In 2016, a great deal of our work involved supporting organisations with their use of social media. We wanted to understand how leaders were using social media in their day-to-day work and undertook a series of interviews with a range of leaders from different organisations to support the release of our third book on the subject.
Introduction
Social media presents leaders with a whole new opportunity. To engage with customers and employees alike, to create a personal brand, to lead authentically and openly. To share and collaborate in a different way. To role model the digital skills that all organisations need now and tomorrow.
It is still a rare thing to see leaders using social media really well. There are some excellent examples but they are few and far between. Previous research into Fortune 500 CEO’s found that whilst most of them could be found on LinkedIn, they weren’t exactly active. Those that had managed to find their way to other platforms like Twitter still weren’t really all that social.
The third book in our “Putting Social Media to Work” series was written specifically for social leaders. But we wanted to go further than just writing the book. We wanted to ask leaders what social means to them, and how they have used it as part of their leadership role.
We persuaded leaders from a range of industries and organisations to talk to us about social media.
Tom Riordan
First up was Tom Riordan. Tom is CEO of Leeds City Council, and an active Tweeter – he has even got himself a coveted blue tick. He uses Twitter to share news about the Council, its work and its people. He engages with followers and isn’t afraid to bring his whole self to Twitter, including pictures of his family, and a bio that tells you about him as a person, not just a CEO.
This is what Tom had to say about leading socially….
What is your social media platform of choice and why?
Twitter is my platform of choice. I was quite an early adopter because I like its mix of brevity, openness, wide reach, content and security (i.e. unacceptable behaviour can be blocked).
How do you believe that your use of social media has benefited you in your leadership role?
It’s allowed me a direct communication route to the outside world from a big organisation and to “walk the talk” of one of our main values of openness and honesty. I’ve tried to give more of a human face to a CEO role often seen as distant and protected, and to champion Leeds, public services and local government.
How engaged do you find the rest of your organisation with social media?
Increasingly. Social media has become much more central to people’s lives over the last five years, and in that time the organisation has engaged with it more and more. There are some great role models within the council, such as Phil Jewitt an excellent social media user who recently won a lifetime achievement unconference award. Many of our councillors now use social media widely now, which also helps.
What, if any, downsides do you see to being a leader on social media – and what do you do to avoid them?
99 percent of people are great to engage with on social media. You have to take care at times not to be provoked by the 1 percent who, often anonymously, just want to cause trouble. Never tweet when you’re angry is not a bad rule of thumb.
How have you used social media to connect with customers/service users/key stakeholders?
I’ve used it to get more direct messages out to a wider audience about what the council does, especially those front-line workers who make the city tick. Twitter has allowed me to contact a wide range of innovators both in the city and across the world and led directly to inward investment, new approaches on open data and great new ideas from people within and outside Leeds. I also get a pretty good idea of what people think about the council and the city!
What advice would you give to other leaders who want to use social media?
Don’t see it as a panacea but do treat it as a vital communication and engagement mechanism. Only do what you’re comfortable with and what suits your own personal style. Make sure your priority is enhancing the city or organisation, not your personal image or standing, because you’re almost bound to trip up if you think it’s all about you.
Peter Cheese
Next up was Peter Cheese, Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Peter is recognised as a leading consultant, speaker and writer in the field of human capital and organisation, having worked with many organisations, practitioners and thought leaders in this field. He was voted as the UKs most influential thinker in HR for 2013 by HR Magazine. He is also a Non-Executive Director at BPP University and sits on the Advisory Board of the Open University Business School. Prior to joining the CIPD, Peter was Global Managing Director of Accenture’s Talent and Organisation Performance consulting practice.
We say he is also a great example of social leadership. He uses Twitter to engage with the people that work with him and who are members of the organisation he leads. He shares content not only from the CIPD but other relevant sources (one of our key recommendations on being social!) and isn’t afraid to engage in a bit of social recognition. You can find Peter on Twitter as @Cheese_Peter.
Rebecca Jeffery
Next, we spoke to Rebecca Jeffery. She is perhaps best known for being a contestant on the 2016 series of BBC TV’s The Apprentice. When she isn’t hanging out with Alan Sugar, she runs a design and marketing business with her sister. Fi and Becs Design and Marketing provide branding, design and copywriting for businesses of all sizes, and Rebecca credits social media as being a big driver for them in terms of business growth and connecting with customers.
