17 Feb How to Get Your CEO Involved in Your Content Marketing
You know that content marketing is the way to go for your brand. And you know that thought leadership content (actual thought leadership content) has the best chance of getting traction in this modern world. But your boss just won’t sit and crank out a blog post despite repeated kind suggestions.
Sound familiar?
You’re not alone. In fact, 61% of Fortune 500 CEOs are not active on social media. As the president of two companies, I understand (but don’t excuse) the behavior.
Why?
They’re busy;
They became successful in a world where social media didn’t drive success;
Social media is a “nice to do,” while their days are filled with must dos;
It’s a bit intimidating.
Think about that last one for a second. Intimidating? But she’s the boss? Virtually all human beings find new experiences at least a bit daunting. Your job, my friend, is to remove the “daunt.” Here’s how.
1. Give The Boss A Specific To Do
- “Can you write some thought leadership content for the company blog?” This amorphous task will never get done. Try: “Can I spend 15 minutes getting your thoughts on pricing trends in our industry?”
2. Find An Ally
- If you don’t have the internal pull to make this kind of ask, find an internal champion who has the ear of the boss and will understand the benefit of this social content featuring them.
- Ask them to make the introduction and, if it’s a meeting, attend with you. Their job will be to queue up the process, introduce you (if needed) and then let you do your thing.
3. Make It Comfortable for The Boss
- Once you get your specific asks, understand what your boss is comfortable with.
- Is he a writer? Ask him to email you his thoughts.
- Is she really good face-to-face with people? Ask her if you can record her while she talks to you.
- Is he a list builder? Ask him for the top three pressures the industry faces relative to pricing.
4. Finish It Yourself
- You don’t actually need your boss to write a blog post, or a Facebook update, or a LinkedIn article. You need that content, but they don’t have to do all the heavy lifting. Once you’ve gotten the email, the video or the top three list, finish the content for them.
- If you can get away with it, let her know that it’s going up on a specific social platform in a week and to let you know if they have any changes. This takes the pressure off them. And, generally, a boss will speak up if they find a concern.
5. Lead Them to (the Next) Water
- Now that you had that conversation, or email thread, ask a follow-up question. This could be your next piece of content.
- Tell them how they did, even anecdotally. “Hey, boss, your Medium article performed better than almost any article we’ve ever posted from the company. That was great! We should do another quick one on the technology that’s changing our business.”
So what’s the bottom line? Stop thinking your boss is going to create social media content. And start thinking about how you can help your boss to create social media content. That little change will make all the difference.
As the co-producer of thought leadership content with the boss, don’t be surprised if the team begins to look at you as a bit of a thought leader yourself.
