Chief Executives Shy About Social Media

An IBM poll of 1,700 CEOs across 18 industries in 64 countries found that a minority of chief executives are active social media users, yet those same execs expect social media will soon become the dominant way to interact with customers.

In some kind of executive suite paradox, CEOs worldwide in industries ranging from health care to electronics to financial services predict that social media use in customer interaction will rocket 256% in the next few years—yet only 16% of those same CEOs are themselves active in social media.

Those surveyed admit that face-to-face interaction via their sales forces remains by far the dominant way to engage customers today. Social media, however, is now the least-utilized of all customer interaction tools.

CEOs predict, however, that within five years social media will push past websites, call centers and channel partners to become the No. 2 way to engage customers.

Views on social media vary widely across industries. About three-quarters of CEOs in education (77%), telecommunications (73%) and retail (72%) expect social media to become a key channel for customer engagement. Top executives in insurance (51%) and electronics (52%) come in below the overall average, and in industrial products, only 34% of CEOs believe social media will play a significant role, the lowest percentage of industries surveyed. 

 “From 1995 to 2000, the Web went from something only some people used to something almost everyone used to conduct business,” A chief executive from a U.S. financial markets industry said, likening social media’s march to that of the Internet itself.  “I view social media in the same way. We’re approaching the stage when almost everyone will have to figure out how to use it to conduct business successfully.”