Watch Rebecca talking about using social for her business:
Phil Jones MBE
Phil Jones MBE is from ICT services provider Brother (www.brother.co.uk). As well as being their MD, he is also a NED and President of Greater Manchester Community Foundation – Forever Manchester. Named on the Power 100 for Insider North West Magazine, a Top 100 Thinker by Britain Means Business and a Top 100 figure in the Manufacturing industry, under his leadership Brother have been named a Times Top 100 Place to Work as well as an Investors in People ‘Platinum’ employer in 2016.
If all that wasn’t impressive enough, Phil is a former winner of Institute of Directors ‘Manchester Director of the Year’ and ‘North West Director of the Year in 2011’ and in June 2016 he was awarded an MBE for Services to Business. He has been on Twitter since 2008, which makes him an early adopter. You can find him there as @PhilJones40. He blogs at www.philjones.biz and you can find out more about him at https://branded.me/philjones.
This is what Phil had to say about leading socially….
What are your social media platforms of choice and why?
I use Twitter primarily for status updates and tips and keeping track of the network of people I know, Linkedin for longer form writing and blogging as the automated sharing and notifications make distribution very efficient. Facebook I keep strictly for friends and family.
How do you believe that your use of social media has benefited you in your leadership role?
In many ways.
- It allows anyone wanting to join the business to get an immediate sense of our culture and my own personality which is becoming increasing important when people are selecting where they want to work.
- It gives a platform to regularly communicate to customers and partners at all level of our supply chain to let them know what we’re doing in a more personal way that they may see in the press.
- It puts you right in the epicentre of understanding the latest trends, technology and key issues.
- It means opportunity reaches me more quickly than many of our competitors.
How engaged do you find the rest of your organisation with social media?
Personally I think the bulk of people are engaged with social media in terms of their personal lives, using Facebook. At least half the company uses Twitter and nearly everyone is on LinkedIn. The tone very much gets set at the top when it comes to giving permission to people to be brand ambassadors via building their own social profiles, not everyone wants it or is comfortable with it. I’m personally engaged and encourage others.
What, if any, downsides do you see to being a leader on social media – and what do you do to avoid them?
There aren’t many, occasionally you find people expect instant responses from you, it’s the nature of the platform so meeting that expectation isn’t always easy. When you’re giving attention to other things – meetings, conversations or planning – then it’s not practical to do that as you’re focused elsewhere. There may also be times when individuals want to debate a point to the ‘nth degree and that’s not always practical so good to have a think before you post particular things. I tend to avoid politics for example as it can often divide.
How have you used social media to connect with customers/service users/key stakeholders?
Absolutely. I often refer to myself as the ‘COE’ of the company ‘Chief Opportunity Engineer’ whose job it is to assist with opening doors for our sales team with senior decision makers. Using Twitter and Linkedin as part of that process is key. It’s an excellent application to keep relationships warm.
What advice would you give to other leaders who want to use social media?
- Choose the appropriate platform and get started. Spend your early days understanding how it all works. Devote 15 minutes a day to the platform.
- Do It Yourself. Some outsource their social profile to an agency which I’m personally not in favour of. Keep it real, keep it you.
- Specialise. Pick the genres of things you want to be seen as a specialist in and focus on distributing content in those topic area. For me it’s all about quality more than quantity in terms of content and followers. I focus on Leadership, Quality thinking and tips for success.
- Use tools to filter out noise. I use Hootsuite which allows me to filter people into certain themes or topics meaning you can save time if wanting to keep track of particular people or specific topics like Leadership or Innovation.
- It’s not all about the business. Show some of your own personality, share some of your own thoughts or perspectives. Keeping a good balance of who you are relevant to the business you run works.
Jo Swinson
We were over the moon to speak to Jo Swinson after the 2015 election when she lost her seat, before she was re-elected to Parliament and subsequently became Leader of the Liberal Democrats. A Member of Parliament for over a decade, Jo was both Minster for Women and Equalities, and latterly Minster for Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs. On leaving Parliament, Jo founded Equal Power Consulting in order to help businesses identify and deliver organisational change to enable their people to thrive, whether they are women or men. You can find Jo on Twitter as @joswinson.
