Apparently, YouTube Automatically Makes Your CEO A Thought Leader
April 9, 2010
Author 
In There’s no such thing as a blanket answer in digital marketing and PR. Just because company X is doing something is not by itself a reason your company should too.
Karlie Justus recently wrote a post over on Social Media B2B on why your CEO should be using YouTube. That could not be a more untrue statement. It’s tactical and without rhyme or reason behind it makes no sense. Especially in the B2B space. Anyway, let’s go through a few points in her post:
CEOs using Twitter have received the most attention when it comes to social media for the C-level set, but what about YouTube?
What quantitative or qualitative data does Karlie have to make this statement? The answer: a link to a single Business Week article that displays 50 CEOs who use Twitter. That’s all the proof I need, I’m sold that this is accurate (aren’t you?).
If your B2B company is utilizing YouTube (and it should be), here are some reasons your CEO should be a regular contributor:
“And it should be?” The answer to this is maybe – not a blanket “yes, we must be here!” Too many marketing and PR folk are quick to dive into tactics without considering how it fits into a strategic roadmap. While there is importance in experimenting, you probably shouldn’t jump into that at the start. Experiments should happen within the framework of something more mature. You company and its CEO – as anything else – should not jump in without rationale.
2. Thought Leader
By joining the small ranks of B2B CEOs proactively using YouTube, your CEO will automatically become a thought leader in the social space.
This is the best part of the article worth highlighting. Merely by joining other CEOs using YouTube, your CEO – as Karlie puts it – will automatically become a thought leader. Automatically. Really? It’s that easy?
This is almost an insult to any CEO who is considered a thought leader in the social space. As if joining YouTube is all it takes. I’d love to hear the take of any CEO who actually is a thought leader and has put in the arduous years of effort. I wonder if they think it’s that easy, and all other B2B CEOs can automatically become thought leaders just by using YouTube.
A regular video post can go a long way to develop these relationships, especially when you consider that many of these people may never actually lay eyes on these busy men and women.
It depends. Some companies – along with their CEOs - should run from social media altogether and would be wiser to stay away. The blanket statements of social media being a panacea are so wrong it’s laughable.
David Akermanis replied | Apr 9, 2010 (8 comments)
The bit about your CEO automatically becoming a thought leader is way too funny.
Karlie Justus replied | Apr 9, 2010 (1 comment)
Hey Adam,
I wanted to say thanks for your post. I couldn’t find much discussion around the topic, so I was glad to hear someone else’s thoughts on if/why/how CEOs are using YouTube. I’m still looking for examples of proactive communication from CEOs on YouTube, where I could learn directly from these men and women.
You bring up some good points, and I wanted to respond to them.
1. I based the first statement on personal Google and Twitter research. A better statement should have been “more attention” has centered around Twitter than YouTube when it comes to best practices and examples of proactive communication. I mention in the post’s lede that nearly all of the discussions I could find around YouTube and CEOs had to do with reactive crisis communication.
2. You’re right – there’s definitely not a magic formula when it comes to using social media tools, and I didn’t mean to imply that. I would amend that statement to say any B2B company with video content suitable for public consumption – product demos, tradeshow interviews, commercials, etc. – should be on YouTube, as it makes that content searchable and provides one more point of customer contact.
3. I’d also amend that a CEO using YouTube would be a thought leader for other CEOs using or considering using the service – not over all of social media. If a CEO is using YouTube, he or she can share dos and don’ts, pros and cons, best practices etc. with others. Because this group is relatively small, others would probably be able to learn something (even if it’s just that this would not work for them and their organizations). To me, this is one aspect of thought leadership.
Again, thanks for helping me think through this a second time around and pointing out where there needs to be additional conversation.
Adam Singer replied | Apr 10, 2010 (563 comments)
Hey Karlie – cheers for coming on here and responding. Of course, we all have our opinions and viewpoints — and that’s the whole point of discussion and debate. Glad you’re open to it.
AHA replied | Apr 11, 2010 (5 comments)
I am beginning to see the hyping of Twitter (and to some extent Youtube) as a kind of reverse shibboleth: if a person raves about the awesomeness of this glorified/crippled web-based IRC/SMS substitute thingy, they are automatically excluded from really being taken seriously by me.
Nothing wrong with Twitter in and of itself (I use it myself) but I am totally down with your message of the necessity of actually blogging (or, in my case, running a magazine) and spending serious braincycles plus sanguine/perspiratory/lachrymatory fluids to create content of value.