Joe Pulizzi wrote a blog post about the myths of CEOs not using social media. A lot of CEOs in small businesses and entrepreneurial companies use these myths as rationalizations and justification for why they shouldn’t get involved in social because their peers are not involved.
If you believe that to be to true, then prepare to be trailing everyone else in your marketplace. The very best companies are beginning to move up the learning curve of leveraging social media – and it starts at the top of the pyramid. If the CEO is not engaged, why should anyone else care?
Joe made the following comment in his blog article:
Myth #1: My clients don’t consume online content
We hear this all the time. Some senior marketers say that they target CEOs, who don’t use search engines or social media. Recent Google research tells us that the average consumer engages in over 10 sources of information before making a buying decision. Also, according to research from Doremus and the Financial Times, over 60 percent of senior executives read blogs, watch online video, view webcasts, and use professional networking sites like LinkedIn.
We’re seeing examples multiply daily of CEOs using LinkedIn, Google Plus, Twitter, and Facebook – not only to engage with their peers, but also with customers, vendors, suppliers, and channel partners.
Numerous case studies indicate that social media is NOT a passing Fad. It’s here to stay. These case studies, research projects, polls, whitepapers, and practical examples extend across every imaginable industry segment and include applications for customer service, retention, hiring and recruiting, lead generation and nurturing, marketing, PR, branding, and employee engagement to name a few.
I tell my high school girl’s basketball team that we never want to be in a position of chasing the other team, following their lead, or scrambling after someone else. We want to be the group that makes everyone chase after us.
Where would you like to be positioned on the court of competition? Leading by example or chasing the best companies?
After having just responded to a member request on the Vistage Village for examples of where companies are implementing social media, I realized that there is an enormous gap between what big-mid companies are doing and what small businesses and entrepreneurial companies are not doing. Stay tuned for this blog article in the next week or two.
If you would like to read the full article, please click the link below:
Selling the C-Level: 7 Marketing Myths Debunked
Barry Deutsch
