VACEOs members have a thirst for knowledge. They relish Council events that expose them to best-selling authors and wholeheartedly dive into conversations with national thought leaders. They hunger for ways to streamline their operations, engage their employees and market their businesses.
On May 25, members got a chance to hear from Corey Perlman – consultant, nationally recognized social media expert and author of Social Media Overload! His presentation – “Simple Social Media Strategies for Overwhelmed and Time-Deprived Businesses” – could not have been more relevant for his audience.
Perlman challenged us to prioritize our activity on social media platforms – to “buckle down where buyers are” and not be tempted by platforms that don’t make sense for our business. He advised us to create a team or bring in an agency to help with social media instead of trying to do everything ourselves. He also introduced us to a social media sales funnel to guide us through ALL the reasons to participate in social media (it’s NOT all about generating leads), and encouraged us to think outside the box when it comes to content and to be patient for results.
We won’t share everything we learned, but here are five actionable items every CEO of a small or medium-sized business can use to their advantage.
https://www.facebook.com/vaceos/videos/1595840410428127/
1. TAKE INVENTORY
Google your business and yourself. What platforms are you on? Don’t forget to check out reviewer sites and personal/company/employee LinkedIn accounts. How’s your brand looking?
2. PRIORITIZE YOUR PLATFORMS
Do you really need to be on Twitter? Maybe not. Not sure where which platforms you should be on? Google the demographics of each and ask your customers. Double down on a few instead of spreading yourself too thin.
3. UPDATE
When was the last time you updated your website? Was it more than three years ago? If so, it’s time to update to current standards. And while you’re at it, update all of your LinkedIn accounts since the design has changed.
4. POST
Post.
Every day.
To LinkedIn.
Post only content that has value.
5. GO LIVE
Challenge your social media team to get on the Facebook Live bandwagon. “You’ll see more activity and engagement on a Live video than you will on any other post you do on Facebook, so I encourage your watchers here to think about how they can go live,” said Perlman.
6. (BONUS) GET PERLMAN’S NEW BOOK, SOCIAL MEDIA OVERLOAD!
Corey Perlman’s latest book is a quick and easy read, packed with actionable items that will give you a firm grasp of the strategies that will work best for your business.
About Corey Perlman
Corey Perlman is an entrepreneur, author and nationally recognized digital marketing expert. He is also the owner of eBoot Camp, Inc. – a team of highly skilled digital marketing specialists who manage social media accounts for more than 40 companies. His latest book, Social Media Overload!, is an Amazon.com bestseller in every major business category. Learn more about Corey Perlman.
The Virginia Council of CEOs (VACEOs), a non-profit association serving 200 small and mid-sized business owners, announces the establishment of the Charles E. McCabe Leadership Award in honor of founding chairman and VACEOs member Chuck McCabe.
The Charles E. McCabe Leadership Award recognizes VACEOs members who make significant leadership contributions to the Council. Chuck McCabe, CEO of Peoples Tax and The Income Tax School, was appropriately named as the first recipient of the award during the recent 2017 VACEOs Retreat.
In his address to Council membership during the award ceremony, current VACEOs Chair Neal Lappe said, “Chuck McCabe was the leader who made Virginia Council of CEOs come to life.”
Under McCabe’s leadership, VACEOs – which began as a state chapter of a small national organization – did not dissolve when the national organization folded one year in. Today, nearly 20 years after it began, VACEOs has grown into a successful, thriving association that is currently expanding into the Charlottesville area. (Learn more here.)
(Image below: Four original VACEOs members celebrate during Speakeasy event at 2017 VACEOs Retreat. From left to right:, Phil Conein, TECHEAD; John Carrico, Ukrop’s Dress Express; Bernard Robinson, Networking Technologies and Support, Inc.; Chuck McCabe, Peoples Tax & Business Services and The Income Tax School; Connie Hom, Buckingham Greenery.)
“When I began interacting with fellow CEOs in the national organization, I became enamored with the experience,” McCabe said during his acceptance speech. “I am proud to have been the driving force behind bringing this invaluable CEO peer support concept to Richmond. Our founding Executive Director, Scot McRoberts, also deserves tremendous credit for the growth and success of VACEOs. I am so thrilled to see what this organization has become over the last several years, and I sincerely thank you for this award.”
