Executives who avoid social media have no excuse for failing to exploit their influence to maximum effect.
That was the message from Twitter Australia managing director Karen Stocks at a business lunch in Sydney on Wednesday as she urged business leaders to follow in the footsteps of Richard Branson and Bill Gates, whose active and dynamic Twitter profiles are followed by millions.
"You're on a stage. You've got an audience out there waiting to hear from you," she said.
"The question is whether you're going to step up on to the stage and talk to them."
For the uninitiated, the Twitter chief recommended planning ahead. Tweets about what you're reading, what's happening behind the scenes, the achievements of your staff and your company's presence in the media make for a good structure to a week on social media, she suggested.
Above all, you should show your personality and engage with colleagues, friends and other followers, Ms Stocks said.
"I think business is now in a place where we think it's OK for leaders to have a human side. Focus on things that you're comfortable sharing."
And she reminded her audience of the so-called "$10 billion tweets" - a pair of messages sent by American investor Carl Icahn in which he declared Apple to be "extremely undervalued" and said "a larger buyback should be done now". Apple's stock price rose 4 per cent, adding $10 billion in value, within 20 minutes.
This, she argued, demonstrated the real and immediate value that interaction over social media can add to a company's bottom line.
But even among those Ms Stocks identified as skilled tweeters, not all have taken to the medium as a lasting pursuit. Hillary Clinton has amassed more than two million followers from only 106 tweets. Legendary investor Warren Buffet, who made a promising debut last year with "Warren is in the house", has posted just four times since.
And few Australian business leaders were named as exemplars of social media usage in Wednesday's presentation. Local banking and mining chiefs have so far shied away from Twitter, though Ms Stocks said Telstra CEO David Thodey was one of her "favourites" on the platform because of his authenticity.
"When he goes around and does a lot of his visits, he's there taking selfies with everybody," she said.
News Corp chairman and former Australian Rupert Murdoch was also singled out for praise. The media titan frequently offers his views on world affairs and domestic politics to more than 500,000 followers - though not all are adoring fans.
"If you want a good follow on Twitter, I can highly recommend his tweets," Ms Stocks said. "They will be entertaining without a doubt."
