Many older leaders are a little bewildered by social media, but John Eades* says it is an essential tool for those who want to keep in close touch with their modern, young workforces.
In the 1980s and 90s, most employees didn’t know a thing about their leader outside of work.
In the 2000’s, it became more acceptable to know leaders on a personal level.
Today, it’s become the norm for employees to not only know their leader on a personal level but to be connected with their leader on social media.
This allows the leader’s people and others to get to learn from them by reading their blogs, tweets, or watching a video.
If you lead a team and haven’t been actively contributing and engaging with your people on social media, here are a few reasons to get on board.
To share expertise:
Passing on your knowledge and experience to others that otherwise you wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do is a gift of service you should take seriously.
This could come in the form of an Instagram post, a tweet, a long-form blog, or a video on LinkedIn or Youtube.
The point is you find ways to share your expertise with others in an effort to help them be more successful.
To be human:
When leaders are on social media they get the opportunity to show they are human and can connect with their people on a human level.
You can do more for your society, community, and the people underneath you.
This can be done by sharing in big life moments to transferring knowledge that otherwise wouldn’t have been transferred.
To connect with your people:
Whether you like it or not people are using social media on a daily basis.
This means there is a high likelihood your people are opening one or more social apps at least once a day.
This provides a great opportunity to connect with them where they are already going if you don’t get the opportunity to do it in person.
This doesn’t mean you have to be on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter for four hours a day.
It just means you have to know how important the digital world is in many people’s lives and go there to be active with them.
To communicate:
The hardest part of any Chief Executive’s job is consistent communication.
Social media provides an unbelievable medium to communicate with people across geographies, time zones, and demographics.
It can absolutely be used to communicate important things like knowledge, life experience, vision for the team, or individual team member achievements.
To stay relevant:
Today’s modern professionals are so connected they don’t miss much.
The best place to stay relevant to them is in their social media feed.
Many leaders don’t get as much one-on-one time with their people as they need to, so showing up in their social media feeds is a way to stay visible, relevant, and touch them on a regular basis.
To recruit talent:
Millions of people graduate from universities around the world every year.
Talent is the lifeblood of any organisation and in order to recruit the best talent having a presence on social media is a tool you must be using.
The best part is that it goes beyond new people entering the workforce.
Using social media can attract top talent from the competition to turn away from the dark side.
If you’ve avoided social media or dabbled in it lightly, but then never gone back, you’re missing huge opportunities.
I don’t want to hear: “I am too old,” or: “I don’t get anything out of it for me.”
Stay a student, learn it, and embrace it.
*John Eades is the Chief Executive of LearnLoft and author of F.M.L. Standing Out and Being a Leader. He is also the host of the Follow My Lead Podcast and can be followed on instagram @johngeades.
A version of this article originally appeared on Inc.com
