One of the developments
in social media I've been watching over the past year is that the line has
become blurred between the personal and business aspects of their lives.
Here’s a good example of
a bad example. A friend of mine is very
active on Facebook and he uses it to generate leads. No subject is off limits
and he has no filter. There is no doubt about his political point of view, his relationship
with his ex-wife, which basketball team he likes, and which one he hates.
The issue is that he
uses his personal Facebook page to post for his business. Unfortunately, as
active as he is, he drives very little business for his efforts. My opinion is
that people block his feed, manage to ignore his rants, or have stopped
following him.
Maintaining
personal and professional social media
If you still feel that
you need an outlet to vent about the hot-button topics, start a Twitter account
that is anonymous. Don't use your name anywhere and don't post anything such as
pictures that would connect you personally to it.
Facebook is a little
trickier, but you can still maintain a professional and personal presence by
creating a business page. You can then drive your business contacts to that
page and offer engaging content. One caveat: you will need to upgrade your
privacy settings for your personal page so that only friends can see your posts
and to make it as difficult as possible for clients and potential clients to
search for your personal Facebook page.
What
to avoid
If you choose NOT to separate
your personal and professional accounts, here are some hot button topics to
avoid:
- Political
If you are a political animal, your posts supporting one point of view can potentially alienate a big audience.
- Sports teams
It's fine to post positive things about your favorite teams, but if you post particularly vehement content about your arch rival, you've just lost alumni of that institution.
- Relationship
It is a good idea never to post about things that are going wrong in your relationship
- Religion
Although it may be important to you, some people find it off-putting. Tread with extreme caution.
10
things to remember about posting on social media:
- Keep it positive!
- If you won't say it to a customer with whom you're sitting face to face, don't post it.
- Do not over-post or over tweet.
- Do not post anything when you are angry, tired or inebriated.
- Social media is forever.
- Avoid personal attacks of colleagues and competitors.
- There is really no such thing as privacy online.
- Offer information of value.
- Make your posts about your audience, not yourself.
- There should never be just 9 things in a list.
