Overused Ideas: The Executive Community

Part of being an analyst is talking with clients on inquiry calls, I have several of these a week. Just about every other week, I have a client who calls and tells me their grandiose plans to create a community to reach executives. From the CIO, CTO, COO to CEO, I’ve heard them all. Of course, I tell them that they are not alone and that I just had a similar call just a few days ago.

While reaching the check signer is always ideal, I have to remind these ambitious brands that:

  1. Should first know the technographics of executives, do you know if they even participate in social technologies? If age is an indicator of adoption, (see this chart) then it’s less likely older users are going to be ‘joiners’.
  2. Executives are busy and don’t have a tremendous amount of time to join communities
  3. Decisions are made from the folks below them –they seek the recommendations from the troops, execs may just sign the check –not make specific recommendations.
  4. Executive communities already exist –why not join them where they are?
  5. Quite a few other brands are trying to accomplish the same task

So before you venture off to create the next executive community be sure you can address these previous five points.

7 Replies to “Overused Ideas: The Executive Community”

  1. My approach has always been to try to reach both those check signers but also create awareness of brand by the broader group who are likely to contribute ideas and exert pressures on people higher up the chain. If those people know your product better than your competitor’s, the check signer is likely to hear ground-up suggestions for that product.

  2. Jeremiah, I see this as well, although I don’t hear about it from suppliers. I hear about it from media, marketing consultants, analysts, and associations — all attempting to create “c-level” communities.

    Prior to open source and Web 2.0 and social media, we collectively suffered from NIH — the “Not Invented Here” syndrome.

    There must be a phrase for NIH as applied to social media. If not, we surely need one.

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  4. I agree with you, in particular when it comes to C-level participation in social media. I run a customer advisory council that has around 25 members, all CIO’s from Fortune 500 companies. When I’ve asked them if they read blogs, the overwhelming answer has always been “no”.
    April

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  6. My approach has always been to try to reach both those check signers but also create awareness of brand by the broader group who are likely to contribute ideas and exert pressures on people higher up the chain. If those people know your product better than your competitor's, the check signer is likely to hear ground-up suggestions for that product.

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