Social media are one of the best ways for CEOs to stay connected and relevant in today’s competitive marketplace.
However, this does not seem to be sinking in for C-Suiters. According to a recent survey, only 30% of Fortune 500 CEOs are using social media to engage and interact.
Below, we highlight 3 studies and a host of stats that will convince your CEO to actively participate on social media.
1. An infograhphic from Go-Gulf reveals:
• 81% of employees believe that CEO’s who engage on social media are better equipped to
lead.
• 82% of consumers are more likely to trust a company whose CEO and leadership team engage on social media.
• 77% of consumers are more likely to buy from a company whose CEO and leadership team engage on social media.
• 78% of professionals would prefer to work for a company whose leadership team is active on social media.
2. A study by Weber Shandwick, The Social CEO: Executives Tell All, found that:
• 43% of executives in companies with socially active CEOs labeled their leader as inspiring, compared to only 26% of executives in firms where the CEO was not using social media.
• 61% of executives in companies with a social media active CEO believed that their CEO’s social media activity enabled their company’s leader to be more effective in managing a crisis.
Respondents of the survey also listed other benefits of having a CEO with an active social media presence:
- 76% said having a CEO who is active on social media projected an image of the company as innovative.
- 75% stated that a CEO’s presence on social media gave the company a human face or personality.
- 75% said a CEO with a presence on social media bolstered internal communications with employees
- 75% said social media activity was a good way for a CEO to build rapport with the news media.
- 70% reported that a CEO’s active participation on social media had a positive impact on business results.
- 64% of those surveyed claimed that their CEO’s use of social media helped find and attract new customers.
3. The Social Media and Leadership Survey by BrandFog also contained interesting findings, among them:
• 80.6% of respondents said that social media were an important communication channel for CEOs to engage with customers and investors.
• 83.9% of those surveyed said that CEO social media engagement was an effective tool to increase brand loyalty.
If your CEO is not active on social media now might be the time for her/him to get in the game. Hopefully some of these stats will help you make your case.