Business leaders: here are five reasons why you should invest time in social media

2. Your employer brand. You and your fellow leaders all contribute to your brand in the market place. What do your social media profiles say about you? Talented individuals will read them before deciding if they want to work for you. They want to work for inspiring leaders who are open about the organisation, its people and its culture. 

 

3. Your network. These days networking is more varied than face to face events and lunches. Whilst these are still important, conversations are also happening on-line. Connections are made and relationships developed. This is a positive for the introverted leaders and those who enjoy reading and discussing industry news and articles. It is easy to spend a few minutes a day whilst on the train engaging with your network on LinkedIn or Twitter. 

 

4. Your customers, both existing and potential. Many have an interest in you and your team. Don’t leave your engagement and interaction to your official company Twitter feed when someone tweets a complaint. 

 

5. Conversations are happening anyway. It is much better to be part of them. If you don’t, you run the risk of looking aloof or old fashioned, like you aren’t interested or can’t be bothered to learn how to use social media. 

 

Social media takes time and you are busy. It is better to be active on one platform than to have profiles across several with no activity. Many business leaders choose LinkedIn as their ‘go to’ platform for business social media. My earlier blog gives tips on how to use LinkedIn to your advantage. But whichever you choose, choose something! 

 

Here are four CEOs who in my view are using social media well: 

 

Satya Nadella, of Microsoft is regularly posting and engaging from his personal LinkedIn. Cynics may say ‘oh it’s a huge tech company he probably has someone to do it for him’ (although it doesn’t come over like this), so here is a LinkedIn profile I like: Tom Staziker of Virgin Pure, a small, but growing business with around 40 employees. His passion and personality really comes across on his profile as it does in real life. He is a strong brand advocate. On Twitter Jacqueline Gold of Ann Summers and James Timpson of Timpson are doing great things and bringing the human side to business. 

 

Which business leaders do you admire on social media? 

Ellie Rich-Poole, The Recruitment Coach supports individuals to achieve more in their career and organisations to improve their recruitment. She also helps people improve their online brand. If you’d like to do more on social media but don’t know where to start, please get in touch with her.