Should CEOs and Executive Directors Use Social Media?

The NASSCOM India Leadership Forum has multiple tracks based on theme.  It also has a track that takes place in a large room with roundtables and a designated discussion topic and facilitator.  These sessions are not for presentations, but for disscussion and sharing of ideas.   I was asked to facilitate a session on the question, "Should CEOs and Executive Directors Use Social Media?"

In preparation for this session,  I asked colleagues here in the US to share their collective wisdom so we could see the US perspective.  In addition, during a roundtable on social media at the conference, I was fortunate to meet social media experts in India (@nirav@amnigos @pranavbhasin @paritoshsharma and @avinashraghava ) who shared some examples.

In order for social media to have full impact, it needs to scale within an organization.  Your organization's social media strategy should be not implemented by one lonely intern sitting in the corner of your communications and marketing department.  

You may be wondering if that means that your executive director and CEO needs to write a blog or have their own Twitter account to share their wisdom.  I think it depends. 

There are definitely some benefits to having your executive director or CEO being present on social media channels.  They can provide a human face to your organization's work, a unique viewpoint, and serve as a thought leader in your field.  And if your organization finds itself in the middle of groundswell or if there is a major news event or a public relations crisis happens and it is being discussed on Twitter or other social media spaces, your CEO can join it without having to get up to speed.  

But it is also important to understand that there are definitely challenges to be overcome as well.  These includes investing the time to make it successful because a CEO presence on social media is nothing that should be "ghost" written.   It has to be authentic, reflect the CEO's personality.  There is also the issue of comfort - both with the technology and being transparent.  

Here are some good examples of CEO and Executive Director use of social media in the US social sector:

Holly Ross is the executive director of NTEN, the nonprofit technology network in the US.  She uses Twitter to share what's going on at NTEN, announce new initiatives, and have conversations with NTEN members.  She often uses Twitter to get ideas and feedback on NTEN's various programs.   Checking her Twitter stream and sharing some tweets probably takes her 15 to 20 minutes a day and is part of daily routine. 

Holly also shares more of her in-depth thinking about the nonprofit technology field on NTEN's blog.  It is not a "CEO" blog where she writes daily, but a blog that includes the voices of NTEN staff and members.  This is a good option for CEO's who don't have the time or bandwidth to write a whole blog along, but still want to be present in the blogosphere.

Holly's Twitter account is her personal but it is clearly branded as NTEN.  Even the user name, "ntenhross" incorporates her organization's brand.   This is a good example of a "Blended profile."

Scott Harrison is the CEO of charity:water.  charity:water has a huge Twitter following of over 1 million fans and supporters and has a great deal of expertise using social media to leverage fundraising and raise awareness of their work.  The Twestival and Charity Water's house social network are stellar examples.  As CEO of
charity:water, Scott is often visiting charity:water projects all over the work.  Through his twitter account, he is able to easily first-hand reports and photos of the organization's work.  He is using Twitter for donor accountability. Scott uses his personal account to Tweet which is separate from the charity:water organizational account.

There are a couple of corporate Foundations where we have good examples of CEO's using social media effectively - in this case Twitter.

Steve Case is the co-founder of AOL and now Chairman of The Case Foundation and of Revolution (investor in Revolution Money, Exclusive Resorts, Miraval, Zipcar, Waterfront, etc).  His Twitter stream is where he shares what he reading about philanthropy and technology but also his travels to different social sector and technology conferences.  You can regularly see him discussing issues on Twitter with other thought leaders and journalists.  His Twitter account is his personal account, but he identifies himself with his foundation and businesses.

Reeta Roy, president and CEO of the MasterCard Foundation, is sending tweets from her site visit to Uganda and Kenya. As background, the mandate of the $2 billion Foundation is to enable people living in poverty to improve their lives by expanding their access to microfinance and education.  Reeta is currently in Uganda, where she’s learning first-hand about the Foundation’s partnerships and programs.   While the account is the Foundation's branded Twitter account, she is using it for a project to report on their work in the field. 

This is an example of a good idea of how to get your CEO started tweeting.  Have them Tweet from the organizational branded account for a specific project.  This will help learn the work flow, have more comfort, and see first hand if the social media presence provides a benefit for the organization's work.

At a roundtable, I had to chance to discuss this question with social media experts from India.  They pointed out a couple of examples and I hope to learn more later today.

Anand Mahindra s the vice chairman and managing director, Mahindra Group, a large corporation in India.  He tweets about many different things, from his company to his family and travels.  He interacts with customers addressing their questions and complaints.  Take a look at his Twitter stream and you will see personal insights, news about his companies, and insights about social media.

Mahesh Murthy is founder and CEO of Pinstorm, a digital marketing firm.  He also writes a column for the Wall Street Journal.  He uses Twitter to share information about company, connect with people, and to research for writing his blog posts or encourage conversations in the comments of his blog.

When Should Your CEO or Executive Director Just Say No To Social Media

Of course, using social media may not be for every CEO or Executive Director.    If they can't sustain their presence on Twitter or blogging, they should stay away.  This isn't to say that they can't have an assistant who might do some of the scanning and flag items to respond to, but if a CEO starts engaging with people on social media channels and then there is silence - that is not a good thing.

It is also important that CEOs and Executive don't just tweet or blog for the sake of doing it.  They should must have someting to day that is of value or use it for relationship building.   Finally, if the CEO cannot take public criticism or wants to have control over what followers or commenters say, then they shouldn't use it and delegate the role someone else in the company or organization.

Tips

1.   Listen First:   Before jumping in, it is useful to do some listening first.  Are there other organizations or businesses in your sector where CEOs or Executive Directors are using social media.  Find those and review how they are using it.

