Gone are the days when senior executives could get away with sitting in an ivory tower. In today’s digital-first age, it is expected of them to have an online presence. Your image is shaped by your digital foot print.
So you tell me, “I don’t have time to build an online presence. I am busy running my business.” I completely understand and that’s exactly why you could seek help from someone who understands your voice, your vision and message and can help with the heavy lifting. However, there are Fortune 100 CEOs and executives who do all of their social posts themselves. They have invested the time and effort in building their social profiles. By maintaining a healthy online presence on social media, you are humanizing your executive brand. People don’t engage with logos. They want to engage with other real people running the companies they trust in. The top talent that you are trying hard to recruit, your prospects that are still on the fence to sign that contract and the reporters and analysts that you are about to speak to, all of them start with a simple Google search on you. You want to ensure your true personality, your passion and your values are well showcased in your social media presence and your search results are painting a picture of the leader that you truly are.
Here are a few ideas to get started on humanizing your social media presence:
Start small and be consistent: If you had to pick just two social media channels, pick LinkedIn and Twitter. Facebook by far is a personal channel for executives but depending on your industry/organization, it could be a strategic channel for you. Start by posting regularly on a weekly basis. Follow industry influencers on Twitter and LinkedIn to see how they go about publishing meaningful content. Consider blogging on LinkedIn on key industry topics that you are passionate about. LinkedIn by far is THE social network for senior executives to build and maintain a strong executive presence.
Be present on your corporate blog: Chances are your company has a corporate blog but you haven’t made the commitment to blog regularly. Trust me, nothing feeds the Google beast like a well-written blog post that is also search engine optimized. You can boost your digital presence by regularly blogging on industry hot topics, key corporate initiatives and announcements. Ask your social media lead to schedule a monthly blog post from you. He/she can spend some time interviewing you on topics that you would like to blog about that are meaningful for your target audience and ghost-write the post for you to make it easier.
Don’t be boring, have a personality: The last thing you want to do with your social posts is turn people off. Stay authentic, show your personality, your areas of interest, share your passion through your social posts but the key is to stay within your corporate brand guidelines. Of course, I don’t want you to go overboard and share any company confidential information online but you get my point about keeping it human.
Some great examples of CEOs who maintain a good online presence are:
Start now, don’t be that executive who is still on the fence about having a strong digital presence. Whether you have a social presence or not, your stakeholders are already talking about you online so why not have some influence over how they form an opinion about you and your company? Keep it human!