1. A Social Media Masterclass | 1www.criticaleye.net
Facebook has an average of 829
million daily active users. Every
minute more than 120 professionals
sign up to LinkedIn and 5,700
tweets are sent per second. There’s
no doubt social media is a powerful
communication tool for individuals
and businesses, so building an online
presence and engaging should be high
on the agenda when it comes to being
an effective leader in this digital era.
Richard Branson is a great example of
a leader who engages across multiple
channels. The Virgin Group founder
currently has over 4.76 million Twitter
followers, is active on Facebook and
Google+, and publishes thought
leadership on LinkedIn. While many
executives struggle with deciding how
to create a personal and corporate
profile through social media, Branson
effortlessly blends the two.
Of course, such a profile and persona are
rare in business. For many executives,
social media presents a conundrum.
How much of your own personality
do you want to reveal and what are the
consequences of getting the balance
wrong between professional and
personal? Criticaleye spoke to a range
of Members who are frequent users
of social media about how to get it
right and why it’s essential for leaders
to dive in and explore the benefits.
1 SET GOALS
Before you take the plunge on any social
network, it’s important to have an idea of
what you’d like to achieve, whether that’ s
Many senior executives remain recalcitrant when it comes to using social media.
Criticaleye speaks to those who have overcome their fears and built strong online profiles
A Social Media
Masterclass

2. A Social Media Masterclass | 2www.criticaleye.net
networking, publishing thought leadership
or exploring customer attitudes.
Andrew McCallum, Director of Corporate
Affairs and Business Support at Dana
Petroleum, comments: “Don’t just do it
because everyone else is – have a real,
strong business rationale for doing it...
set clear boundaries and directions
of what you’re trying to do and how
you’re going to measure success.”
While there is a risk of over-thinking the
pros and cons of social media, you do need
to consider your own profile and that of
the company you represent. “Executives
can jump on these bandwagons without
asking themselves, ‘What am I really trying
to achieve?’” says Paul Brennan, Chairman
at cloud storage provider OnApp.
2 UNDERSTAND
THE CHANNELS
If you’re going to engage with social
media, it’s useful to understand the
context of different channels. Sarah
Bentley, Chief Customer Officer at
Severn Trent Water, says: “Facebook still
seems to be in the realm of the personal.
I think that there are employers who
still check that, but... it’s legitimate for
that to be a personal aspect of you.”
LinkedIn, with 313 million users, is
viewed as the best channel for business
connections. Richard Gillies, Group
Sustainability Director at Kingfisher,
comments that his LinkedIn “has got
lots of people on it so it’s become a
Rolodex” of useful business contacts.
Sarah says: “[LinkedIn] is also a good
recruitment marketing tool... I can
see what personal networks look like,
but also if there’s a particular client
or person in the marketplace that we
want to have communication with.”
Twitter, the microblogging site with
approximately 271 million users,
is generally regarded as the most
dynamic. Peter Horrocks, Director
of BBC World Service Group, says:
“The main tool I use is Twitter... it’s
very versatile. It allows people to have
multiple interest groups. Twitter is
the primary source of recirculation
and the distribution of news so it’s
particularly appropriate for me.”
Beyond these sites the use of others
like Google+, Pinterest and Instagram
seems to depend on industry sector and
personal preference. Andrew McCallum
says: “There is also some geographical
distinction, in China for example, Qzone
or Sina have got millions of users.”
3 KNOW YOUR
CORPORATE POLICY
If you’re a company founder or employed
by a start-up you’re likely to have more
freedom in the way you communicate
on social media, whereas corporate
leaders will have stricter guidelines
to adhere to. Andrew McCallum
says: “I think [knowing] the policy
around it and really understanding the
boundaries is key... be specific about
what’s out of scope or off limits.”
Domestic and international politics
are areas best avoided (unless you’re
Branson), as are heated exchanges with
customers. Laura Haynes, Chairman of
brand consultancy Appetite, says: “You
are dealing with your own and your
company’s reputation every time you tweet
or comment on LinkedIn and Facebook,
therefore it’s incredibly important
that you understand the impact and
implications of your communications.”
