While the CEOs of the world's largest companies have been quick to grasp the power of social media for their organizations, they are yet to be convinced of the benefits of their own personal use. Here we examine the opportunities for leaders to build and benefit from a social presence and whether this means that the charismatic (and social) CEO is now here to stay.

When Lee Iacocca was given credit for single-handedly turning around the fortunes of US car giant Chrysler in the late 1970s, the cult of the charismatic CEO was born. Since then, a parade of celebrity leaders from GE's Jack Welch to Apple's Steve Jobs have embedded the view that it isn't enough for bosses to be capable managers and administrators relying on a solid senior team and a workforce that delivers. They have to be charismatic, media friendly leaders, prepared to take sole credit when things go well and blame when they don't.

However, the idea that the fortunes of a company are down solely to the CEO is going out of fashion. It creates an unsustainable expectation of the actual impact of any one leader and isn't a true reflection of the personalities of some of the men and women at the top of the world's most successful organizations.

How does this sit with the current trend of encouraging today's leaders to tweet, blog, post and share? With a more intense spotlight on business leaders, is this the right time to be selling even greater scrutiny to your CEO? And should corporate communications directors be nervous? As late as 2010, only one in seven members of the Ipsos Mori Reputation Council²²³ of European PR heads reported that their CEO had a blog. Only a small number were keen that their CEO should write an external blog and the main reasons cited were commitment, authenticity and personality.

Social's trending with CEOs

From customer service teams to the public relations department, many of your colleagues may already contribute to the online presence of your organization or the brands you own. But, if the results of the 2012 IBM Global CEO study²²⁴ are reflective of most organizations, then chances are your CEO or MD isn't one of them. The IBM study, which surveyed 1,709 CEOs worldwide, found that just 16% were using social media and only one reported having a blog. Also, a recent study by CEO.com and business intelligence firm DOMO²²⁵ found that while social media is more prominent than ever amongst consumers, amongst Fortune 500 CEOs, only 7.6% are on Facebook, 4% use Twitter and less than 1% use Google+. LinkedIn was found to be the only network where business leaders are slightly ahead of the general public.

However, the IBM study predicts that the percentage of CEOs using social media is likely to grow to 57% within five years, and that social media will become the second most important way of engaging with staff employees and customers after face-to-face engagement. Richard Branson used his own LinkedIn account to respond to the IBM study in a post entitled “Why aren't more business leaders online?”.²²⁶ In it, he says that “CEOs have the opportunity to set the bar. By ignoring social networks, they are potentially missing a trick.”

But not all leaders are entrepreneurs and certainly not all leaders have Richard Branson's natural talent for communication or his powerful personal brand. In fact, if you work in a FTSE 100 company, there's a 50% chance that your CEO has a finance background²²⁷ and here may be a good reason why they have naturally gravitated towards numbers more than words. This is important when deciding whether a CEO writes their own copy and manages their own accounts (preferable if they have the time and talent to do so) or works with one or two trusted advisors to create content that they direct and ultimately sign off on before publication.

Make me social

If your CEO has taken Branson's words to heart and wants a social media presence, he or she will hopefully seek your advice as the communications expert in your organization. Just as there is no single template for the perfect CEO, there is no template for how leaders should engage with social media. So, it's best to start by applying some first principles of Public Relations.

Before a CEO takes the social media plunge, it is important that they understand the context in which their content will appear. If their motivation is to enhance the reputation of the organization that they lead, then what they say and do has to complement what's already happening. Encourage them to talk to those employees who already use social media on behalf of the company, ask for their input and opinion on your social policy and ask them to consider how it would apply to them. Get them to look at the content your organization produces and read the feedback it gets. The potential upside of this exercise is that you may discover an existing platform or vehicle such as a regular blog on the company website that your CEO can use in a less risky and less time-consuming way than, say, daily Twitter updates, personal blogs and LinkedIn activity.

Another contextual element to consider is the regulatory environment in which you operate. For instance, the same rules around market sensitivity apply to a tweet from the CEO as a formal company announcement. And if the CEO really is a social media novice then it is also worth spending some time taking them through the basics. Chapters 1 and 9 of Share This²²⁸ are a good starting point.

All views my own

Once the context has been set, it's time to consider content, audiences, platforms and feedback. CEOs must then ask themselves what aspects of their leadership can be enhanced using social media. Who do they want to influence, why and to what end? If they can't come up with a single business benefit then this might not be the best use of their time.

Help them to prioritize their social media activity by audience. In the same way as you would for your organization, create a simple grid with stakeholder, positioning and platforms/locations, using data to populate the location boxes.

The social media footprint for the CEO of a radio station

This will help a CEO prioritize activity, content and key messages according to the time and resources available to them.

What a CEO says on a blog, on Twitter, in a video, once it is online, has a permanence that can come back to haunt them if they are subsequently proved wrong or change their mind. A social media profile can also be a lightning rod for comment (good and bad). As supporters and detractors seek a public way to engage with the CEO on an issue, there is a risk of being dragged into a public dispute if not properly managed. This can have significant implications for an organization.

The standard disclaimer “all views my own” is fine when an account executive or junior manager comments on an issue, but in today's world where CEOs are so inextricably linked to the organizations they lead, this doesn't wash. CEOs must remember that to the public, their views and those of the organization are considered to be one and the same. They must also remember that the urge to provide an immediate and public fix to a customer service issue highlighted to them on Twitter, for instance, can be a strong but risky one and a policy for dealing with customer complaints that are directed at the CEO should be agreed in advance.

Buy me, trust me, love me

Once a CEO has decided who they want to reach and which platforms are best suited to the audience and the environment, they must then focus on their online persona. Whilst the advice “to thine own self be true” is important, each of us has the very human ability to adapt language, style and presentation to suit an audience. So, unless a CEO decides that they desperately want to use this opportunity to talk about their deep love of topiary or deep sea diving, they should focus their social media persona on the elements of their personality that they bring to their professional life. They should ask themselves “Would I share this information with a group of employees, at a shareholder meeting or an industry event?” If a CEO regularly uses anecdotes from their non-professional life to illustrate speeches and presentations, then these will probably go down well online. If not, then they are likely to jar with the existing reputation that they have in the real world. The number one rule is to be authentic. The number two rule is that authenticity can't be faked and not everyone needs to be cool, funny or controversial.

There are three very broad considerations for a CEO when considering how they want to be perceived – in person and on social media. They are driven by how they want the audience to respond:

Biography

Jane Wilson (@CEO_CIPR) is the CEO of the CIPR, a Non-Executive Director and business communications expert. With a career in leadership, corporate communications, public affairs and marketing roles she has also gained extensive M&A and change management experience at a senior level within public and private companies. She is a regular blogger, media commentator and conference speaker in the UK and internationally. Her experience spans in-house and agency roles across a range of creative industries.