THE

ESSENTIAL
SOCIAL
MEDIA GUIDE
contents

01. YOU CAN NO LONGER IGNORE

SOCIAL MEDIA

02. Why avoid social media?

03. GETTING STARTED ON SOCIAL

MEDIA

04. YOUR BEST SOCIAL MEDIA

PLATFORMS

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Why Fortune 500
Companies can no longER
ignore social media
(and why you can’t either)

Take a minute and look at who you are following on your personal Twitter and whose pages you have liked on Facebook.
How many corporations are you following or interacting with? Of those corporations, how many of those accounts are
privately owned by the company’s CEO?

Your answer will probably be either none or not very many. So it will not surprise you to learn that in a study carried out
by CEO.com and DOMO, less than six percent of Fortune 500 CEOs were on Twitter and 68 percent of those CEOs
had no presence on social media at all.

Businesses cannot deny the power of social media and the usefulness of directly connecting with the consumers, so
why aren’t more executives joining in, especially when there are already a few great successes already out there? For
example, Marriott International’s CEO Bill Marriott blogs regularly at “Marriott on the Move.” Through his blog, he shares
personal anecdotes, his thoughts on the hotel industry as a whole and his best tips and advice for business owners. His
readers connect with him, and he, in turn, reaches back out to them, which makes both him and his company appear
more personable and relatable.

While all of these are good reasons for being on social media, does it really make a difference? In today’s world, yes.
Consumers, and employees, too are now expecting more transparency from corporations, and CEOs are no longer
faceless names. A company’s leader should represent everything his or her brand promotes and commit themselves to
step out from behind the boardroom doors so the rest of the world can meet him or her.

This social media guide will show you how to do just that.

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Why would CEOs avoid
social media?
We of course know that social media does wonders for brand recognition as well as image, but then why are so many
CEOs not following this trend? Maybe their reasons are the same as yours, but in this guide, we are going to show you
why none of the reasons below can be used as excuses.

—01

Not all social media is friendly

When most CEOs and executives reach out to the public,
it’s through a public relations team. Every press release,
interview and quote was written by someone who knows
how to get a good reception, and for the most part,
publicity campaigns rarely confront any true backlash. It’s
basically a one-way communication channel that allows for
few mishaps.
You won’t find that barrier with social media, and if an
executive makes a big enough mistake on social media,
you can bet that even the most senior publicist will have a
hard time getting him or her out of hot water. You also
also cannot stem the tide of personal attacks or angry
customer rants you may receive on social media. Some
people just like to complain or feel empowered to leave
exceedingly mean comments if they think they’ll never be
called out on it.
These are risks you will have to take if you ever want to
build a solid social media platform. There is no doubt:
some people can be downright cruel on social media
for no real reason. Don’t let them stop you from making
meaningful connections with the rest of your followers.

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—02 —03

You just don’t have the time There benefits are unclear
As an executive or CEO, you probably have very little time One of the biggest challenges the CEOs see with social
free for non-work related activities, and the last thing you media is that there’s no true formula to direct translate
probably want to do is sit in front of a Twitter or Facebook tweets or posts into sales. Maybe they think social media
feed and try to come up with something meaningful, funny is only for certain industries or perhaps they feel their
or thought-provoking in less than 140 characters. Many time would be wasted one social media. Deep down, they
CEOs try to keep up, but after even a few weeks, their might even think, “If I do use it, who would follow me?”
Twitter presence eventually drops off entirely.
While all of these are legitimate concerns, they aren’t
Surprisingly, CEOs often neglect even the social media excuses for disregarding all social media. After all, you’ll
platforms designed specifically for them, namely LinkedIn. never know unless you try.
This platform connects all sorts of working professionals
and gives them a place to chat, share experiences and
support one another. According to CEO.com’s 2013 Social
CEO Report, approximately 65 CEOs on LinkedIn had less
than 100 connections, which means they are not using the
platform to its full capacity. Less than 30 connections had
more than 500 connections.