2.   Safe Place to Practice:  It is a good idea to do a little bit of coaching with your CEO or Executive Director to show them how Twitter works and to avoid too much "public learning."   Some organizations use software like Yammer which is an internal Twitter to practice before setting up on Twitter. 

3.  Get Past Information Overload:  It is important to let busy CEOs know that they don't have to be on Twitter 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  This is also a good idea because the thought of opening up another communications channel might be overwhelming for a CEO is already concerned about email and information overload.  Help them learn a quick and efficient way to use Twitter.

4.   Pick a Small Project First:   Before launching a CEO blog or CEO Twitter account,  it might make sense for the CEO to start off using the organization's branded account or blog, particularly if they are not very comfortable with the tools or plan to devote a small amount of time.   

5.  Share Unique CEO/Executive Director Insights: CEOs have perspectives that others in the organization may not.  Whether using Twitter or writing blog posts, they should share their thought leadership, know how, and vision with their fans and followers.   A good way to do this is share what they are reading and learning.

6.   Let Them Be Who They Are:   CEOs and executive directors who are using social media, above, just need to be themselves and let their personality shine through.

Resources:

8 Nonprofit CEOs Who Tweet by Beth Kanter
Foundations That Tweet - Different Patterns by Beth Kanter
CEOs Take To Twitter from Businessweek
The CEO's Secret Handbook from Money Magazine
CEOs Are Social Media Slackers from Wired Magazine
First CEO to Tweet Resignation from New York Times
The CEO's of Social Media from India Leadership Forum
The Many Challenges of a CEO Blog from Jeremiah Owyang
CEOs Must Use Social Media from Community Organizer 2.0
If Chris Brogan was CEO of An Airline and Used Social Media
CEOs Who Tweet

Comments

[Mark Petersen]

Thanks Beth; great article.

[Joe Mueller]

Beth,
I wanted to introduce a nonprofit CEO to your list of successful Twitter users: Ethan Draddy (@EthanDraddy), executive director of the Boy Scout Council in Baltimore.

Here's a link to a post I wrote on Ethan and why CEOs should use Twitter:
http://jfmueller.wordpress.com/2009/03/15/executive-director-passionately-twitters-on-mission/

Keep up the great work!

[twitter.com/ntenhross]

Beth - another great post! I wanted to second the idea that the CEO has to be willing to hear criticism. I've definitely grown a thicker skin since I started tweeting and blogging. The criticism has actually been great though. I've learned to see it as an opportunity to grow, both personally and professionally, and to build strogner relationships. When we hear negative stuff out in the space, it makes us pause and reflect "could we be doing this better?", and this makes our work stronger. It's also a chance to reach out to the commenter and engage in a conversation. Most often, we both walk away feeling better for the conversation.

[Beth Kanter]

Thanks Holly! We had a fantastic session!
http://twitter.com/amnigos/status/8894418274

[Sidney Hargro]

Excellent as always. I hope all is well. Do you know of a list of foundation or nonprofit CEOs that have blogs?

[Richard]

I WISH we had a lonely intern managing our social media from the corner of communications. Our online presence is as scattered as our internal communications. Kind of frustrating when we could really be part of a great conversation but its all these last minute after thought things and one poor woman who tries to implement things that get the kibosh constantly. There are just so many links to make but we have yet to get there. I get my social media fix after hours.

[Robynmcintyre]

Thanks for this post. Definitely it's a judgment call about whether or not an ED or CEO should blog or tweet or both. I'd say it definitely depends on how that person feels about social media and how much time he/she is will to give it. A seldom updated blog or twitter account says something and it ain't a good something. I hope that nonprofit boards and staff take this into account when considering who should be their social media face.

[Jayne Cravens]

Is there any doubt that most quotes in press releases are written by the PR manager, not the executive director? Or that a speech isn't written 100% by the person delivering it? When I draft quotes or speeches for someone else (and I've done so for 20 years), I write based on what I've heard the person say or articles he or she has written, and I ensure the person reads over the text to make their own changes. By the time the text is delivered, I couldn't say with all honesty that the words are entirely mine and not the words and sentiments of the person who delivered such. I think it is absolutely possible to write for someone else and be "authentic" and "reflect the CEO's (or whomever's) personality" -- several Presidential writers have, in fact, done it many times.

[Claire Jarrett]

As you said, vitally important to let personality shine through. I think that's the beauty of Twitter, allowing people to see the person behind the job title.

[Ashley Messick]

Great article Beth! One of the other advantages to having your ED/CEO involved in social media is the "buy in" factor. If our President at Blood Centers of the Pacific wouldn't have been a believer in the power of social media it definitely would have been harder (than it already was) to get buy-in from department heads and our board.

I really like your #4 tip and I would encourage people that it doesn't have to just be a "start with" a small step. They can all be small steps. Our President isn't a weekly contributor to our blog. But we do ask her to contribute ever so often, especially when we have a big announcement or when we did our New Year post. In my opinion getting them involved at the level they are comfortable and that is sustainable is so important. Don't let the fact that your CEO may not be ready to have a full blown Twitter account and blog of their own stop you from getting them involved on a consistent basis in whatever way makes sense.

[Rebecca Arno]

Beth: Thanks for the great article! The Denver Foundation's CEO David Miller just started blogging at http://nextdecade.wordpress.com about a one-year project to collect ideas and information about where the Foundation should be 10 years from now. Your tips will be very helpful -- and luckily he, and the foundation as a whole, are extremely open to input and suggestions. As you say, that seems to be a requirement for succeeding with social media.