Key learning from my IoD Social Media Strategy for Directors workshops

1. 10 social media tips
for directors
Martin Thomas
@crowdsurfing
December 2014

2. Introduction
So you’ve decided to become a public face for your organisation on social media. Many senior directors are
reluctant to take this step, either because they don’t see the value or are wary of the risks associated with
using social media. However, there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that (with the right skills,
strategy and support systems) your use of social media can provide a significant reputational and commercial
benefit to your organisation. Deployed smartly it can help enhance overall perceptions and open up valuable
new communications channels with customers, stakeholders and employees.
Tracking and observing conversations on social media will also give you an unrivalled insight into the interests,
views and concerns of your customers: real people talking about real things in real situations and in real time.
According to McKinsey’s Martin Harrysson and Estelle Métayer, directors monitoring social media are able to
“Figure out what customers want and spot looming industry and market disruptions before their competitors
do” and they go on to suggests that ‘”Executives who are curious and attuned to the themes emerging from
social media are more likely to spot insights.”
The following guidelines build on our experience of running numerous social media training workshops for
senior directors and working with leading organisations on the development of their social media programmes.
They are not exhaustive - social media continues to change as does our understanding of what constitutes
best practice - but we hope that they will help you survive and thrive in this new world.
* McKinsey Quarterly, The strength of weak signals (February 2014)
Did you know? 71% of UK employees agree that a CEO’s engagement in social media helps shape the
corporate brand reputation and 61% agree that a company who’s c-suite executives use social media to
openly communicate the company’s mission, values and purpose is more trustworthy.” Brandfog, April 2014

3. 10 social media tips for senior
directors
Rules don’t tend to work when it comes to social media. Success or failure is often determined by the ability to
exercise judgement and to deal with the unexpected. However, our work with many leading organisations and
conversations with numerous business leaders suggest that there are ten guiding principles worth adopting if
you want to survive and thrive in the world of social media:
1. Think strategically
2. Develop a support system
3. Mitigate risk
4. Don’t be afraid to reveal the true you
5. Become visually literate
6. Grow a thicker skin
7. Be interesting and interested
8. Mobilise your network
9. Analyse and learn
10. Use the opportunity to drive change
Did you know? “80% of business leaders think it important to make the most of social media but 70% admit
that their efforts are currently ineffective.” Chartered Management Institute, February 2014

4. 1. Think strategically
It is essential to ensure that all social media activity is aligned against your organisational priorities and
planned from a strategic perspective, rather than as a series of tactical initiatives. You need to ask yourself
some important questions:
 How does my use of social media support our organisational priorities? Whether your senior team is
focused on recruiting new customers, enhancing the corporate reputation, identifying the best talent,
sustaining internal morale or engaging the most important influencers in your sector, social media can
play an important, strategic role.
 What will be a successful outcome and how will I measure this success?
 Could this be achieved more cost effectively through the use of other channels?
 Is this a good use of my time?
You should also discuss your objectives and strategic approach with your marketing communications team to
ensure that your activities complement those of the rest of the organisation and other colleagues. In order to
be effective, everyone involved in the organisation’s use of social media – whether they are creating,
monitoring, analysing or responding to content - needs to have a clear role within an overarching
communications strategy.
Did you know? “The board has a responsibility for ensuring a corporate strategy is developed, that risk
management processes are in place and that a crisis communication plan exists. Each must take account of
social media.” Anthony Goodman, Tapestry Networks, Financial Times Oct 2013

5. 2. Develop a support system
‘How can I find the time to engage in social media activity?’ is probably the most frequently asked question in
the workshops that we run. The simple answer is that there is never enough time and it is simply a question of
deciding where social media ranks alongside your other executive responsibilities.
The best way to maximise the value of the time you spend is by putting together an appropriate support
system to help manage the workload. This is especially important if you are likely to receive a large number of
direct complaints or comments from customers. One of the things that dissuades some senior directors from
using social media is that they will inevitably become an alternative channel for customer service issues.
Some might argue that this isn’t a bad thing: it can be useful to know when your customers are experiencing
product or service problems, but without the appropriate support systems it could soak up a great deal of your
time.
The solution is partly about having the right tools and technology– for example, using a social media
dashboard such as Hootsuite will make it easier for you to manage your news feed and conversations – but
mainly about having the right people to support you. Some of the most high profile business leaders rely on
colleagues to help them manage their news feeds and deal with the majority of posts and comments.
Generally speaking, people simply want a problem solved or a question answered and don’t care whether it is
the CEO handling their enquiry in person: they just want someone to listen to them and to respond quickly and
appropriately.
Did you know? 31%of UK adults (and 40% of 16-24 year olds) will use social media to complain about poor
customer service (New Voice Media, June 2013)

