Alan Draper
You must have heard the story of personal branding very often by now and started perfecting your social media profiles, from Facebook, to LinkedIn, perhaps even Instagram. That is, in fact, a very good move not only for yourself, but for your company as well. You know what they say: the better the social media presence of the CEO, the better the results for their brand.
This blog post aims to highlight all the advantages that your own profile brings for your business growth. You can treat it as a reminder for being more active in social media or as a “go to” guide when you venture into this process. With no further ado, let’s see the main areas where social media activity can help both you and your brand stand out.
1. Building Trust And Credibility
People love it when there are real voices behind a brand, whether it’s a front person or a sociable CEO who takes the name of the company further. Sharing your position and bio and showing involvement on company websites matters. In fact, according to a study by the Harvard Business Review, nearly 7 out of 10 CEOs have a visible presence on company websites beyond just their name and bio, which shows that top management staff has picked up on the value of online communication. It’s important that your audience associates your face with the name of your brand so that they can see and trust the real people behind a Facebook post, for example.
2. Personal Branding
As a representative of your brand, you automatically have to manage your image across social platforms. You should keep in mind that LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and even Google+ could and should have a more business-oriented approach, as networks where you can share your company’s updates and industry news. By all means use Instagram, Pinterest or any other platform to do the same, just bear in mind that it is okay to keep them for personal updates as well. Being a socially active CEO doesn’t mean you have to restrict everything to just company updates. It’s also a good way to show what causes you support, to share personal views on current news, which ultimately results in social media success.
Take Richard Branson or Ivanka Trump, for example:
Richard Branson uses his Facebook page to share both company updates and personal thoughts, always having a blog post on leadership ready to share with his audience. He’s made his profile a worthy example of personal branding through quality content. And the cover photo is not the corporate style one could expect.
Ivanka Trump is a lot more personal with her posts, connecting her Instagram account with her Facebook page, where she promotes both her products and gives her audience a full view on her personal life. Whether it’s her staff that shares posts written in the 3rd person or Ivanka herself, it’s a good strategy for becoming an influencer in social media.
It doesn’t matter if your follower base is not the same as theirs. Good case practices like them show us that it can be done quite impeccably.
3. Employer Branding
It’s no news that human resources processes are a lot easier thanks to social media. Head hunting and job announcements in general are getting a lot more attention through social platforms. Especially when they are coming from a person and not a company page. Being someone people can trust, it is likely to get a better response rate to your job listings. A qualified future employee will definitely look into the social media presence of the company they are about to work for, and you can be sure they will also give your profile a check.
Also, this can help test candidates to see how much they know about the company and verify if they have done their research at least through social media. Not to mention the kind of confidence you will give current employees to start being active online and interact more with the brand.
What can YOU do to improve your Social Media presence?
- Update your profile if you haven’t already. Given the fact that LinkedIn was the most popular network for professionals last year, begin there. Edit your title and state the company you represent, making sure that your description includes your most important assets and accomplishments. Mention your most important skills and ask for recommendations from people you’ve worked with. Even write a post or two about a cause you support or something you truly believe in. This is a great first step in establishing yourself as an influencer and a socially active CEO. Go on with Facebook and Twitter, keeping in mind to personalize content according to each network’s target.
- Stand out as a front person for your company. Appear in promotional videos, go to offline events with media coverage, organize meetups that can have a good reach on social media. It will definitely bring traffic to your website and increase popularity and credibility.
- Share more company updates and personal views. This will attract a broader audience and interacting with it will also connect your business, indirectly. People will know who you represent and will see this as a transparent action.
- Connect, ask and reply. Being online just for the sake of being online will not drive business results as expected, or at all.
- Don’t be afraid to get personal. Use Instagram and even Pinterest for yourself if you’re a fan. They’re not just for celebrities and bloggers anymore. General Electric and Dropbox have Instagram accounts, and it wouldn’t be a bad thing to test it out for yourself and your brand either.
Make the most out of your social media profiles and you will see the effect it will have in growing your business.
We hope this article helped. What else would you like to know about social media in B2B? Let us know in a comment bellow!
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Alan Draper.
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Great article, Simina. A CEO’s social media presence can be incredibly useful in instilling trust between company and consumer. Putting a real name and face behind a brand can simultaneously put a customer at ease by making the whole experience more personal. There are so many different social media platforms that can be beneficial, so don’t limit yourself. Check out the blog at http://blog.prosemedia.com for more tips on how you and your company can most effectively use social media.