Andrew Powell, Chief Operating
Officer at careers education provider
The Training Room, makes a similar
point. “Even though you can retract or
delete a tweet, you can get caught out if
you let your passion overspill... If you’re
really passionate about something,
think before you tweet,” he says.
It’s important to remember this
especially if you or your company comes
under fire. Peter comments: “You have
to be prepared to take a certain amount
of flack. But don’t ever rise to the bait,
don’t get angry. If someone is behaving
inappropriately, it’s okay to block them.”
As with any communication, it’s
a case of applying common sense.
Andrew Powell says: “There’s a bit
of guidance around policy and dos
and don’ts from the marketing team
that you need to be aware of, but you
need the ability to express yourself.
Provided you don’t bring the company
into disrepute – experiment.”
4 LEARN AND EXPLORE
One way of ensuring you’re up to
speed is to learn from those already
versed in the technology. Sarah
You don’t
need to do
a complicated
course to learn
how to use
[social media],
just sign up

3. A Social Media Masterclass | 3www.criticaleye.net
smokescreen for fear and lack of
curiosity. The reality is that with minimal
preparation and a basic appreciation of
the rules of engagement, the negatives
can quickly be surmounted. Given
the emphasis on communication as
a core leadership skill, it’s somewhat
negligent of executives to not make
time for social media and see it as
another means of building closer
relationships with various stakeholders.
As Peter puts it: “People can be
a bit nervous about it but get
over that and try it out. You’ll be
surprised at how much it improves
your effectiveness as a leader.”
© Criticaleye 2014
comment about watching rugby or what
you’re having for dinner is fine... there
needs to be that element of humanity.”
Andrew Powell agrees: “[Twitter]
created a whole different dialogue,
where people felt a lot more
comfortable in an executive’s presence
and therefore the conversation and
information was a lot richer for me...
“[Employees] knew what football club
I supported; they knew what my kids
were up to on a weekend... Suddenly
you were talking to a human being
rather than a level in an operation.”
Others take a completely different
stance, like Paul who draws a clear line
between the public profile he maintains
professionally and his personal life. “I
would never… start talking about my
children or that I did a triathlon over
the weekend, because I really don’t
think it’s pertinent to the opinion piece
I might be giving on cloud technology.”
It’s understandable for executives to be
reticent about using social media. Why
run the risk of being trolled, falling foul
of regulators or upsetting customers?
Besides, what does it say about the
workload of a CEO if they’re spending
their time tweeting when they should
be focused on running the business?
While there is some credence to these
objections, they can be used as a
comments: “I look at what my children
do, who range from one to 16.”
Andrew Powell also found it useful to
learn from employees on the frontline,
referencing an example from his
previous role as COO at Colt Technology
Services. “Every country I visited, my
first three meetings of the day would
be 45-minute sessions, back-to-back
with people from the floor of the
business, talking about technology,
social media, what’s going on and just
listening and learning,” he says.
According to Peter leaders should be
capable of working it out for themselves:
“The whole world is going on Twitter.
You don’t need to do a complicated
course to learn how to use [social
media], just sign up, have a look at it
and work it out for yourself... If a leader
can’t get into something like Twitter
and start to work out how it might be a
useful tool for them, they haven’t got the
curiosity or technological skills which
make them a leader in the digital age...
“Dip your toe in the water. You can start
using it and consuming it well before you
start to post yourself. Get comfortable
with the culture of the people you’re
following and see what the conventions
are, the language they use... the style.”
5 BE AUTHENTIC
Navigating the line between personal
and corporate may be difficult to
master, but once you’ve found your
voice it’ll soon become intuitive.
For Sarah, sharing a little bit of personal
information is good: “I do think that
consumers, employees or potential
clients would be very suspicious of
somebody that was 100 per cent
corporate without having an element
of the personal in there. So the odd
Contact the contributors through:
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Featuring Commentary From:
Andrew Powell
Chief Operating Officer
The Training Room
Richard Gillies
Group Sustainability
Director
Kingfisher
Sarah Bentley
Chief Customer Officer
Severn Trent Water
Andrew McCallum
Director of Corporate Affairs
and Business Support
Dana Petroleum
Peter Horrocks
Director
BBC World Service Group
Laura Haynes
Chairman
Appetite
Paul Brennan
Chairman
OnApp
Get comfortable
with the culture
of the people you’re
following