7 Habits of Highly Effective CEO Tweeters

HeadlineHabit #?

IntroductionAs a CEO, you know only too well that effective communications can be the difference between an engaged marketplace and an indifferent one; between an aligned employee and one heading for the door. And while in-person communication is still the most effective medium, the social media milieu presents a slew of additive and highly efficient options. Of those, Twitter may be the most accessible and easiest to use. With over 100 million people tweeting, following, and re-tweeting, it’s an eco-system unto itself and one that every CEO needs to understand if not take full advantage of.

Your Company, Your Brand, or BothEvery CEO has to first decide whether Twitter and the other social media tools apply to their business or not. It works for high value / high engagement brands like Zipcar, but maybe not so much for products like Kleenex.

Regardless of the business application, social media always makes sense for your personal brand. As a CEO, you are expected to deliver insights, ideas, and points of view that motivate and guide your employees, your customers, prospective customers, and shareholders to follow you, literally and figuratively. And while the pay-off may not be to your company’s bottom line, it will be to yours.

And now … The 7 Habits …

get into the right frame of mind. Twitter and social media are here to stay. They will not go away. And they will actually make your life more interesting and the opportunities that present themselves far greater. With that said, social media is not a panacea for all ills or some magic elixir. Think of it like e-mail. It’s just another arrow in your quiver to engage, share, comment, and create relationships. And whatever you do, don’t over-think it. Just do it.

1

Drink the Kool-Aid.Habit #1

2

Suit Up.Habit #2

HeadlineHabit #?

start by creating a twitter account. Go to http://www.twitter.com/signup/ Enter your real info and pick a username people can both remember and spell easily. You can skip the “Suggestions,” but definitely look for your “Friends.” If you use Outlook we strongly suggest exporting your contacts to a Gmail account so you can check for them in the system, but if that freaks you out just skip it. If there are specific people you’d like to add you can do so in the “Anyone” screen, but you can always do that later as well.

confirm your account. Check your e-mail for a note from Twitter, and click the link to confirm your account.

personalize your account. You wouldn’t go to a cocktail party with a bag on your head, would you? For God’s sake… Click “Settings” in the upper right, then “Profile.” Upload a picture of yourself. Nothing too formal, but a headshot you can live with. Add your location, your site or blog, and a 2- or 3-line bio. If you’d like to spruce your page up a bit, click on http://www.colourlovers.com/themeleon/twitter, then click the “login to Twitter” button, and “Authorize app” when the Authorization confirmation screen appears next.

3

We created a Twitter List of good accounts to start with. Just go to http://twitter.com/#!/miketrap/cmo-starter and click “Follow this list”.

You a Patriots fan? Have a favorite celebrity chef? NASCAR driver? Politician? Celebrity? Go to http://twitter.com/#!/who_to_follow and find some folks to follow. Odds are they’re already here, and getting a little closer to them can be cool.

4

Follow the Leaders and Your Heart.Habit #3

twitter on the web is for dorks. Seriously, dude. Download and install Tweetdeck. It’s awesome. It will help you use Twitter as a tool, and you can even feed your LinkedIn and Facebook feeds into it if you have accounts there.

5

Get Tweetdeck.Habit #4

add a few search columns in tweetdeck, to track whatever you’re interested in. Follow the people you like, un-follow the people you don’t.

6

Start Searching.Habit #5

reply to a few people, or just re-tweet them. Figure out how to reply to a tweet you like (just roll over an icon in Tweetdeck, and click the back arrow. That will create a tweet with that person’s name preceded by an “@” sign. That tweet will appear in their replies list, and they’re likely to see it). Huzzah. Re-tweeting is similar … just use the forward arrow. This sends the tweet through your account, a way of amplifying stuff you like, so it’s easy for more people to find. It’s a good thing for the community, kind of a service we do for each other. Welcome.

7

Engage.Habit #6

now you’re ready. What do you have to say? What’s the most interesting thing you came across today? What were you thinking about in the car just now? Just react to the world around you. Be sincere, be genuine. Contribute. God knows the world and every industry has lots of challenges; offer up your ideas and those of others to move the conversation along.

8

Start Tweeting!Habit #7

HeadlineHabit #?ConclusionFinally, while Twitter is like e-mail in the sense that it’s become an essential business communications tool, it’s quite different in the demands it places on you once you engage. Twitter isn’t another inbox to be kept up with … it’s more like a ticker-tape—something you can dip into occasionally, and contribute to when you can.

The real key to engaging on Twitter is getting to a place where you see the value of doing so—in concrete terms—for you. Like any new behavior that may take some time. But a growing list of CEOs who’ve made the leap are glad they did, and odds are you will be too.

9

www.ceoseries.org