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What you need to get
started on the right
foot with social media
Now that we’ve properly convinced you to embrace social media, it’s time to look at how to get started and put
yourself out there. You probably know at least five different platforms, but how do you know what’s right for you?

Take a deep breath and follow these steps:

—01 —02

Research your best platforms Choose the best tools for

Take some time to understand what each social media you
platform does and how it can best serve you and your Managing several different social media accounts can be
potential followers. confusing, and to the novice social media user, too many
accounts may overwhelm him or her. Plan out how you
Most CEOs should probably have a Twitter account
want to manage and monitor your posts. You can:
and a LinkedIn profile. Twitter will allow you to interact
quickly and efficiently with your audience. Since tweets • Go through each account individually (a little slower,
are limited to 140 characters, you don’t have to say much. but if that’s how you prefer, no problem there)
LinkedIn is best for connecting with other professionals in
• Use a management tool to post and track
your industry. You may not know many of the people who
all of your activity on social media
want to connect with you, but you can certainly make an
impression on them. • Hire a team to manage everything for
you and speak on your behalf
From there, what else do you plan to share? A blog might
be good for you if you like to write, have an active life like
Bill Marriott and want to share your experiences in your
industry. If your particular industry happens to be more
visual, an Instagram account might be the best way to go
so you can show off your own artistic images.

Remember, social media should be fun. You don’t have to

take it so seriously, just participate!

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—03
Study the experts
Social media isn’t all about getting followers. You need
to be following others too, mainly other CEOs and
executives. The reason for following the more seasoned
social media CEOs is to learn from what they’re doing and
figuring out how you can do it too (or how you can do it
even better).
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—04
There benefits are unclear
One of the biggest fears many new social media CEOs
have is knowing how much is too much and how little
is too little. They don’t want to share any big company
secrets, of course, but what is worth being shared at all?
If you’re nervous about social media, that’s okay. You
can certainly ask for help. You can employ a social
media strategist to help you put together a cohesive
multi-platform social media account and keep it updated
with just the right kind of information.
Keep in mind that people are expecting you to be
authentic, so don’t let a social media manager take
everything over. Your audience will be able to tell if it’s not
you behind the curtain, and they’ll be happy to point it out
in their comments. Learn from your manager and try to do
a few posts yourself.
Your best social media
platforms
We already briefly discussed that you shouldn’t try to be on every social media platform. It’s just too much, and you’ll
end up spreading yourself so thinly that none of your accounts will ever be fully utilized.

Let’s break down LinkedIn and Twitter, the two social media platforms that are both easy to use and extremely
beneficial to a professional. You will be better able to see what will work best for you. Before we really get started
though, you’re going to need a few tools to build yourself a profile on all social media sites.

You will need:

• A brief professional background paragraph

• A professional headshot to build recognition

• The links to your eventual LinkedIn and Twitter pages

As you garner more and more followers, people will probably visit your page on your company’s website so make sure
these three components have been updated and look clean and professional. From there you can begin building a
platform on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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Making the most of LinkedIn

LinkedIn states its mission as thus:

“Our mission is simple: connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful. When you join
LinkedIn, you get access to people, jobs, news, updates, and insights that help you be great at what you do.”

Keep this mission at the forefront of your mind as you begin to interact on LinkedIn and complete your full profile. Start
thinking about your career achievements as well as what you have to offer other professionals.

Remember how we said to keep your professional background paragraph brief? Here is where you can expand and
elaborate on all different aspects of your professional background and include links to interviews or stories where you
or your company is featured.

Be sure you do not skip over these sections:

• Headline

• Summary

• Experience

• Education

• Industry

LinkedIn is interactive and will guide you through each step of creating a profile. It will also tell you how much of your
profile is complete and what could use a little more information. You’re only hurting yourself if you don’t complete the
profile so it’s best to include as much information as possible.

When creating your profile, here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Search engine optimisation (SEO): It’s always a good idea to sprinkle keywords throughout your profile. When
people search those keywords, your profile will be more likely to pop up, which helps grow your outreach.

