128: Does it Really Matter if Your CEO is Active on Social Media? Guest Michelle Garrett Has The Answer

As a communicator, you're likely familiar with the online space. You create, curate and communicate on social media with ease. Well, somewhat. But are you working for leadership? Someone who may not share your comfort level? Actually, they'd rather leave it altogether. Welcome to the Confident Communications Podcast where we help communicators create the right response at the right time and deliver it in the right place. In this episode, how to get your organization and your CEO on board with online as many come to recognize that online media is an important part of any business plan or communication plan, the role of the CEO is no longer about business only. There is a real push for turning to public relations to help boost the visibility and credibility of not only the business, but but of the CEO. Today's guest knows that PR is one of the best ways to get a name out there and to build thought leadership. So if you work for a company, one of the many companies considering media outreach as part of your digital marketing or PR strategy, you can do some of the work ahead of time to increase the odds of your success by putting your CEO in the mix. In the online mix, you'll find my guest, Michelle Garrett, at the intersection of pr, content marketing and social media as a public relations consultant, content creator, blogger, speaker and award winning writer. Michelle's articles and advice have been featured in places such as Forbes, Muckrack, Reagan's PR Daily, Meltwater, and others, including this piece that I happen to spot published in Entrepreneur titled Want to Do a Public Relations Push? Focus on Social Media first. Here's why Twitter and LinkedIn are popular outlets for executives. Want to learn more? Take a listen. Michelle, I'm so happy to have you on the podcast. I've been dying to have you on as a full guest.

Thank you so much for having me, Molly. This is fun.

Well, you appeared on a compilation episode that I did right after the COVID 19 outbreak where I asked for a number of public relations professionals to give your advice and you were one of the first ones to jump in. And your advice was so good. And so when I saw, I was, I saw an entrepreneur that you had written an article about leadership and CEOs using social media and I said, oh, I found my next podcast guest. So Michelle, first of all, tell us about your business right now. What do you specialize in?

Well, I really, of course lean into the, the, the media relations, the writing, the social media because I feel like those three things together can really help clients, you know, make a lot of headway, build bot leadership, manage their reputation, kind of hopefully stay out ahead of any potential, you know, CR may arise. And if you have a good solid footing and, and something does crop up, at least you have something already there to kind of build on or, or fall on or, you know, lean on or however you want to say that. So, so that's primarily what it is.

And you are not just your run of the mill PR professional. You have been named a top digital PR leader in 2020 and your blog was on the list. Must read public relation blogs. You're. You're so heady, Michelle. You're so popular.

Well, you know, it's. I've been doing this so long that I feel, I feel like, you know, it ought to, it ought to be, hopefully it's benefiting, you know, other people when I share, you know, some things that I've learned along the way and I'm still learning. So, you know.

Well, we all, you know, we all are. But where you and I connected initially was on Twitter. That's what I, that's where I found you. And I think I can say this with authority because I think you'd agree with me. When you create community on Twitter, especially in pr, it's that mutual beneficial community that you find in this just kind of PR group. And I learn every day from people like you. Wouldn't you agree that. That Twitter and social media is helpful for that, for mining new information?

I think it's extremely helpful. I think, you know, I probably got started on it for those reasons and I think it's truer than ever. And now I think it's even, it's just, I mean, especially over the past year, I think it's been a way for people to remain connected. And if you are already there with the presence, I think it was, it was very beneficial in a number of ways because I think just from a sanity perspective, even, you know, in addition to staying on top of trends and things, I think it's just, it's been a real help to me.

So, and to me as, as well. So you talk about the focus on social media and that's what I just dropped, my Minnesota focus. I, that is the one word I have never let go of my Minnesota roots. I always say focus. So I saw your article in Entrepreneur. When you want that PR push, you know, first you have to focus on social media. Focus first. So. Yeah. So tell me first of all about the article. We're going to get into the article and what you said, which I, which is why I immediately wanted you on the podcast. But tell me what made you think of doing this article?

