Keeping Your Personal and Professional Social Media Separate
One of the biggest mistakes you could make when it comes to your business’ social media management is letting your personal life bleed over into your professional life for the world to see. You want all of your content to directly reflect your business’ brand. That means keeping personal things personal and professional things professional. In this blog, we’ll teach you some of the dos and don’ts that will help you make your business stand out on social media — for the right reasons.
DO:
Always Have Separate Accounts
This goes along with the whole “keep it professional” thing. Your business should have an account of its very own where you can really nurture and grow its brand. Not only does this allow you to make sure your brand gets the attention it deserves, but it makes it far easier to keep separate the things you want to share with friends and family and the things you want to share with the entire world. This also helps to ensure there is no crossover of your personal and business social media presence. Just make sure to keep business matters on the business profile and personal things on your personal profile.
Show Them Who You Are
Social media can work as an excellent, invaluable tool for branding. But, in order for it to do so, you need to be clear on what your brand is in the first place. A good way to determine what you want you voice to be is to learn a thing or two from your competitors. Scope out the competition and see what their audiences seem to respond to and what they don’t. Then take the things you learn and apply your brand’s very own spin to make it unique.
Keep It Casual — But, Business Casual
No matter what industry you’re in, you want your target audience to think you’re approachable and friendly — but not too friendly. Always keep it professional on social media, whatever your business is. You can decide how much of your business’, well… business is aired on social media. But, it is of the utmost importance that you make sure to always respond promptly and courteously to your followers.
DON’T:
Air Your Grievances on Your Personal Profile
Running a business is hard, and seeing as social media is a place where many people go to vent or unload their frustrations with all aspects of life, it can be tempting to complain about the challenges that come along with your business on your personal social media profiles. However, it can be incredibly harmful to put it all out there when it comes to your business. Keep your complaints private, it’ll really enhance your professionalism.
Knockoff Someone Else’s Brand
Individualism is key for any business’ social media presence. Although it is absolutely beneficial to check out what your competitors are doing on social media to get ideas, the last thing you want to do is completely copy their branding. All that does is make you blend in, which is absolutely not what you want. Apply strategy and thought to your business’ social media presence and carve out your own space on social media.
Feed The Trolls
This one is actually good advice for both personal and business profiles, but we’ll focus on the business side of things. There are going to be people who don’t like what you’re doing, and often, those people are a vocal majority. Don’t feed into genuinely rude comments or posts regarding your business. If someone has a genuine concern, address that as you would a negative review, but don’t get mean. Bottom line: keep it professional.
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