I used to be one of them.

The folks who would “tut-tut” at CEOs who turned their noses up at social media, assuming they were snobby, elitist and out of touch.

And maybe all those things are true but now I’m one of those CEOs. The realization came a few weeks ago when I got locked out of my twitter account and had no idea how to get back in. Now, I still post on social media but not nearly as much as I used to and I mostly use Buffer and SproutSocial to supplement my use on mobile.

I had to write an urgent email to my social media manager to help me get back in. As I did, it occurred to me, that I was exactly the kind of person I used to lecture. Sigh. Here’s what I discovered during approximately 7 minutes of internal reflection:

1) I was now managing a team and trying to teach them about social media.

All the interesting links that I found (complete with my pithy observations on why they were relevant) were now being posted on our internal social networks as inspiration and/or suggestions for my team to post.

2) I was too busy.

The day before the Great Twitter Lockout of 2014, I had been interrupted over 27 times in one hour. It seems impossible to be able to get anything done when you have 2 minute blocks of time in which to do it before you are yet again called away with a question. This basically created a situation wherein I could (and maybe should have) tweeted and facebooked and socialed all the things during the weekend, but….

3) Something’s Gotta Give.

It’s not just the name of your favorite Jack Nicholson with a small dog movie, it’s also abundantly true. I’ve written before about the toll that being an entrepreneur can have on health, well-being and your family. When you view social as a distribution tool instead of something to have fun with, it becomes work and not something you want to do when you finally have down time. Social fell by the wayside because I let it.

4) I examined the returns.

Truly, we manage social and see some fascinating goals being reached because of it. We love the SEO results and increased traffic to content. It is a very important part of what we do. However, as the team at Red Branch Media grows, I realize that high level sales and product is what my clients want to speak to me about, not how many retweets they received or if their fan base has increased. These are “contributing factors” to better branding and ultimately sales, but they do not have the impact that email or lead generation workflows do.

5) I don’t want to turn into the Miley Cyrus of social.

I am tired of people being so controversial, just to be heard above the din. It’s easier to simply stay back and wait until it’s become a bit quieter.

Even though all of these MAY be valid reasons, I am going to take my social game back in the next few weeks. I just thought I’d record this touch of comeuppance for those who are giving semi-social CEOs the sideeye. It’s not as easy as you think.

Maren Hogan

Maren Hogan is CEO of Red Branch and general Bad@$$

Maren Hogan is a seasoned marketer and community builder in the HR and Recruiting industry. Maren started Red Branch Media and, before she hired all the smiling faces you see below, she ran it on her own. In marketing for over 15 years, she has deep experience in strategic campaigns and a long-term, results-based operational approach.