Apparently, YouTube Automatically Makes Your CEO A Thought Leader

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.

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