Are You Social?

Last week I wrote about my year in blogging. It seemed only right to start year two with a companion post with what I’ve learned about being personally engaged with social media as the CEO of Gibson.

Does it make sense for leaders to be socially engaged in business?

@ReidHoffman, Chairman of @LinkedIn, thinks so: “CEOs will need to understand their customers and the environment that their customers live and work in — which will be increasingly ‘social’. Your brand as a CEO and as a company through social media will be key to attracting the right talent. The principal lesson that I’ve learned is to always be learning and never believe that you know enough.”

So let’s break that down.  Being active on social media can help you and your organization:

1. Understand the environment your client and customers live and work in.
2. Build your personal and company brand.
3. Attract top talent.
4. Learn.

That’s powerful. I’ve seen this first hand. In particular, I’ve learned about changes in personnel, awards, and new products at clients from their posts on social media. And there is no doubt that personal and company brands can be established and reinforced with consistent, timely, and focused posts.

Are you recruiting talent directly from colleges and universities? Are you on Twitter? If not you better be. Almost without exception, the college students we’re recruiting are on Twitter in a big way. Do you think we look a little more hip and cutting edge when we’re announcing their recruiting visit on Twitter?

Perhaps the #1 thing I think social media is valuable for is the last item mentioned by Hoffman. Even if you’re not ready to go “outbound”, the opportunity for “inbound” access to the latest thinking, strategy, and ideas is unparalleled with Twitter and LinkedIn. You can truly customize your intake and dial it in to your industry sector or profession.

Marc @Benioff, Chairman and CEO of @salesforce says it’s a must, “As a marketer, as a sales professional, you’d better know what’s happening on those social networks because those are your customers. We’ve seen brands go haywire when one tweet goes wrong. Are you paying attention to that? Do you really know what’s happening with your customers? That’s the question.”

Benioff says being social will better position you to know what’s going on with your clients, the marketplace, and your brand. Do you think that’s important? Where else can you go to get all that with a lesser investment of time or money?

Social media also has big benefits internally with your own team. A 2012 IBM study on CEO participation in social media concludes, “As CEOs ratchet up the level of openness within their organizations, they are developing collaborative environments where employees are encouraged to speak up, exercise personal initiative, connect with fellow collaborators, and innovate.”

Author and social CEO @MarkFidelman wrote about the IBM study in a Forbes article and had this to say, “Simply put, CEOs and their executives set the cultural tone for an organization. Through participation, they implicitly promote the use of social technologies. That will make their organizations more competitive and better able to adapt to sudden market changes.”

I have found this to be true as well. I have some engaging and regular “conversations” with clients and key suppliers over social media that I wasn’t having before. It’s given me insight into what’s important to them and their organizations. Believe it or not, I feel like I know them better on a personal level.

The same can be said for employee relationships. As much as I’ve pushed my team to be involved on Twitter and LinkedIn, I certainly don’t expect that we connect on something more personal like Facebook. But I will if they want to. There’s an advantage to me for them to see Tim-the-Dad not just Tim-the-CEO. And I see them in their environments, with their kids and families, going through all of life’s ups and downs. I’m sure it makes some of them nervous. Heck, I wonder what they’ll think of me sometimes, too! But I sure feel like I know what’s going on in their lives a little better.

What’s The Risk?
Well you might learn something new about an important topic, piece of news, client, or colleague. That would be horrible! You might contribute to your personal or company brand. No wait! You might actually create a brand for yourself. You might meet new and interesting people. Guess what? You might even like it.

Don’t be that person who talks about social media like it’s something just for the kids and stay-at-home parents. You don’t need to use it to post pictures of your meals. But you’re missing out if you’re not leveraging the power of social business. It’s changing how we work. It’s changing how we communicate. It’s becoming the norm.

Think about it. “The millennials coming up the ranks will be social CEO’s by default – in their eyes there is no other option,” writes  @AndrewGrill in his post “What does it take to be a ‘Social CEO’?”

As my social friend @AdamMGrant wrote in a recent post, “So fellow Luddites: if you’re not already on Twitter, give it a try.” Well said Adam. And it applies to a lot more than Twitter. Can you really afford the risk of not being social?