Asif Choudry
Then it was the turn of Asif Choudry. Asif is the Sales and Marketing Director of marketing/communications company Resource. As well as being a prolific tweeter, Asif is the brains behind Comms Hero– a series of events for communications professionals that brings together real life events and social media sharing in an awesome way – and also Desk Buddy. If you don’t follow Asif on Twitter, you really should.
Here is what Asif had to say when we asked him for his take on social leadership.
Simon Blake OBE
Our final social leader in this series was Simon Blake OBE. At the time of our interview, Simon was the Chief Executive at the National Union of Students which exists to advise and support students’ unions to represent the voices of seven million students across the UK.
Simon is also a Trustee of Stonewall and former Chief Executive of the young people’s sexual health charity Brook. Simon is very active on Twitter both personally and on behalf of his various roles. Here are Simon’s thoughts on being a social leader…
Conclusions
When it comes to social media, we typically offer a three-step piece of straightforward advice:
Be you, dive in, share stuff.
We believe that you get the most out of social media when you get involved with the conversation. It is a place to be authentic – showing up as yourself, not an auto-generated post. It’s about sharing your ideas and knowledge, about adding to the dialogue, and also disseminating information with the people that follow you for the greater good.
When it comes to the leaders we talked too, there are some common themes. Here’s a summary of what they told us.
First of all, social leaders show their personality. As Simon Blake said, using social media makes you human. It’s not just about professional posts or corporate messages, but sharing a bit of family and personal too. Social leaders understand that you don’t have to always have to wear that leadership face.
Social leaders understand how to fit it in – and they do it. When we talk to people about using social media, time is often one of the biggest barriers they put up. People think it’s going to take up too much of it. But it just doesn’t have to. Social media is about filling in the minutes. Gemma and I are breakfast tweeters, often found on social media alongside tea and toast. Peter Cheese checks Twitter in taxis or train journeys. It’s about making the time – and those leaders who see the benefits do just that. And, as Asif Choudry said…. JFDI.
Social leaders value the direct connections. Whether it is connecting with customers, members or constituents, they listen, engage and respond. Tom Riordan, Chief Executive of Leeds City Council said that Twitter gives him a direct communication route to the outside world. They recognise the benefits of the immediacy and speed of information.
Social leaders pick their platforms. They understand that different social spaces provide different results and opportunities. They know that you can’t do them all. So they find the one that works for them best. As Rebecca Jefferysaid – pick the platform that suits your personality!
Social leaders don’t worry too much about the potential negatives. There can be downsides to social media use. You will find the occasional troll. You will always find someone who disagrees with you and isn’t afraid to say so. There can be harassment or bullying, or even people stealing examples of your work. But our leaders recognised that the good stuff of social media outweighs the bad.
Social leaders use social media as learning for themselves. Social media can be a valuable learning tool. The concept of the personal learning network has gained interest of late. The idea that your social connections can be a valuable source of information and knowledge. It can also be a way of keeping up to date with trends, technology and opportunities. As Phil Jones , MD of Brother said… it puts you at the epicentre of understanding.
Interestingly, Twitter is the most used platform. All of our leaders are using it, one way or another. We love Jo Swinson’sdescription of why she loves Twitter: ‘its immediacy, for the brevity… and also the curation of randomness that you can put together in your stream’.
Social leaders do it for themselves. None of the people we spoke to outsources their own voice to anyone one else. As Asif said… if you can’t be bothered posting your own content, don’t do it at all.
We’d like to say a huge thanks to all of the leaders who took the time to share their thoughts, views and insights on how they use social media. We really hope this has been and will continue to be a useful resource for aspiring social leaders in every sector.
Before we began this series we believed one thing: that social media presents an opportunity for leaders. An opportunity to engage with customers and employees alike, to create a personal brand, to lead authentically and openly. To share and collaborate in a different way. To role model the digital skills that all organisations need now and tomorrow.
It is still a rare thing to see leaders using social media really well. There are some excellent examples but they are few and far between. Previous research into Fortune 500 CEO’s found that whilst most of them could be found on LinkedIn, they weren’t exactly active. Those that had managed to find their way to other platforms like Twitter still weren’t really all that social. This is why we wrote our practical guide for social media for leaders. To encourage them to get more social for the benefit of them, and their organisations.
The time for social leadership is now.