• Add examples: With LinkedIn, you can add your own videos, images and documents
to the Summary, Experience and Education sections of your profile so feel free to add
any interviews, articles or promotional materials you’ve been featured in.

• Customise your vanity URL: This makes your address far easier to share and
remember, rather than ending it with a long list of numbers.

• Rearrange the sections in order of importance: What’s nice about LinkedIn is that you can customise
the way your profile appears. You can move the summary to the top or have your experience lead off.

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Among the Summary and Experience sections, you’ll also find important sections for recommendations and
endorsements. Don’t skip these areas. LinkedIn provides several different ways for business leaders and professionals to
give each other pats on the back. These sections can make a big impact on your completed profile.

Recommendations are similar to Amazon reviews. They usually come from past clients or colleagues who have
witnessed your work in action and can verify your skill set. Not having any recommendations on your profile is a
bit of a red flag to other professionals, so ask a few of your closest colleagues or your best clients to write a brief
recommendation for your profile. Don’t forget to return the favour and write a recommendation for them as well.

Endorsements are much easier to obtain. In the Skills & Expertise section, other viewers can quickly confirm that you
have mastered one or more of the skills you listed. All they need to do is click the plus sign next to the skill. Try to rank
your skills so your most important and applicable ones are at the top to give your profile a bit more credibility.

So now that you’ve completed your profile, what next? How do you interact with LinkedIn? Start here:

• Seek out connections: No connection is too small for LinkedIn. Look for past clients, colleagues, friends,
family and whoever else you would like. Look for professionals in your industry from other companies.
Don’t worry if they are considered competition with your company. It’s okay to connect with them.

• Join groups: There are all sorts of groups for professionals to get involved with, and the
great thing about them is that if you are in the same group with someone, you don’t have to
connect with them first to send them a message. Other group members will be able to see
your profile without having to connect with you so your viewership opens up as well.

• Follow other brands: Connect with your favourite brands both in an outside your industry. Search for your
competition and like their pages. You’ll be able to scope out what they are doing and what you could do better.

• Sign up for industry news: LinkedIn provides a new channel that can be tailored to fit
your industry and interests. You’ll get access to some of the most talked about articles
on social media that contributors, publishers and other channels are posting.

• Publish your own work: Now is the time to tout your own work. Post links to your blogs or articles
or use LinkedIn’s own publisher, LinkedIn Today, to publish your own written industry articles.

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Tweet like a pro

Of all the social media sites, Twitter is probably the easiest to keep up with and share content quickly. Companies and
individual personalities use Twitter to create a certain brand around themselves or the otherwise faceless company.
Now you can use it to do the same and show off your personality in a fun, quick manner.

When push comes to shove, it’s more important to have a completed profile and a few tweets rather than an empty
profile and many tweets. With Twitter, it’s not uncommon for people to impersonate one another or even fictional
characters (Lord Voldmort has several Twitter accounts) so complete your profile to assure your followers that you are
the real you.

A few things to keep in mind when creating your profile:

• Keep the information simple: You do not need a full resume as you would on LinkedIn,
but of course, include your current job, a few past employers and maybe a few interests to
give viewers a sense of your personality. Use your brief company profile here.

• Use keywords or buzzwords from LinkedIn: Twitter profiles are not meant to be long so pick one
or two of your best keywords and use them a few times in your profile to better optimise it.

• Be clear about who you are: Followers will come from all areas of the Internet,
so use your profile to show them why they should follow you at all.

• Choose a good avatar and cover image: Use your professional headshot as an avatar and pick a relevant cover
image for your page. It might be your company’s brand, or maybe just an image that relates to your industry.

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Once you have your profile ready to go, focus your attention on garnering a good audience for your work. Twitter is
best used for self-promotion so use it to post links to your blog or other content you or your company creates. Tweet
your content multiple times over a couple of days at various times to ensure maximum exposure to all of your followers,
who might retweet your content or acknowledge you in some other way.

Remember, social media is about conversations so try to engage your follows in conversations and be sure to respond
to any questions they might have. In the wake of General Motor’s recall disaster, CEO Mary Barra remained open and
transparent on Twitter, responding to her followers’ questions, which did wonders for her reputation.

