Xerox CMO schools law firm CMO’s on personal use of social media

“We can’t all have “geniuses” representing our brand like Apple does, but never underestimate how brands can be personified by the simplest virtual and face-to-face social communication.”

This from Christa Carone (@ChristaCarone), CMO for Xerox, in a piece in the Harvard Business Review last month on the power of a CMO leading by example in their use of social media.

Carone understood being an active participant, not a passive observer, was required to understand social media.

She also wanted to show her team, as a true leader, that using social media could change the public’s perception of Xerox as one of a copier company to one of business process outsourcing, where most of their revenue is derived today.

As I read Carone’s story of a using social media for a year all I could think of was law firm CMO’s. Where are they in their active use of social media to make sure they understood social media and leading by example to influence the perception of their law firms?

Carone faced similar challenges law firm CMO’s perceive with regard to social media.

I’ll be honest; playing guinea pig required time that is scarce these days. Maintaining a lively, close-to-real-time presence on any media outlet is not for the faint of heart. How many followers and tweets make a Twitter feed look respectable? How many views make a blog post high-impact? Is my Klout score high enough? And ROI? Let’s not even go there.

And of course the personal versus firm brand, an issue that often paralyzes law firm marketing.

Our executive team is proud of the Xerox brand presence in the social space, but we have a team-oriented, humble culture. I didn’t want to be seen as a chest-thumping “celebrity” executive who uses social media as a megaphone and whose personal brand can outshine their professional one

Rather than just starting to use social media Carone got clear on her strategy.

I set out to connect with communications professionals and marketing thought leaders, the most relevant audience for me as a marketing executive. Before taking the plunge, I carefully considered what value I could bring to the social conversation in a very crowded field. I thought about how Xerox helps customers so they can focus on their real businesses — and my purpose as its CMO. My answer was clear: giving a real, clear-eyed take on the business of marketing and communications. Marketers have a reputation for being full of hype; I wanted to share information about and examples of smart, yet simple, marketing and communications

Facebook was reserved for Carone’s personal life, so she started on Twitter, and later, blogging.

I didn’t have a huge Twitter following then and I still don’t. Quantity is never the point. Quality engagement always is. I tweet a few times a day — much of it is sharing what I’m reading, watching, and inspired by in marketing, branding, communications, leadership, and the occasional a-ha moment I have as a runner and/or as a parent. These are topics I live and breathe every day.

What Carone most enjoys by being active in social, as do I, is the way it helps build connections with others in the business.

I’ve been surprised by the number of people, fellow employees included, who introduce themselves at large events to say they read and share my tweets and blog posts. It’s nice to know someone hears you when you’re talking in a forest.

One of Carone’s favorites is when a woman approached her after a speaking engagement (something she’s asked to do more often now).

I never thought I’d see the old brand Xerox represented by a woman in an orange dress who tweets and talks like she’s my next door neighbor. I thought Xerox was stodgy; now I can tell you’re not.

Carone’s advice to CMO’s getting started with social media:

• Be conversational. Initiate or amplify conversations with clients, prospects, media players and employees. Remember: the only legitimate social media voice is the same one you would use in a room full of peers. You’re not leading a seminar. You’re having a conversation around the virtual water cooler, or even better, at a collegial cocktail party.
• Don’t sell. If you want to sell, buy an ad or an advertorial or, perhaps, sponsor tweets. Otherwise, contribute insights and stimulate conversation by expressing a point of view.
• Enlist a team. It’s just a reality that busy executives will sometimes be out of commission in closed-door meetings or airplanes without Wi-Fi. Chatter on digital media outlets is 24/7. So be open to asking trusted advisors to watch your blog and social media feeds while you’re “dark” and alert you when it’s important that you respond.
• It’s personal. And, it only works if it’s authentic. That means it won’t work for any professional who sees it as a burden instead of an opportunity.(emphasis added)

Social media has now become a natural part of Carone’s day and has changed how she gets, shares, and talks about information. She says if she’s “[S]uccessful in getting just a handful of people to see a new face to the new Xerox, then it’s worth every tweetin’ moment.”

Last Friday in New York I had a couple beers with the CMO of a top 10 law firm. I could sense their excitement with a social media initiative underway at the firm.

After a half hour, they said I’d like you to personally coach me on various aspects of social media. They wanted to understand what social media was, how to use it, and to lead by example. I’m pretty excited about the opportunity to work with them, and possibly later on, their firm as a whole.

In the 10 years since founding LexBlog I believe that’s the first time a CMO made such a request of me. Maybe it’s my fault in not making the offer, I don’t know. But the law firm CMO’s who are blogging and using other social media, especially as it pertains to communicating the firm’s message, are few and far between.

As a law firm CMO, are you leading on social media? Are you, personally, communicating the firm’s position and brand, through social media? Assuming not, don’t you see it as a lost opportunity? Could it even be a dereliction of duty?

Thanks for your story Christa. No question I liberally cited from your piece — it was just too good. ;)