We have repeatedly mentioned the role of leadership in setting an organization in motion (also watch this keynote “From Wall Street to Love Street” held earlier this year in Athens). And we have also stressed the importance of people as change agents in the game of social media engagement. When we talk to people about their experiences in making change happen – most of the time we hear that senior management and the board member actually don`t get it. They say that it is very difficult for them to get the attention of their decision makers and that they struggle a lot to convince them. They need to prove the power of social media to them and they have to show somekind of ROI and impressive figures first. The problem is that they don`t come over night. It takes time, effort and lots of care and love to actually build a successful social media business community. And it means that you first need to make investments in terms of time and comittment before you see results.

Angela Ahrendts – CEO of Burberry – is an exception and a great example of the new kind of CEO. She is a CEO who gets it and we highly recommend to you watch her talk about why Burberry does apply social technologies and why their are on a mission to transform Burberry into a social entreprise.

Some tips on how to get the attention of your seniors:

1. Google them: Just conduct a live search about the most important people, services, products, competitors of the company and see what comes up. This alone can work magic.
2. Have an intro presentation ready: Have a presentation ready which you can use over and over again to introduce people to your mission. Use videos and real facts and figures to show the importance of it
3. Create an email list: Build an email-list with all critics and decision makers and send them relevant articles and news on a regular basis – especially those mentioning competitors and/or success stories
4. Set up a Facebook group: Create a secret Facebook group and invite other change agents from within the company in their. Make it a place where people can share ideeas and experiences. It is important to actually “walk the talk” and that`s why a Facebook group is very suitable. Most of the people have an account by now and let them feel the magic happen.
5. Bring people together: Besides informing people via email or within a Facebook group – you must bring them together on a regular basis. Make sure to invite people from all division and make it a casual meeting and conversation where you can discuss ideas and risks and where you can share infos about the progress you`ve made since last time.
6. Be the role model: Last but not least make sure that you are the one you knows about the latest trends and technologies and uses them. Help people understand what the latest trends are and help them decide whether they should look at something or not.

That´s enough for now… Time to listen to the Burberry CEO! We highly recommend to use this kind of videos to inspire your seniors and to prove that what you`re up to is actually very important and that others are going ALL IN.

Please tell us what worked for you. And feel free to share links to other inspiring resources. THANK YOU!