You should be tweeting several times a week, whether you do it yourself, schedule it using a social media management
tool or have someone do it for you, and you should be answering any questions you receive or responding to direct
addresses. You might worry that you don’t have enough to say to your followers, but don’t worry. You have more at your
disposal than you know.

Following people on Twitter is a little bit different than following people on LinkedIn. With Twitter, you can use a little
more discretion about who you follow. You do not have to follow everyone who follows you. In fact, if you’re following
more than 100 new people every day, Twitter might think you are spamming the account and shut it down completely.

So when it comes to Twitter:

Do: Don’t:
Develop a style and personality Focus on selling your company

Use hashtags reasonably and with purpose
Encourage others to comment
Tweet what you read and add your comments
Respond or retweet with added commentary
Engage in personal conversations unless you use direct
messaging
Ignore any direct messages that come your way
Drink and tweet, or at least don’t get caught doing it
Be a robot

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Social media programming software

Maintaining several social media accounts can be both confusing and time consuming, which is probably why many
CEOs and business executives don’t like to both with it. This, however, is no longer a valid complaint. With new
programming software, you can manager several social media accounts at once without having to log into multiple
accounts.

You can:

• Schedule multiple posts weeks and months in advance and at all hours so
followers around the world will receive your content on their time

• Search your feed for something worthy of a retweet

• Post articles and quality content as you find it

• Reach maximum exposure by scheduling content retweets

Each social media management tool is different and offers something unique. Here are a few of our favourites to get
you thinking about which one might suit you best.

• Hootsuite: With Hootsuite, you can manage and monitor Twitter, Facebook, Google + and several other sites all at
once. Schedule content and wait for your followers to respond as you track you media engagement all in one place.

• Buffer: This management tool also allows you to stagger content throughout
the day so you’ll be sure to reach all of your followers.

• SocialOomph: In addition to monitoring all your social media accounts,

SocialOomph also lets you auto-follow any new followers you receive.

These tools and many others have both free services as well as upgraded services that require a subscription. See what
works best for you and move on from there.

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ANY LAST WORDS?

Throughout this e-book, we’ve shown you how important it is to engage with your consumers through social media,
mainly LinkedIn and Twitter, and by now, you have a pretty good idea of how to do. So before you really delve into
creating your perfect profiles, remember these lessons from the most social CEOs around.

—01 —03

Be your own content Let your personality shine

generator It’s okay to show your followers who you really are. You

If you’re blogging or crafting images with Photoshop and don’t have to be uptight about what you do or do not say.

sharing them, you are creating your own content, which Treat your followers as you would a co-worker in the same

means you always have to comb through the Internet for position as you. You wouldn’t only talk about work or

something to post. Twitter and LinkedIn can help bring the weather, would you? Of course not. Your co-workers

more attention to your content so learn how to promote probably know at least a few of your hobbies, and they

yourself across multiple channels. won’t be serious all the time. On the flip side, you would
still maintain a level of professionalism and respect so
keep your posts light and friendly. Do, however, watch
—02 your language. The majority of your followers might not be
BALANCE YOUR POSTS in your industry. If your posts are full of jargon, no one will
know how to reply.
Though you should be creating content, you can’t ignore
everything else the Internet has to offer. Your followers
will probably find you pretty boring if you are only posting
your own content. Instead, balance out the different types
of content you post and play to different interests. Share a
news story about your industry one day; pose a question
to your audience the next. Tweet a link to your company
blog or maybe post about a rival company’s blog you
actually enjoy. Comment on the latest sports game if you
like sports or mention a movie you recently enjoyed.

Hopefully by now, we’ve been able to show you some valuable benefits to social media at the executive level. Social
media helps companies and CEOs brand themselves and break down the looming facade between companies and
consumers. You can show off your industry skills to your followers, and you can even do a little damage control if your
company is having a public relations meltdown.

So what are you waiting for? On your mark, get set, tweet!

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