Singapore's CEOs largely ignore benefits of becoming more 'social'

Singapore

WHILE recent research tells us that "social" CEOs are still relatively rare - with just 32 per cent of Fortune500 CEOs being active on some form of social media, and just 8 per cent using Twitter - it is clear that the use of social media by CEOs is growing.

Data from CEO.com and DOMO shows the number of Fortune500 CEO Tweeters has increased 46 per cent over the past year. However, this doesn't seem to be the case here in Singapore, where there is just one CEO of a Straits Times Index company on Twitter, and even that account is rarely used. But is this a bad thing?

In a country where its citizens are among the most active social media users in the world, are CEOs in Singapore missing a great opportunity to communicate with their target audience or are they being rightly conservative in a world where executives are increasingly accountable for corporate and personal disclosure and placed under greater scrutiny once they rise above the virtual parapet?

Research has shown that a CEO's reputation is more important than a company's products and services. While this may not be the case in all situations, it is clear that a CEO's reputation and profile directly impact a company's enterprise value. Beyond their organisational leadership role, CEOs are increasingly expected to be visionaries in their field, experts on public policy issues impacting their sectors and opinion leaders on macro social and economic issues. In fact, research conducted by FTI Consulting indicates that 85 per cent of investors think CEOs should be actively engaged on policy matters.

FTI Consulting research also shows that CEOs active on social media platforms are more likely to be viewed positively and trusted by stakeholders, and are seen to be more effective leaders as a result of being better connected with stakeholders ranging from employees to investors.

Social media engagement by executives is also seen as a signal of commitment to transparency, and can help a company appear more honest and trustworthy. Even though still only a relatively small proportion of Fortune500 CEOs are active on social media, those who are, are generally leaders of companies that enjoy a higher reputational status.

There are, of course, many rules, warnings and potential pitfalls that are seen as valid barriers to CEOs getting social. A CEO who is active on Twitter needs to be interesting, authentic and seen to be providing valuable insight while avoiding sounding self-centred and using corporate jargon. At the same time, engagement needs to be an extension of traditional communication strategies, and there will be pressure from PR teams to keep CEOs "on message" - which in itself can take away from the power of personal executive tweets and the extent to which they are viewed as being genuine and unfiltered.

We have seen many examples where CEOs have fallen afoul of these unwritten rules. But rather than using this as an excuse, CEOs and their PR teams should instead learn from these mistakes by setting clear guidelines and objectives and working together to build an executive voice on social media platforms.

The writer is a senior director at FTI Consulting