune into global conversations
- Leverage global networks
- Deepen the dialog
Managing organizational social presence is about more than exploring the inside of an organization. These behaviors highlight that communicating just to your employees is no longer sufficient. CEOs understand engagement is about transparency and communication. The communication must occur inside and outside the organization (Thomas & Silverstone, 2015).
Organizations need to consider how digital is changing social behavior, when articulating and drafting a corporate social media strategy. The physical world of employees and consumers is transforming as digital evolves (Armbruster, 2015). How employees interact, effects their communication and consumer interactions. Is the company cafeteria digitally enabled, with charging stations for iPhones and laptops or is it a dark place with a single water cooler, rarely visited. This physical environment drives values which attach to performance. Performance your customers will experience 1st hand. What statement is your physical environment making? Are you created an environment of savvy employees? Behavior is a reflection of what we value. We call this culture.
Forbes recently released an article stating that culture, technology and process are directly linked to physical workspaces. How physical space is designed, filled and how technology is utilized impacts performance. CEOs know that a culture of savvy employees directly pushes up or down company’s Net Promoter Scores (NPS). When customer loyalty is the number driver of retention and opportunity up-sell, it’s not surprising CEOs are personally engaged not only for their brand, but because customers demand engagement. CEOs must be socially engaged for many reasons, most importantly to build customer engagement.
References
Armbruster, S. (2015, June). The Workplace of the Future | MIT Sloan Management Review. Retrieved from http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-workplace-of-the-future/
Thomas, R. J., & Silverstone, Y. (2015). How Smart CEOs Use Social Tools to Their Advantage – HBR. Harvard Business Review, 93(3). Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2015/03/how-smart-ceos-use-social-tools-to-their-advantage
Serrano, I. (2015). The Rise of the Social CEO Infographic – Rival IQ Blog (online image). Retrieved June 24, 2015, from https://www.rivaliq.com/blog/rise-social-ceo/
Weber Shandwick. (2014). Socializing Your CEO III: From Marginal to Mainstream (pp. 1–16). Retrieved from http://www.webershandwick.com/uploads/news/files/socializing-your-ceo-iii-exec-summary.pdf