Most CEOs Don’t Have Time To Blog
There are four Fortune 100 c-level bloggers I can name: Bob Lutz (GM), Jonathan Schwartz (Sun) , John Mackey (Whole Foods, a GCI client) and Ted Leonsis (AOL).
The list is short, but that’s not surprising. There are a lot of reasons that Fortune 100 CEOs and their c-level counterparts don’t blog, but I believe one of the major obstacles is “time.” There are c-level executives I know who are intrigued by the idea of blogging, but they are anxious about the time required to post, participate in conversations and deal with comments. And, they are right. They could hire people to help them with all this, but in the end it will be their blog and their name and their reputation. They will have to invest the time to make their blog their own. If they are not ready to do this they should not blog (and that’s exactly what the majority are doing).
So what about the executives who do blog? Lutz blogs because he was tired of the press getting it wrong and wanted more direct conversations with customers. Schwartz blogs to reach customers and Sun employees. Mackey blogs to debate the experts on organic and natural foods. Leonsis blogs for a different reason according to today’s Washington Post: to improve search engine results for searches on his name.
Leonsis may get criticized by some bloggers for manipulating search engine results, but I say more power to him. In an age where large numbers of people start with search to research everything from products and investments to health issues and political candidates the first, thirty search results are darn important. Leonsis obviously understands this and also knows that his blogging can help inject more positive content into his search results (Side note: have you assessed your CEO’s search results? It’s a worthwhile exercise).
Should your CEO blog? Chances are the answer is “no.” But in a few cases it will make sense if the c-level executive is prepared to invest the time and energy to do it right.
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