Productivity tips

Why Your CEO Should Care About Social Media

In his new LinkedIn Learning course, Hootsuite CEO Ryan Holmes highlighted both the best-case and worst-case scenario for why CEOs should care about social media.

For the best-case scenario, Holmes cited Richard Branson and Elon Musk, two leaders who are highly active on social media and see the benefits from it. By establishing their brands across a variety of social media channels, Branson and Musk market their companies in a highly effective, efficient way, while also helping out their recruiting efforts.

For the worst-case scenario, Holmes cited a Tweet from Donald Trump in December of 2016 criticizing defense contractor Lockheed Martin. The company took 48 hours to respond and the Tweet proved costly – the subsequent market cap erosion was $4 billion.

“Nine-out-of-ten CEOs do not have an endorsement on LinkedIn around social media,” Holmes said in his course. “This is a huge miss. In the world we live in, we see that the customer journey happens more and more through social channels. And, if you’re not there and not building the DNA in your company, you stand to miss out.”

Holmes compared it to conversations companies were having in the late 90s about if they should build a website or not. Obviously, today that’s a no-brainer – all companies need a website.

Just like all CEOs need to prioritize social media, Holmes said.

“Where do your customers go?” Holmes said. “They go to social media. They to go to Twitter, they go to Facebook, they go to LinkedIn and they talk about your brand. And, if your brand is not there, your competitors are going to be there, and they’re going to be eating your lunch and stealing your business.”

Business leaders – are you looking for advice on how to effectively use social media? Watch Ryan Holmes’ LinkedIn Learning course today.

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