Well, there was an inspiration. I was talking to a prospective client and they, you know, we're trying to kind of position themselves as a leader in the kind of the digital media space. They do video production and things like that. And so the first thing, you know, I did was I went and, you know, searched them out on social to see, you know, what are they posting, what are they sharing, you know, what are they, you know, what do they have to say that maybe is different from, you know, everybody else in the space. And what I found was that they were very lacking. And, you know, for example, on Twitter, they hadn't posted in over a year. And even on, like, Instagram and Facebook and, you know, maybe some other platforms that'd be a little bit more of a fit for visual, you know, content. They. They just were not really active. And so I, I guess you could have the argument, you know, if they're so busy with client work, maybe they don't have time to do their own. But I'm going to argue that if we're going to start reaching out and trying to talk about their work, one of the first places journalists are going to go and look to see examples of their work is on their social.

Media feeds, without a doubt. And I've heard that firsthand myself from the media relations aspect of it, that it is the absolute go to social media, but in particular Twitter. So I, I see how if you noticed a void there, that there would be the inspiration for an article about this. So then the question is, does it really matter if your brand is active on social media? It sounds like the answer is yes.

Well, I think it does. And what I did when I started working on the article is I went to Twitter and I asked some of my journalist friends, you know, how do you feel about this? Because, of course, you know, you don't want to just be talking about your own opinions or your own observations. And so, of course, journalists are very active on Twitter and they were more than happy to chime in. And, you know, most of them said that, you know, they, they do what's on a company's social media feed. That doesn't mean that they won't cover the company, but it does have a bearing on how they view the company. And it certainly would be, I think, a boost to their story or their opinion of the company if it were active on social. So Muckrack also had done a survey that more than half, I think 61% said they usually check or always check the social Media profiles when they write.

Stories so well, I do as well, even in all my work, I think a lot of people do. So when we talk about social media and journalists are looking and other people are looking at it, what are some of the must. Is there a must have for social media compared to nice to have for a social media platform?

Well, I mean, I feel like Twitter is a great place for anyone who's interested in connecting with journalists and being in stories to be present. Because, you know, journalists will share, right, on Twitter what they're working on and so sometimes they're looking for sources. I see that more than ever. I've seen quite a bit of that just very recently here. So I feel like that is definitely a place to be. I think a lot of, you know, I work a lot with B2B clients and of course LinkedIn is going to probably be the first place they're going to think about, which I think that's, you know, valid as well. But yeah, I say don't get spread too thin. Don't, you know, you don't need to be on TikTok and like, necessarily, necessarily, you know, unless that's where your audience is. I guess so.

Right. I. So let me ask you about B2B. I, I do want to include that, even though that specifically wasn't in your article. But I know you'll have insight on this. B2C is helpful when you are speaking to a customer. So you go to a Facebook, you go to a Twitter, you go to where your customers are, where your stakeholders live. But B2B, tell me about your thoughts on the necessity of social media for B2B. You mentioned LinkedIn. Is it just LinkedIn?

Well, no, I, I still think Twitter. I think any company who's interested in PR should really have a presence on Twitter. I mean, to me that's, I mean, yes, there's journalists on LinkedIn, but honestly, I mean, how often. I mean, I, I'll speak for myself, but I mean, I don't often pitch a journalist on LinkedIn. I don't often see journalists talking about what they're working on on LinkedIn. I mean, maybe. Do you see that?

As soon as you said it, I thought, I don't even know if I follow any.

Right. So that's what I'm thinking. Like, I mean, Twitter is kind of the center of my, you know, my universe. So to me, I, I definitely see a need for Twitter. But I, I do know of companies and in fact, the client that, you know, the. They didn't end up being a client. But the prospect that inspired this piece did not see the value in Twitter. And they pretty much just flat out said, you know, we don't. We don't think that's important. And I was like, well, we're not a fit then. I kind of disagree with you on that. But, you know, and it doesn't take that much. I think maybe when they discount it, they don't maybe consider, like, I mean, even if you posted, you know, once in a while, like, you don't have to post 20 times a day to have an active presence. But I think, you know, like, if you spend a little bit of time maybe posting, engaging, responding, you know, retweeting and things like, it's just. It's not that, you know, difficult to do.