About the Virginia Council of CEOs
The Virginia Council of CEOs is a non-profit association that serves CEOs of small and mid-sized businesses in Virginia. The Council was founded in 2000 to connect CEOs so that they can learn and grow together. With 200 members in Central Virginia at this time, the Council is forming new CEO Roundtables in other parts of the state in 2017. Learn more at http://www.vaceos.org.
Our members represent a wide range of industries and experiences, and they are frequently listed within the annual RVA 25 and Inc 5000 “fastest growing” company lists. (Take a look at this year’s nominees.)
Yep. The company we keep is mighty fine. In fact, they are often featured in the news. Read on.
“To me, Scott’s Addition is the epitome of a renewed energy and revitalization and new life coming to a historic area, and that’s Barber Martin.” – Robyn Zacharias, CEO, Barber Martin Agency. (Read Richmond BizSense article.)
VACEOs Member: Robyn Zacharias, CEO, Barber Martin Agency
Industry: Advertising
Member since: 2010
“We’re trying to take work from jobsites and pull them into our shop facility to increase productivity and quality, so that when we send it back to the jobsite, it’s a bit further along than if we just built it all out on the jobsite.” – Terrence Kerner, President, Atlantic Constructors Inc. (Read Richmond Bizsense article.)
VACEOs member: Terrence Kerner, President, Atlantic Constructors Inc. (ACI)
Industry: Industrial and commercial contracting
Member since: 2010
“Our sweet spot is health care, financial and private equity groups.” – Jyot Singh, CEO, RTS Labs. (Read Richmond Times-Dispatch article.)
VACEOs member: Jyot Singh of RTS Labs
Industry: Software development
Member since: 2013
“This location is going to make a huge difference for our products….” – Duane Slyder, Founder, Seasonal Roots. (Read Richmond BizSense article.)
VACEOs member: Duane Slyder of Seasonal Roots
Industry: Online farmer’s market delivery service
Member since: 2014
“We help others brand their business.” – Adam Raidabaugh, CEO, Acorn Sales.(Read Richmond Times-Dispatch article.)
VACEOs member: Adam Raidabaugh of Acorn Sales
Industry: Manufacturer of stamps and embossing seals
Member since: 2016
“The big advantage of that is it allows us to deal with any adjustments they want to make at the planning stage, instead of while the home is under construction, which reduces cost, errors and frustration for the homebuyer.” – Kevin McNultry, CEO, LifeStyle Home Builders.
(Read Richmond BizSense article.)
VACEOs member: Kevin McNulty of LifeStyle Home Builders
Industry: Building and construction
Member since: 2013
The alliance formed between the Virginia Council of CEOs and the Virginia Chamber of Commerce earlier this year was an important milestone for VACEOs.
The move gives VACEOs members access to the largest business association in Virginia and the leading non-partisan business advocacy organization for long-term economic growth in the Commonwealth. The Virginia Chamber has the ear of each incoming Virginia governor, said Virginia Chamber CEO Barry DuVal at a recent Quarterly Luncheon. And Council members were ready and willing to speak up, given the opportunity.
Using a unique live text polling application, members shared their views on issues including education, workforce training, economic development, transportation, healthcare, technology and innovation, energy, manufacturing, the environment, and military and veterans affairs.
This data will be combined with the opinions of other regional leaders and industry experts from across Virginia over the next year. The Virginia Chamber will then produce its Blueprint Virginia 2025 business plan for the Commonwealth and present it to the next governor after the 2017 election.
What did YOU do during your last business luncheon? If you weren’t helping shape the next governor’s economic development policy, you were dining with the wrong crowd. VACEOs members have access to national thought leaders on a regular basis. Check out other member benefits to learn more!
This “What’s On Our Minds” moment is from the VACEOs Quarterly Luncheon presentation “Blueprint Virginia 2025,” with Barry DuVal (Thursday, March 23, 2017).
Like many budding startups, the Virginia Council of CEOs began with a vision and a dedicated core of individuals. Today, nearly 20 years after a state charter morphed into the organization as it exists today, VACEOs is a successful, thriving association with an unwavering mission and strategy to serve more Virginia CEOs.
