As part of my Online Public Relations class, I have to write regular blog posts (for marks) in our online community. I plan to cross-post my favourite ones here and this is the first one.
Last Friday, the Globe and Mail published an article by Tavia Grant entitled “Tweets from the top: It pays to be in on the talk.” The article discusses the current trend of North American executives turning to Twitter in order to put a human face on their corporate brands.
In the article, Grant profiles CEO of ING Direct Canada Peter Aceto, who “is busy – but not so busy that he can’t find time to share bits of his life through Twitter.”
According to the article, “few Canadian CEOs have embraced the new tool like Mr. Aceto, whose daily updates range from the philosophical (“great leaders…seek out those with differing viewpoints”) to the personal (“parent teacher interviews tonite. found out my kids are not abnormal”) to the downright funny (“dressed like a banker today – yuk”).”
CEOs are supposed to be really busy people, maybe too busy to type 140 character messages all day about anything and everything. I mean, they usually work 11 to 13 hour workdays. But, apparently many CEOs think that taking that time is worth it. ExecTweets, which posts updates from top business executives on Twitter, features about 100 Tweet-happy executives. A similar website called Twitter Leaders, lists more than 300 of them.
Why do CEOs use Twitter then?
The experts featured in Grant’s article list the following reasons for CEOs to tweet:
- To build trust
- To promote values of openness and transparency
- To market the company and products (although not too strongly or frequently)
- To build communities
- To share ideas
- To get customer and client feedback
- And, ultimately, to put a human face on a large corporation
All of these aspects can help attract buyers and customers, all which are great for your business. And for your own brand. The article states that Aceto, as a result of his constant broadcasts, has been asked to speak at public engagements about his twittering.
Does it make sense?
It sounds like a good initiative. Getting your CEO to tweet is an easy and somewhat inexpensive way to make the company seem light-hearted, less rigid and made of ordinary people just like you and me. It allows customers and clients to connect to you or your company on a personal level – it brings down the traditional wall between the little customer and the corporate giant. Now, if I’m a super fan of Virgin Group Chairman Richard Branson, I can follow him and get to know what crazy things he’s doing each day, read what articles he thinks are interesting, and maybe I’ll start to understand how I can be as successful as he is (this is all hypothetical, of course).
But at the same time, there are risks. For example, it only takes one biased, negative or flaming tweet to bring down a CEO’s credibility and perhaps the company.
There’s also a fine line between sharing what’s going on in your day and looking like you don’t do anything at all. If I’m expecting you to take care of my project but you’re busy tweeting about being at the beach, then I’m not impressed.
Do you think it’s a good thing for CEOs to be on Twitter? What risks are there?
Picture credit: arincrumley