6. 3. Mitigate risk
No publically-facing communication is without its risks, but social media is widely perceived by many senior
managers as particularly risky. A recent article in The Economist described how “Thanks to the digital
revolution, chief executives now live in glass houses. An ill-judged remark can be broadcast to the world in an
instant.” That said, you only have to think of Gerald Ratner’s infamous speech to the Institute of Director’s
conference in 1991 – in which he described some of his own jewellery products as ‘total crap’ – to appreciate
that chief executives have always been subject to criticism for their ‘ill-judged’ remarks.
Using social media channels need not be any riskier than any other form of communication, so long as you
adhere to some simple mitigation steps:
 Are you abiding by the regulatory codes and constraints of the industry in which you operate? If you
aren’t sure, check with you colleagues in legal or compliance before you start.
 Have you and the people supporting you been properly trained?
 Think before you press ‘send’ on that tweet or post, ‘how is this likely to be perceived by my boardroom
colleagues’ and also the people who work at every level of my organisation?’
 Consider your state of mind before communicating. Are you angry, frustrated or in high spirits
(figuratively and literally) and is your mood likely to encourage you to say things that you wouldn’t say in
the boardroom?
 Is this an area in which you have acknowledged expertise - which will give your opinions both credibility
and legitimacy – or are you straying into areas in which your expertise and knowledge is limited?
 Is there a clear escalation procedure within your organisation in the (hopefully unlikely) event that a
significant issue or potential reputational crisis emerges within you social media platforms?
Did you know? ‘Mitigating social media risks is not all about the technology. You can put in as many firewalls
as you like, but people still need to be knowledgeable about risks and understand their role in mitigating them.”
Accenture, A Comprehensive Approach to Managing Social Media Risk and Compliance

7. 4. Don’t be afraid to reveal the true you
One of the main reasons you are using social media in the first place is to give a human face to your
organisation. It is therefore nonsensical to hide behind a corporate mask. Let your real personality and
interests out into the open and try to use the same informal language that you would use in conversations with
friends and family. Few things in social media grate more than the use of corporate or ‘press release’ speak
It is perfectly acceptable to showcase your hobbies and interests outside the workplace: in fact people will be
interested in your ‘other’ life. You may not want to go as far as Sir Richard Branson, who in his advice to
entrepreneurs talks about how: “Among my posts and tweets you'll find lots of funny tales, cheeky questions
and the odd photo of me making a fool of myself,’ but this doesn’t mean that you can’t be natural, human and
authentic.
We are often asked by directors whether it is acceptable to have their social media content – especially time-consuming
items such as blog posts – written by other people. Given the fact that authenticity is widely
accepted as one of the most important traits of people in leadership positions, it doesn’t feel particularly
authentic to use a ‘ghost writer.’ Your customers, stakeholders and employees would always prefer to know
that they are reading your own thoughts and opinions – even allowing for the odd grammatical error - rather
than the polished pronouncements from your corporate communications consultants.
Did you know? ‘To thrive in the world of social media, leaders need to acquire a mind-set of openness and
imperfection and they must have the courage to appear raw and unpolished.’
Roland Deiser and Sylvain Newton, Six Social Media Skills Every Leader Needs. McKinsey Quarterly

8. 5. Become visually literate
We live in a visual world in which every picture is worth 140 characters if not a thousand words. It is therefore
hardly surprising that Tweets or posts featuring photographs, images or links to visual content (films, videos,
infographics) are far more likely to be shared than text-based messages. This can be something of a
challenge for many of us brought up in a pre-digital, text-based world, in which our writing skills are far more
honed than our visual ones.
The camera phone has turned all of us into professional photographers, even chief executives. Anything that
grabs your attention and can be captured in a photograph – company events, new products, interesting
graphics, people you admire – has the potential to interest your followers and grow your following.
Business leaders are also starting to embrace the new generation of visually-focused social media platforms,
such as Instagram and Pinterest. This is Management Today’s summary of the CEOs worth following on
Instagram: http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/news/1296707/ . Not surprisingly the early adopters have
tended to operate in the new economy or design/creative industries, but the use of image-based content
through all social media channels will only increase.
Did you know? Tweets with images deliver on average twice the level of engagement as tweets without
images (Simply Measured, June 2014);

9. 6. Grow a thicker skin
Senior management teams can be remarkably thin-skinned when confronted by online criticism of their
organisations. All too often they only want to use social media on their own terms – a monologue with
uncritical and largely passive supporters – rather than as a means of engaging with all stakeholders, including
their critics. In a post digital world - in which everyone has an opinion, deference to authority or establishment
figures is virtually non-existent and a single, angry customer has the potential to voice their complaints to
millions of other people – this is dangerously myopic.
Smart leaders embrace criticism as a positive force for improving the quality of their business and see a value
in engaging their critics in a positive debate.
By all means stand up for yourself and your business if the criticism is unfair or inaccurate, but don’t get into
an argument. Take criticism on the chin, accept other people’s point of view – although you are well within
your rights to refuse to deal with people using offensive language – and thank them for their feedback. Don’t
forget that any arguments on social media are being fought-out in the public gaze, so keep calm and try to
avoid inflammatory or patronising language. When in doubt, take the advice of the customer service experts
within your organisation who will have had years of experience of dealing with all types of situation.
Did you know? Acts of humility, such as ‘learning from criticism and admitting mistakes’ have been identified
as one of the most important traits of the best leaders, according to a recent study
(Catalyst Research published in HBR, May 2014)

