The CEO’s guide to Social Media

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

While some early adopters (read:  your kids) have been involved with the social aspects of the internet for several years, when it comes to business, this has only recently become a topic and option.  As parents, our concern was what our teenagers were posting on their MySpace pages.  Now, as CEOs, we are trying to figure out what our companies need to be posting, and where.

CEOs have the role of establishing the vision for the organization.  As you would influence which “traditional” marketing channels best fit the organization, so too with social media.  Here are my suggestions on how to get up to speed so you can participate in defining your company’s approach.

Attitude.  This will likely need adjustment.  Embrace the new, take responsibility to understand it.  You learned how to navigate your cell phone (you may even have ventured into texting), you can e-mail, you can search the web, and you can become knowledgeable about social media.  This cannot be abdicated to someone else.  It is too real and too important.

Self-Directed MBA.  Here’s where those web searching skills are useful.  Because this space is changing so fast, you are not going to learn it through the traditional educational methods (forget about books, and consultants with powerpoints.)  Dig into the web, and you will find an amazing amount of information.  In particular, read blogs, and follow the hyperlinks they share.  Threads will become your personal course syllabus.

Get Started.  You learn by doing, not watching.  Go to www.LinkedIn.com and sign up.  This is a professional networking site.  Don’t worry, you are not exposing your personal life to the world, but it is a good place to start, and it will begin the networking process.  Once you are comfortable with that, go to www.facebook.com and post a personal page.

Facebook is evolving into a very important networking site, and your company will also want to create a presence, separately.  If you create your profile on the same computer you store your contacts (i.e., Outlook), facebook gives you the option to compare your contacts against their user database, and you will be amazed to see how many people in your circle have profiles posted.  You will be given the option to send “friend” invitations to anyone you want to add to your personal network.

Your company has many options in the social networking universe.  Here’s a useful map of those options, published by Overdrive Interactive.

Explore and have fun.  The benefits you receive will be proportional to the amount of effort you put into learning this phenomena.  I welcome your thoughts and any experiences you have had in your personal journey

Tags: CEO, Facebook, LinkedIn, Overdrive Interactive, Social Media
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