I, I agree with you. I give a lot of clearance to brands and even. And even people, if they're on it, and they're not on it a lot, but they're making the effort. To me, I see the effort at least. But when there's nothing, or they opened up the account three years ago and there's been, you know, crickets ever since then, that shows definitely an avoidance or just a complete disregard to the, to the power of that social media channel.

Yeah, I think that's. That's just a. Just a poor decision, I think. I think Twitter's become just very important. I mean, a lot of people, you know, get their breaking news there and catch up on headlines there. And I mean, to me, if that's where the journalists are and you want to be in front of the journalists, then why would you not be there? That. That, to me, is just kind of common sense.

Now let's distinguish between a brand and the CEO of that brand. Now we're taking the actual name of the CEO, the Persona of this, and brand of the CEO. Should they be on social media, and what are the risks if they decide to go into social media?

Yeah, I think we've all seen Elon Musk make some pretty. Pretty big missteps there, you know, so you definitely don't want to use Elon as an example. But, you know, there are CEOs that are active on Twitter, for example, that I think, you know, do a really good job. I think T Mobile's, you know, former CEO John Leger. Is that his name?

Yes.

Was really great on there. And then I think, is it Mary Barra of maybe gm, who I'm thinking of? Those are a couple examples. But I, you know, I think that a lot of CEOs are afraid of Twitter because they do see missteps being made by, you know, pretty high profile CEOs. I think there's just kind of a, you know, there's a hubris about it. Like, you can't just, you know, I wouldn't just share anything that comes to your mind on there, necessarily, but I do think there's a way to go about it where it can be beneficial. And I think, you know, if, if that's again, where, like, employees are looking at that or maybe prospective employees and, you know, it's gotten very competitive to hire good people, they're going to look at those things and they're going to. That's going to help inform their decision, you know.

So I agree with you that there is a fear of just getting out there and exposing yourself on Twitter. And also the question for CEOs who are very busy in the business of running their business, what am I going to put on social media that even matters? And they just, it's almost as if they feel like I don't even want to bother. But once they do use it, they've recognized that if they harness it, that they, it becomes a tool when they need it. Right. Like whether it's media relations, cris management, or any type of proactive campaign as well. It's such an important arm. It can be a marketing arm as well. What do you Notice for the CEOs that do jump on? So you mentioned some good examples. We mentioned one, and Elon Musk is a category. You know, he's in a category all to himself because sometimes I think he's, he might even be smarter than we think on Twitter. That's all a part of his brand. But what do you see of, of social media use of, of leaders or known people, some of the mist they might make if they do decide to try social media, Twitter in particular?

Well, I think it's a balance between sounding natural, sounding authentic, because a lot of them do have ghostwriters. So, you know, having done some ghost writing for executives on social media, I will say that that does happen. And looking at some of them in preparation for this, for this podcast, I was thinking, you know, I think some of them need to loosen up a little bit. But I think there is kind of that fine line, you know, loosening up too much and sharing maybe things that people don't really need or want to know versus, you know, having commentary on something that's going on in your industry or even, you know, like I saw somebody tweeting about the, the, the Eagle Scouts the female Eagle Scouts. I think that was Mary who was tweeting about that. And I thought, well, that's, you know, that's really nice, because, you know, it's just a story that everybody relates to. And she, you know, she's supporting, you know, young women and, like, you know, so that was kind of an interesting example of something that you could share that wasn't directly related to your business, but still, you know, something that. That you could bring visibility to in your role as a CEO. Yeah.

And gives insight into your personality and who you are and how you, you know, how you became a CEO or what. What. What your values are and your virtues. So I do have a question. The fact that you just brought this up made me think about this. When people are. When they are speaking for themselves on social media, when we're talking about a leader or even a politician, an elected official, I don't see the practice as much anymore. But I'm curious what you think about this. There are times when someone is tweeting on behalf of the office. So if it's a. A mayor, for instance, you know, you can assume that there's a staffer behind it, but when the mayor tweets directly, you might see the initials next to it. Now, what do you think about tweeting with a ghostwriter if you're a leader versus the real you sitting on a. Like a President Trump? We all knew President Trump was President Trump's Twitter handle, but what do you think about leaders identifying what's real and what's not?

