For managers and leadership at any company, time is often tight. You’ve got a lot on your plate as it is, and adding the maintenance of social media accounts to the pile can seem like a frivolous endeavor. Why bog yourself down in the details of yet another social media site? But really, being literate in organizational social media is becoming more and more of a competitive advantage. For senior executives, getting involved in social media can mean gaining tools that will actually help you hone and improve your leadership skills.

1.Curate for Your Team

There is a lot of noise out there on social media. Checking Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn often results in an information overload. On social media, everyone’s opinion is posted equally, and that can lead to opposing viewpoints, all of which are presented with the same amount of credibility. Traditionally, the viewer of all these messages is left alone to derive meaning. From a corporate communications standpoint, it’s up to leaders to help create the meaning of all this information for their teams.

By learning to use social media as a finely tuned source of news and information, you can better separate the things that are important from the things that aren’t. Use content curation tools and apps to get everything in one place, eliminating a lot of noise. Follow a specific hashtag on Twitter, a certain person’s blog, or the headlines from particular media outlets on LinkedIn. Then you can choose which content to send out to your team, share via your own social media, or incorporate into your next panel appearance or blog post. This will help your team know not only where you stand, but where the company stands as well.

2.Leverage Your Opinions

One of the most valuable uses for social media is its capacity for content creation. As a leader of your team and company, employees are already looking to you for your thoughts and opinions on industry news, developments and events. Why not turn those opinions into a weekly blog?

Use platforms like LinkedIn to post your opinions to all of your connections, not only your immediate team. Posts by the likes of Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates stand next to posts from local business owners and industry experts, and are read by the same people. Establishing yourself as a thought leader in your space will let your team, and others in your industry, feel more connected to you. Though this strategy requires some time, once you get into a habit of sharing your opinions online, you’ll find it’s painless.

3.Influence Social Media Strategy

Although social media is ubiquitous in our culture, the truth is that many businesses are behind when it comes to social media literacy. A new generation of social-fluent workers are coming into entry level positions, but enthusiasm for social media on a personal level isn’t the same as knowing how to use it for business.

As team leader, the executive needs to become the advisor on social strategy. This way, as the tech-savvy generation enters the corporate world, they can be guided and taught to harness that knowledge and turn it into something great for the company. The smartest leaders can facilitate organizational change around the ever-evolving technology space, establishing themselves as trusted mentors, and strengthening their brands.

Advances in social media for the corporate world open the door for brand building, knowledge sharing and the insights that come with them. As a senior executive, if you dismiss social media as superficial or unnecessary, it doesn’t only leave you out of the loop — it can also hurt you, your career progression and your company.