Why executive women need to be social media-savvy

We recently had the pleasure of hosting social media strategist Lina Duque on how executives can build a powerful online presence.

Speaking to The Council of Women Executives, Lina offered her perspective on how executive women can enhance their personal brand online. Featured in the Harvard Business Review, Forbes and the Globe and Mail, Lina talked about the benefits to executive women of being social media-savvy. These include being perceived as more accessible, transparent and trustworthy business leaders, as well as having better connections with customers, employees and investors.

Lina offered the following four tips on how to boost your online presence:

1. Have a plan and identify your target audience
• You need to identify who you should engage with and what you want to tell them. Following key influencers is a great way to start.
2. Engage in meaningful conversations online and add value with your thoughts
• Use hashtags and add photos to enhance your posts. Always give credit where due by sharing or tagging the original source in your post.
3. Don’t be afraid to write
• There’s so much out there you might not know where to begin. A good place to start is with news and trends, unique experiences, lessons learned and advice from other leaders.
• Grab the reader’s attention with catchy, concise and original content
4. Make engagement in social media a daily habit
• Once you get in the groove, it will be just like checking your email or your phone

When trying to figure out which social media channels executives should be on, Lina suggests Twitter, Linkedin and Google+. However, most critical is to be clear about your objectives and to be active every day – even if you’re only on one or two channels. We used the hashtag #ExecWomenTO throughout the workshop. You can check it out on Twitter to see the learnings and conversations from the session.

Founded by Jane Griffith, a partner at Odgers Berndtson, The Council of Women Executives is a group of senior women from various industries in Toronto focused on professional development topics and issues. Members include women from companies such as Metrolinx, RBC and universities like Ryerson and University of Toronto. For more information about the council, please contact Jane, you can also follow Jane on Twitter @GriffithJane.

Lina Duque, MBA, is a social media strategist, executive branding coach and frequent speaker. She helps C-suite executives use social media strategically for thought leadership. Follow her on Twitter @LinaDuqueMBA or connect with her at LinaDuqueConsulting.com.

Lina Duque addressing the crowd during the session.

The group is actively engaging online and working on their Twitter profiles and Lina is providing helpful tips along the way.

The Council of Women Executives listening to social media tips during the session.