Yeah, I mean, I think. I think you can kind of tell almost when. I mean, you know, of course, you don't know them personally, like, but you could probably. There's, like. I'd say. I think there's kind of a stiffness to it almost, and it's very hard to capture their voice until you've had some experience or some exposure to them. And that means, you know, you have to spend time with them and talk to them, and a lot of times they're too busy. So I do think that there's a challenge there, because I think they obviously, you know, you don't want your CEO sitting around on Twitter all day. Right. They have more do. But I think that, you know, maybe if they spent, you know, even, I don't know, maybe they could factor in a little bit of time to just kind of at least take a peek at it and see, you know, what's going on or. I don't know. There's probably a way to work really in sync with, with somebody on your team to help you develop that voice. And, and, you know, so it does sound like something you would actually say versus, you know, deciding a statistic. It's really dry and just. Right.

Well, and there is, there's no AP style guide, if you will, for how to tweet if you're a leader, if you have a ghost tweeter on your behalf. No one has, no one has determined what the true rules of the road are for that case. But I think along the lines of what you're saying, if I'm seeing a Twitter account from a leader and it is the copy, it's. It's the, it's the more of the marketing aspect. It's the generic statements. You just assume, like, I'll give them clearance that it's okay to have a copywriter there, you know, not copyright like a staffer. And I think it's okay then that the real person then hop on and who. And say who they are. But I think I'm okay with them not indicating that it's them. Would you feel the same way?

Oh, you mean how they sign the tweets with.

Yeah, how they sign it. Yeah, like, who is the author, the direct attribution on it, and does it matter?

I don't think they should. I mean, now that you bring it up, I have seen. Seen people do that before, but then it's like, well, then that means the rest of it's not you. Like, you know.

Right, right, right, right.

That's more, that's a. More of a negative than it is a positive to sign the tweets. And maybe people just assume that it's not you or. I mean, that's a good question, because I wonder if that puts people off if they think that it's really not them. I think most people probably know it's not all the time, but I mean, but who knows?

But I also think it depends on the. On the channel too, on the network that you're using where. And this is why it came. Why I'm asking you the question, because it came up this week with a CEO who I was working with, who did a Facebook Live. And it was not for marketing purposes. It really was a used as a public relations tool to speak directly to their stakeholders. But prior to the Facebook Live, he was going in there and commenting to the customers to his stakeholders on Facebook, answering direct questions, and he should I sign my name so they know it's me? And in that case, I said, I think you should, because they should See that you are taking the time to go in there and answer the questions. Absolutely. You know, especially since it's about an issue. But when we get into the Twitter world where it's, it's generic messaging, it's just your typical PR standard, marketing messaging, I think it's okay that you don't have to, you know, add a name to it, you know, a signature. Well, okay, so we figured that out. Michelle, you and I have set the rule for that. Okay, so now you're in the shoes of a, a CEO is listening right now, A general manager, a leader, small to medium sized business. They don't have a huge communication staff, but they're thinking, you know what, now is the time, especially after Covid, where our customers need to hear from us. What is the first step, do you think, for a CEO, once they decide, yes, I'm going to do social, what's the next best step?

I think it's just to decide, you know, how, how you're going to tackle it, you know, how are you going to fit it into your schedule? Are you going to work with somebody on your team? Are you going to bring in someone to help you, you know, do you want to work together to create, you know, craft posts? Or are you going to trust, you know, that, you know, the person helping you out is going to be able to speak for you, that kind of thing.

Yeah. So you're talking about the planning of it. Don't just hop in, make it a team effort. And who is going to support you in these endeavors when you decide to go social? That's a very, very good tip. If you were a CEO, what which social media platform would be and which ones would be the nice to have?

