27 Twitter Lessons for CEOs

(I wrote this article in 2013 when I was the CEO of StreamBase. I think it still stands the test of time.)

I’m a CEO, and I use Twitter. I started tweeting as a test a few months ago. When I told one of my board members, he was skeptical, and wondered about my focus. So as I experimented and kept a list of the pros and cons. I found 27 surprises.

At first, Twitter seemed like a waste of time - but my list of pros grew, and my list of cons got smaller. Now, Twitter seems like an essential business tool. But not in the way everyone thinks.

So here's my list of Twitter lessons for CEOs.

1. The business case of Twitter is compelling. 

Our marketing effectiveness skyrocketed after embracing social media. Lead generation volume, cost per lead, press coverage and company spirit all improved. Leads are up, costs are down. Excitement is up.

2. Your marketing team is doing it wrong.

If your Tweets are mostly about you, your company and products, you’re doing it wrong. Nobody’s waiting around to be spammed by you. Tweet about your customers. Tweet about trends and important industry news. Save the marketing for email campaigns; Twitter is for engagement.

4. Twitter is a good way to share the soul of your company.

Peter Drucker said that "the essential job of the CEO is to set the values, standards, and ethics of an organization.” Social media is one of the best ways to do this. I’m most passionate about our customers; it tells you all you need to know about us. For example, I’m passionate about our customers. Tweeting and writing about them shows that. I care about the cancer community. Tweeting during the Boston Marathon about running for team Dana Farber shows it. When our CTO Richard Tibbetts tweets, we share how our innovation.

With care and attention, Twitter is the perfect medium to share what matters.

5. Use Twitter to reboot how you think about press relations.

As I wrote in press releases: dead or reborn?, the old ways of media communications are forever changed. Traditional PR agencies have role, but need to evolve.  

Recently we evaluated 20 press agencies. Only two had embraced social media, and all were at least a bit dismissive. PR firms must evolve, or they will die. We didn't hire any of them. We brought PR in house with a focus on social media.

6. Make the mundane funny and constructive.

Mundane moments can yield great tweets. Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh (@zappos) is a master at it. Here are three recent good tweets from Tony, contrasted with bad, analogous ones.

• BAD TWEET:  “Having coffee with mom.”

• GOOD TWEET:  “Had coffee w/ my mom, told her I gave a presentation @ Tony Robbins conference. She was really excited. In her words: "Wow! Robin Williams!"

• BAD TWEET: “Going into a meeting with meetup CEO.” 

• GOOD TWEET: “Visited meetup.com office, met w/ CEO. Thankfully the meetup at meetup did not cause a rift in the space-time continuum”

• BAD TWEET: “My allergies are killing me!”

• GOOD TWEET: “Taking allergy pills is like having Snow White multiple personality disorder. You go from Sneezy/Grumpy to Sleepy/Dopey/Happy.”

7. Tweet to your team.

Social media is a virtual water cooler. If you're a CEO, hang out and share.

8. Tweet to analysts. 

Industry and financial analysts like hearing from the CEO. Blogging, Twitter and LinkedIn make it easy to share information real-time. And your Tweet trail is an easy way for them to catch up.

9. Learn from Twitter-savvy CEOs on Twitter. 

I follow a few other CEOs to see their observations - the good ones help shine a light on my own day.

10. Promote your Twitter stars. 

Our founder and CTO, Richard Tibbetts (@tibbetts) is an amazing technologist. Sharing his thoughts is great for us and great for the industry. Matt Fowles, one of our top engineers, has written some great technical blog entries. 

11. Curate, don't regurgitate.

Signing up for Twitter is easy. Writing tweets is easy.  But being thoughtful is hard. Sometimes it takes me a half hour to write a tweet. I never share something I haven't read. I always add my own point of view, in my own words. Curate, don't regurgitate.

12. Twitter makes you a better communicator. 

Strunk and White would love Twitter. "Omit meaningless words” is one of my favorite rules. Twitter forces you to omit meaningless words.

13. Don’t use Twitter for "advertising."

I'm sick of seeing Twitter used for marketing. Stacey Gratz, H&R Blocks marketing manager, got it right. "[On Twitter,] we need to listen and share, rather than pushing our marketing messages." 

14. Use Twitter for thought leadership.

My company, StreamBase, is a leader in a software market called event processing. The market is still small but it's growing, and controversial. In a new area like this, education is important. Social media is a great to find and create a tribe of visionaries.

15. Use LinkedIn to connect.

I put links to my LinkedIn and Twitter profiles on my business cards. If you liked this article, connect with me here.

16. Twitter is a great way to listen to quiet people.

Good leaders listen. But some people avoid saying too much to "the boss." On Twitter, I can listen to feedback I won't get in person.

17. Twitter is a great way to respond to FUD.

Recently, we had to fire a well-known employee. Our competitor spread a rumor we were downsizing. Twitter helped me correct the rumor mill in real-time.

18. Don’t sell on Twitter to sell. 

Tempted to tweet “Buy my product?”  Don't.

19. Be careful.

I stopped tweeting for a week because I was in Chicago, closing a deal. If I had revealed I was in Chicago, I would have jeopardized the deal.

20. Content is still king on Twitter.

Twitter messages are 140 characters. The quality of those 140 characters is still king. Re-see lesson #10.

21. Rethink your communications approach.

The Cluetrain Manifesto was first published at the beginning of the dotcom bubble. But it stands the test of time. It declared that a “powerful global conversation had begun.” And this was before Twitter. It's good to read the classics!

22. Don’t compete with SpongeBob for followers. 

I told my 8-year-old son I was tweeting. He asked: “How many people follow you?”

“About 1,200.”

"How many people follow Sponge Bob?”

I looked it up.

“28,000.”

“Dad - if you tell more jokes, maybe you’ll be more popular.”

I don’t want to compete with SpongeBob for followers. I’m don’t care how many I have. Neither should you!

23. Don’t tweet too much.

I think it’s important not to tweet too much. My rule is to only put tweet what's remarkable. That happens between 0-5 times a day.

24. You need an operating system to curate Twitter.

Today one of our engineers asked: “doesn’t Twitter just give you too much information?” Yes, it can. Or it can give you the right amount of information, if you curate it.

But it's hard work to edit Twitter. Currently, I follow Ted Talks, Seth Godin, and David Armano. My favorite industry analysts like @bmichelson. My competitors (you know who you are), My executive partner-customers. My funny cousin @marissapage.

25. Don’t start using Twitter unless you love to communicate.

It’s hard to remember to tweet. Moreover, tweeting well is an art, and takes some thinking. You need a system and a passion to keep it up. I drop in and out. But I always try to come back.

26. Publish, socially.

I used to write a lot of byline articles. Traditional publishing is static, formal, unidirectional, and controlled by an editor.  Blogging, LinkedIn and Twitter, is a new way of publishing. Here's my new process:

• Write a blog post.

• Tweet key points from the article.

• Listen.

Social feedback deepens the original thought and creates new ideas.

27. Twitter makes me more aware.

The other day, I was landing in Boston, back from New York. I thought: “Anyone who thinks innovation is dead should spend a day with the traders. Check out this pairs trading article!”

Writing Tweets forces me to pay attention. To pause. To celebrate.

28. Tweeting is thinking with your fingers.

I'm stealing Issac Asimov's line here. "Writing is like thinking with my fingers." I wish I could read his Tweets!

Maybe that's the biggest lesson of all from my Twitter experiments. It helps me think and curate my own thoughts. I hope you liked the 27 I shared with you here.