Internal Social Media Use by CEOs Builds Emotional Capital

Originally published October 25, 2012
How can CEOs and CMOs manage organizations that have a strategic commitment to social media marketing if they know nothing about it? I’ve often repeated that C-level executives need a user-level familiarity with social media even if they are not intensive users. Otherwise, how do they know whether the organization is using social media wisely and well?


A recent blog post by HBR suggests that half of CEOs are “social media challenged” and 35% of those are actively fearful of social media. In this case, lack of familiarity breeds contempt. Few users of social media fail to understand its communications reach and power.

SMR published an article in September that suggests an avenue for the social media challenged executive to engage in a way that is useful and perhaps less intimidating than engaging with customers right off the bat. All CEOs have things they are trying to accomplish within their organizations and most spend a lot of time communicating that to groups of employees. Why not use social media to communicate their messages more widely and to engage workers.

The article by Huy and Shipilov of Insead found that internal social media use could build positive emotional capital among employees. Interestingly, they also found that an expensive IT buildout of internal social infrastructure worked less well than an inexpensive implementation at Tupperware clearly aimed at creating positive attitudes among a far-flung workforce. Their 4 pillars of emotional capital are:
1. Authenticity
2. Pride
3. Attachment
4. Fun.
Read a summary and posts about other research on internal SM on Shipilov’s blog.

Each company CEO can think about how to express the 4 issues in ways that are relevant to the organization, its issues, and its future. A study reported on the Workforce blog of Crain Communications reports several goal-directed programs that have achieved success. Southwest Airlines, for example, encouraged employees to establish Facebook pages at each airport, which turned out to be useful for timely updates of local conditions. They have a corporate intranet which has employee profiles, photos and comments on issues that impact Southwest. “It is interesting how it has reinforced our culture and driven interaction for our employees,” (Katie: Director for Communications) Coldwell says. If an organization doesn’t already have a culture of open communication, one will have to be built and social media is ideal for that purpose. Huy and Shipilov call it “building community first.”

Be warned of several issues, however:
• If employees see lack of authenticity, the initiative is DOA. That ranges from having an assistant write the CEO messages to taking negative comments off the network.
• Technology is not the issue, corporate goals and objectives are. However, there are platforms designed for internal use that may work better than the free ones we use as consumers and marketers.
• It is just as important to listen to employees, to implement good ideas, and to let them know the results as it is to communicate straightforwardly with customers.
• If top executives can poke a bit of fun at themselves in the process, it does wonders for the culture.

Here’s a good summary of the 10 major mistakes made with corporate social networks. Follow the links and read the experiences of corporations, small businesses, government organizations and non-profits and for yourself.  All suggest that the work of the organization can be supported and extended by judicious use of social media. How long will it be until the best employees expect that kind of corporate engagement? Do the elusive Millennials expect it now?
For me, there’s another take-away. This is the kind of employee interaction CEOs should crave–should already be doing to the extent they can. An internal social initiative extends both reach and frequency. It allows the CEO to communicate vision and direction as well as inform about daily issues. It does so in a familiar environment—the business itself. It has potential to be an excellent training ground for the social media challenged executive, even though it takes some time and maybe some attitude adjustment.
More organizations should design their own internal social media initiative and use it to build positive emotional capital. Do you have experiences to add?