Anand Mahindra (Image credit: AFP via @daylife)
Peek inside the toolkit of a modern-day CEO or other C-level executive ? and it?s rare to find an active Twitter account. At most big companies, the microblogging site is seen as the domain of pop stars, narcissists and disgruntled customers. Unless you?re running a social media company, why tweet?
Here?s why.
Twitter is gradually taking on a second identity as a business prospecting tool. It?s uniquely good as a conversation starter with utter strangers who might one day become your customers, your business partners or your employees. People in this part of Twitter?s ecosystem are too busy to fritter away time gabbing about TV shows or tasty lattes. They come to Twitter for ideas that can help them in their careers ? and to see who else in their field is engaging enough to be worth following.
Lots of front-line managers know this. Increasingly, some top bosses do, too. Over the past month, I?ve been studying the Twitter habits of more than 100 CEOs, chairmen and other leaders worldwide. Standouts include Indian tycoons Anand Mahindra and Vijay Mallya; British entertainment kingpin Richard Branson, Canadian banker Peter Aceto and U.S. CEOs Jeff Joerres, Shannon Russo, Mark Cuban, Michael Dell and Drew Houston.
What puts these bosses ahead of their peers is a single, sly insight. They realize that you can?t start a conversation on Twitter by relentlessly hawking your products or chattering about yourself ? even if you are a CEO. Doing so is annoying. It doesn?t matter how powerful you might be. So these leaders instead start by sharing lots of good ideas and saluting other people?s interests. They are gracious to a fault.
Once these executives become known as great sharers, then everything else gets easier. Followers are willing to hear about Mahindra?s sales wins, or Dell?s new product line. The door has been opened. Promoting one?s own business goals can begin. Self-interest just needs to be surrounded with a generous,? welcoming spirit.
Getting that core principle right allows top executives to put Twitter to work in the following seven ways.
1. Share great ideas. Twitter?s millions of business users are constantly hungry for fresh perspectives on innovation, strategy, leadership and other big topics. Engaged CEOs like Kinetix?s Shannon Russo share links to blog posts, articles and white papers that catch their eye. Such tweets provide glimpses of how the boss builds his or her world view. That?s enticing to anyone who has leadership aspirations, or who wants to do business with the company in question.
2. Pay your respects. A brief, sincere tweet is a great way to salute someone else who did well. Indian beer and spirits king Vijay Mallya did just that with a tribute to the late Patrick Ricard, a French competitor, who died recently. Lots of executives lauded Olympic athletes this summer. Traveling executives share a kind word for the cities they visited. Such momentary gestures help humanize the boss to a wider circle of people ? something hard to do in CEOs? overpacked schedules.
3. Build brand awareness. Manpower CEO Jeff Joerres regularly uses Twitter to share a quick thought or two about what the latest government jobs data really means. That?s useful to corporate staffing department trying to form their own view of workforce trends. Joerres doesn?t need to push Manpower?s services in these tweets. As long as he?s part of the conversation, week after week, odds are good that when it comes time to hire, his firm will be top of mind.
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