10. 7. Be interesting and interested
The size and quality of your following is largely a product of the perceived value, interest or usefulness of the
content that you share. Some people are followed simply because of their status or fame – dare we suggest
that Lord Sugar’s 3.7m Twitter following owes more to the Apprentice than the quality of his Tweets - but most
of us have to build a following the hard way: through the quality of our original content and by signposting or
curating other people’s content. Finding the time to create original content or come up with a 140 character
aphorism can be challenging, which is why many successful users of social media rely heavily on curating
other people’s content.
Social media is primarily a conversational medium: a two way exchange of ideas. This can be something of a
challenge for individuals used to operating through a monologue. To thrive you need to be genuinely
interested in other people’s ideas. In a way it reinforces the old adage that the best way to be considered
interesting – whether at a dinner party or in a business situation - is to be interested in other people. The
world of social media is definitely not without its egotistical element, but the smart senior manager will retain a
degree of humility and value the importance of listening.
You need to ask yourself some simple questions:
 How am I adding to the conversation?
 Am I building-on, reinforcing or amplifying other people’s thoughts and ideas by responding to their
tweets and posts or contributing to LinkedIn Groups?
 Am I encouraging feedback and debate? This is an easy thing to measure: how many of your posts and
tweets generate comments, especially from people outside your immediate network?
Did you know? When I comes to the balance of creation and curation, the advice from Jeff Jarvis, one of
the leading commentators on the digital economy, is ‘Do what you do best and link to the rest.’

11. 8. Mobilise your network
Growing your social media following and influence is primarily a marketing challenge, in which you are the
product.
Organisational leaders are almost by definition well connected people. You will have an extensive network of
colleagues, contacts and associates, both on social media and in the real world. If you want to build critical
mass on social media it makes sense to mobilise this network to both follow you and spread the word about
your content.
Wherever possible you should promote your Twitter ‘handle’ at events, and conferences and on your business
card as one of the primary ways to connect with you.
Did you know? 5,000 followers is widely regarded as the threshold for being considered as an influential
person on Twitter

12. 9. Analyse and learn
Everything you do in social media is measurable and even the most experienced social media users find that
they benefit from self analysis and self appraisal. For example, using simple and free tools such as
https://analytics.twitter.com/ will help you establish what Tweets attracted the most views and retweets.
Questions you should ask yourself include: what type of content appears to be most effective? Is there a
particular time of day or week that appears to be most effective? What activity was most successful at
engaging key influencers within your sector?
This is a typical four-stage model for measuring social media activity:
Reach Engagement Advocacy Action
Followers, fans,
views, subscribers
Likes, Downloads
Dwell-time
Shares, Retweets Clicks, Web visits
Purchases
This tells you that
you have an
audience for what
you are producing
This tells you
whether content you
are sending out is
relevant
This tells you
whether content you
are sending out is
valued/ useful
This tells you
whether your
content has driven
people to the
company website &
led directly to online
sales
Did you know? ‘If it isn’t worth sharing it isn’t any good.’ A typical response from a 20-something member of a
recent focus group.

13. 10. Use the opportunity to drive change
Some of the smarter business leaders have started to recognise the role for social media as a positive driver
of organisational change. Put simply, embracing social media can make your business better. McKinsey has
described the effect as giving the organisation “a new type of competitive advantage.”
The challenge facing organisations seeking to embrace social media is not technological but cultural. Social
media dramatizes the weaknesses that impede the performance of most organisations: excessive
bureaucracy, tortuously slow approval processes, un-collaborative silos and a lack of trust in frontline
employees. Above all there is a mismatch between the pace of most organisations’ internal operations and
communications outputs and the immediacy demanded by social media. Real time meets institutional time
and the effect can be pretty disruptive.
Conversely, the organisational and cultural traits of organisations thriving in the age of social media happen to
be the same, simple behaviours that underpin the performance of the most successful businesses: trust,
openness, agility, informality and collaboration. Equally, leadership experts Roland Deiser and Sylvain
Newton, have described how ‘The dynamics of social media amplify the need for qualities that have long been
a staple of effective leadership, such as strategic creativity, authentic communication, and the ability to deal
with a corporation’s social and political dynamics and to design an agile and responsive organisation.’
(Six Social Media Skills Every Leader Needs: McKinsey Quarterly, February 13).
Good businesses and good leaders rarely have problems embracing social media and successful social media
users are invariably good businesses. Get the organisation and culture right and the tweets will look after
themselves.
Did you know? 70% of business professionals believe social business is an opportunity to change the way
their organisation works. MIT Sloan & Deloitte. July 2013