The whole wide world is using social media with a no-holds-barred approach. Anything and everything be it personal or professional gets shared on Instagram and Facebook in nanoseconds. And the impact of these images is infectious: likes, shares, comments, emojis, flow in indefinite numbers. Not surprisingly, the social media bug has bitten CEOs as well.

Now the question is: Whether CEOs should be using Social Media?

Elon Musk landed himself in a soup for his tweet on twitter stating, “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.”

Musk being straightforward, spoke his mind without considering the consequences. And he paid a big price for it by losing his chairmanship.

Unlike Musk, 6o% of Fortune 500 CEOs prefer to keep a distance from social media. They prefer to stay hidden and do their work rather than be the front face of the company.

However, the fact remains, a CEO, creates free PR for its brands if he or she uses social media. In the age of Influencer marketing, a CEO who acts as an influencer for his brand on social media can be a huge advantage for businesses interested in building brand reputation.

According to CEO.com, social media is pretty much in the reckoning among B2C industries technology, retail, and entertainment domain, while B2B industries such as energy and air travel adopt a more targeted approach.

CEO.com further highlights that a majority of the CEOs are leveraging, at least, one to two social media networks. LinkedIn is a top priority for the majority of the CEOs, followed by Twitter. All other networks are kind of non-existent. 40 Fortune 500 CEOs are using Facebook, but then only eight are active.

If anything, one can easily guess why LinkedIn and Twitter are on CEOs favorite social media list over the others. While Twitter is ideal for media narratives as journalists spend a good amount of their time there, LinkedIn is perfect for networking with like-minded industry people.

Despite LinkedIn and Twitter’s many advantages, 60% CEOs are still skeptical about social media networks, for still, it’s not plain as to whether social media initiatives really drive revenues for businesses or not.

Here I walk you through 4 Best Reasons why CEOs should go for social media no matter what

#1. Audience Loves To Hang Out On Social Media

According to statista.com, there will be around 2.77 billion social network users around the globe.

And, apparently, most of these users moan about their misfortunes and talk about their bad experiences with the brand, while seldom speaking about their good experiences.

If you do not know, customers are more vocal about their negative experiences over positive ones on social media.

So, finding customer issues and addressing them on an immediate basis can bring good publicity for your business.

T-Mobile’s John Legere, who spends one and a half hour on Twitter every morning, is known to publicly address and resolve customer queries.

Long story short, hanging out on social media not only helps solve businesses’ current concerns but also offers first-hand insight into future problems as well, which could well be taken care off before things go out of hand.

#2. To Build Brand Reputation

Social media is not just an engagement tool anymore. It’s being used for advertising activities and more. And, not surprisingly, companies are deriving great results from these platforms. If not more, 13% of social media users tend to click on advertisements.

So, if you intend to build your customer base, build brand exposure by running campaigns on social media. For more ideas on social media ad campaigns, consult top social media marketing companies.

#3. To Build Relationship with Influencers

It’s a proven fact: People love to listen to influencers more than businesses. As per the latest study, 65% of the customers are likely to buy a product if it’s recommended by someone they follow on social media. So, connecting with Influencers, who’d put in a good word about your product or business, is sure to do a world of good for your brand.

Further, Influencer marketing especially works on YouTube. By sending new product releases to them and, in return, getting them to talk about your product to their audiences or even paying them to talk about your product/service is sure to yield good returns.

81% of marketers who have leveraged influencer marketing campaigns agree that it is an effective form of communication.

#4. To Provide Better Customer Service

Offering best-in-class products to your customers is not enough these days. It should be followed by great customer service as well.

82% of consumers have stopped buying from companies due to their poor customer service.

This is where social media comes in handy. You can engage in two way communication with your followers on social media and try to resolve their problems. This will help you retain customers in the longer run.

Wrapping Up

CEOs don’t have to spend many hours tweeting messages or posting articles on LinkedIn to connect with the audience. But then, they need to spare some time for their social media followers because social media is, undoubtedly, one of the best channels to connect with them. However, some kind of restrain helps. Anything and everything about your company shouldn’t be up there for the world to savor.

Author Bio: This is Jennifer Warren, a Content Consultant with GoodFirms, a review and research platform for eCommerce development companies, digital marketing companies among many others. I enjoy humanizing technology through inspirational content, devouring best sellers, watching war movies, and running behind my sunshine sons.