VACEOs didn’t begin as a non-profit organization, but rather as a state chapter of the Council of Growing Companies, which was formed in 2000 by Chuck McCabe, CEO of Peoples Tax & Business Services. Under his leadership, the chapter did not dissolve when the national organization failed, but came into its own on January 1, 2002, when its first executive director, Scot McRoberts, filed for 501(c)(6) non-profit status.
“I was the spark plug that brought the CEO peer-to-peer concept of the Council of Growing Companies to Richmond, which later become the Virginia Council, but I would credit Scot McRoberts as a co-founder of VACEOs,” explains McCabe. “And without Scot as the executive director, the Council would not have succeeded and would not be as successful as it is today.”
In 2000, Scot McRoberts was senior vice president of the Richmond Chamber and a board member of the Council of Growing Companies. When asked why he left the Chamber to become VACEOs executive director, McRoberts says, “The Council of CEOs was compelling to me. It met an immediate need not found in the business community. The people there were energetic and exciting. I had been at the Richmond Chamber for eight years, and it was a good time to do something different.”
In 2002, VACEOs membership totaled 34. McCabe and McRoberts recruited board members from the Richmond CEO community to help guide the organization’s mission. Original board members included Bernard Robinson of Networking Technologies + Support, Inc.,
Gail Johnson, CEO Rainbow Station, Inc., was also among the original VACEOs membership and the lone female executive in 2002. At the time, her business was 12 years old, and she was poised to franchise. “It was all good timing to be involved in a peer support group,” she recalls. “When Chuck asked me if I would be a part of the Council’s board, I quickly understood I was THE woman being asked to be an active participant at the table. This is an opportunity. How can I possibly refuse?’”
With the core peer-to-peer roundtable concept and Gestalt Language Protocol in place, VACEOs steadily evolved from a volunteer-driven organization with only a few opportunities to learn and network during the year into a growing and vibrant organization with an active governing body and a busy events calendar.
“When we first started out, we were very volunteer driven,“ says McRoberts. “My role as executive director was part time. We had a large board and relied heavily on volunteer leadership for recruiting, program development – really everything. Over the years, that’s changed dramatically. It’s became more staff driven, with volunteers more involved in strategic leadership of the Council.”
“I would say a big part of our success can also be credited to our culture of succeeding executive chairs,” says McCabe. “Each chairperson has made their own contributions, and collectively all have helped to make the Council what it is today.”
The first-ever VACEOs CEO retreat did not take place until 2005. It was held at Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, and approximately 50 CEOs attended. Roger Schnorbus, from the University of Richmond’s Robins School of Business, spoke … for free. That first year Doug Wilder, the newly elected mayor of Richmond, was awarded our first Home Run Bat in appreciation of his presentation. (Later that day, he took his bat to a press conference at City Hall as a prop!)
The VACEOs Annual Retreat has since become the highlight of the year for many, as New York Times best-selling authors, respected national keynote speakers, and well-known CEOs and business leaders now come to present their ideas and experiences to the membership.
So far, in 2017, VACEOs has accomplished three very important milestones:
1) Membership has grown to 200;
2) A record number of sponsors have come on board; and
3) The Council has announced an alliance with the Virginia Chamber of Commerce.
“The Council is beginning to grow into its name as the Virginia Council of CEOs,” says McRoberts. “I’m really excited about the opportunity to serve CEOs across Virginia, beginning with Charlottesville this winter and by forming roundtables in other communities across the commonwealth. The future is bright.”
Going forward, the Council’s ultimate mission will remain the same: to connect CEOs for learning and growth, with the peer-to-peer roundtable experience remaining at the heart of the organization.
“The Virginia Council of CEOs remains as relevant an organization today as it was yesterday,” says Bernard Robinson, president & CEO of Networking Technologies + Support, Inc., and original VACEOs board member. “One of the nicest things about the Council is that it’s made up of a bunch of dynamic people from dynamic organizations – and they’re there for you to learn from every day. It’s not a place for people to grow stagnant. There are new ideas and concepts and something for you to pick up every time you meet.”
There’s strength behind leadership. View VACEOs current Board and Past Chairs.
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