Well, I mean, I do think most CEOs want to be on LinkedIn and I do think content over there is okay if it's a little bit more buttoned up, you know what I mean? Like, I think that's the expectation on LinkedIn. And then if they're going to move over Twitter, I would say, which would be my, probably my second choice for CEOs, I would say that's where you need to show a little bit more personality, maybe loosen up a little bit more there and that's going to be a little bit more challenging probably than LinkedIn. So LinkedIn is probably good to kind of get their feet wet if they haven't done anything on social and then maybe expand out. And of course, wherever your audience is, I mean, it's going to vary like some, the, of some you Know, have a big, would have a big following on Instagram or some would be, you know, there would be a need for TikTok or, you know, Facebook or, you know, but for my clients primarily it would be LinkedIn, Twitter and then Facebook and maybe Instagram.

But yeah, I would agree with that one too. I would do the, maybe on the Instagram as well. But LinkedIn and Twitter, certainly. What would be a must do for a CEO in social media and what is a do not ever do on social media?

Well, I mean, I think it's good if they can have a little bit of fun with it. If they can find a way not to be frightened of it and try to try to have a little bit of fun with it. I mean, you know, it's fine for them even to retweet an employee's tweet, for example, or share a company post and just have a comment on it. You know, good job team on your, you know, Q1 results. Or, I mean, I don't know, you know, I'm just kind of throwing that out there, but, but just try to relax a little bit with it. I mean, yes, you know, people get themselves in trouble, but, you know, we're all, I know we can all be smarter than that. You know, we don't need to be afraid of it. And that would be something. And I guess a don't is just think twice if you have a controversial stance or opinion to share. You know, social media might not be the best place to post that or definitely consult with your, you know, with your PR team or your, you know, your legal team or whatever it might be. So.

Oh, that's very good advice, Michelle. So we are going to include a link to the article on Entrepreneur about this, about what is the PR push. Then you should focus on social media first. And that's in the February edition. You also have a weekly Twitter chat. Could you tell our listeners about that?

Well, I have freelance chat, which is for anybody who works for themselves like I have done for quite a while now. It's really just to support, you know, freelancers, self employed folks, consultants, anybody in that along those lines. And it's at noon Eastern Thursdays. And then we just use the hashtag freelance chat.

And it really is amazing. I mean, you have captured the power of Twitter so much because you always pop up. And when I'm working during your freelance chats, I always see some of the answers. So I'm, I'm, I'm a passive participant so I could still, you know, follow along. It's not entirely, you know, my target market, but I love hearing what people are writing and just the effort that you put into it. So if anyone wants more information about Michelle, I would definitely recommend, you know, follow on Twitter @PRIME PR is us, correct?

That's right.

Michelle Garrett. Yes. Very easy. And then your website, of course, Michelle Garrett.com and then if, what if someone wanted to work with you? Do you work with people?

Well, sure, yeah. I mean, I actually find a fair number of clients now through Twitter because I think they just, a lot of times I don't even know they're following or paying attention. And then one day I'll get a message out of the blue and it'll be like, hey, you know, we saw what you were talking about on Twitter. Can you help us with that? So that happens more frequently than ever right now. So that's a great way to find me. But also I'm also, of course I do have a website. I do have email. I'm on LinkedIn. I mean there's a lot of ways to get a hold of me.

Of course you are. And the proof is in the pudding in your article about, you know, how to get that PR push is certainly go to social media and if they follow you, you'll, they'll see exactly how that works. And Michelle, thank you for taking the time to spend with me. I'm so happy that I could finally get you on the podcast just as a solo guest because you have so much information to share, helpful information to share.

Thank you so much, Molly. It's been a pleasure. Thank you so much.

My thanks to Michelle for joining me on the podcast. You can find her entrepreneur article. Want to do a public relations push? Focus on social media first in the show notes. Michelle can be reached@michellegarrett.com and if you're a freelancer or want to check out her top notch Twitter chat, you can join Michelle every Thursday at noon eastern for freelance chat. Just look for hashtag FreelanceChat on Twitter. You can also find her on Twitter Spaces every Friday for the prlunch hour. I was on with her right before I recorded this today I can tell you I am am digging Twitter spaces, but that's a conversation for another time and space. I'll see you back here same time next week. Bye for now.