In a recent LinkedIn post by Sir Richard Branson, Why aren’t more business leaders online? he asks why only 16% of CEOs participate in Social Media. His post references IBM’s 2012 Global CEO Study that states in 5 years Social Media will be the #2 way to "engage with customers, (after face-to-face personal interaction)."
I believe the tepid showing by CEO comes down to lack of perceived value. Social Media takes time, but not nearly as much time and effort as a face-to-face meeting. Digital will never take the place of of live interaction, but it does a tremendous job of expanding the boundaries of customer interaction.
If the effort required seems to outweigh the value, run this calculation. How many customers could you reach in a day if you didn't need to get on a plane? How quickly could you share what you are thinking, or what your organization is working on, if all you had to do was publish a blog post?
I'm not talking about marketing blah, blah, blah. Social Media allows you to not only share information, but ask questions, listening to what your customers are thinking about right now.
Here are some resources to make it easier.