Marketing

#TwitterForLeaders: GroupM’s Pattison on why CEOs should be on Twitter

By
Tuesday, 7 November 2017

If you’re a business leader, then you need to be on Twitter. The why is easy. Twitter’s what’s happening. It’s where your employees, customers, shareholders, the media and competitors are. Don’t take our word for it. We spoke to some industry leaders about why they are on Twitter and the value that they get from it.

As part of our #TwitterForLeaders series we spoke to Lindsay Pattison (@lindsaypattison), an inspiring leader in the UK media industry and one of the most senior women working within WPP Group (@WPP). Pattison is the former CEO of Maxus UK and the recently appointed Chief Transformation Officer WPP, a role she already held at GroupM.

In our interview, Pattison talks about her personal use, who she finds inspiring and why other business leaders should be on Twitter. She discusses her two main reasons: internally to have an ongoing conversation with staff, and externally to grow the fame of her business and connect with partners.

This Tweet is unavailable
This Tweet is unavailable.

2 Twitter Tips for business leaders

Over the next few weeks, we will also share some tips and examples about how other business leaders use Twitter. Our first two tips focus on the value of humanising your brand; and secondly how Twitter can be a powerful platform to amplify announcements you really want to share. 

1. Humanise your brand.

Don’t worry. Sharing your personality on Twitter doesn’t have to mean sharing your personal life -- although for some that is just what it means. It’s horses for courses, Tweeting about sport, culture or travel can also demonstrate openness without crossing boundaries.

Here Jacqueline Gold shares a picture of her father, David Gold, as she picked up her CBE at Buckingham Palace while Lord Sugar shares a picture of his new granddaughter

This Tweet is unavailable
This Tweet is unavailable.
This Tweet is unavailable.
This Tweet is unavailable.

And one more from Martha Lane Fox, the businesswoman and entrepreneur, crossbench peer and Twitter board director, who shares something personal and inspirational.

 

This Tweet is unavailable
This Tweet is unavailable.
This Tweet is unavailable.

2. Amplify announcements.

Twitter is about what’s happening. That makes it the natural place to share news about product launches, business results, or your brand’s work in the world.

Here Opel CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann shares a GIF to show off Opel’s electric car’s range, while Unilever CEO Paul Polman shares research that supports Unilever’s corporate ethos.  

This Tweet is unavailable
This Tweet is unavailable.
This Tweet is unavailable.
This Tweet is unavailable.

When the news isn’t so good? Let your voice be heard, and help shape the discourse around it. Last year Jacques Rivoal, President of Volkswagen Group France, showed character with his focus on trust during the diesel emissions scandal.

This Tweet is unavailable
This Tweet is unavailable.
This Tweet is unavailable.

Finally, we recently spoke to @Lord_Sugar about how he uses Twitter, and he was in no doubt what his message was for other business leaders: “they need to get on Twitter”.

 

This Tweet is unavailable
This Tweet is unavailable.
This Tweet is unavailable.