How personal should you be online? Do we care what you had for lunch? It depends. In today’s 30 Days of Social Media lesson guest contributor Valerie Khoo gives us an insight into the right balance of personal and professional and why what you share matters to how you are perceived online. The old adage says: “Be yourself”. And it’s no different when you are online. If you want to make connections in the online world, your best bet is to “be yourself”. That’s because if you want to make real connections and build authentic relationships, you need to be true to who you are, your values and what you represent. It’s all about the “know, like and trust” factor. In the online world, people may follow your Tweets or read your blog for months – maybe even longer – before they reach out to talk/Tweet/email/phone you directly. And during that time, they either either get to “know, like and trust” you – or not.
Are you all business?
One of the biggest mistakes people make is to create an online voice that’s all business. They only blog about industry-related news, they only Tweet links to business articles or they write in corporate-speak. While it’s important to show people that you are serious about your business, it’s a mistake to bang on about it all the time. Frankly, it just gets boring. And it doesn’t give people an insight into the person behind the brand/organisation.
Get personal
So don’t be afraid to get personal. I’m not suggesting that you upload photos of yourself in your bikini onto your Facebook site or reveal your deepest, darkest secrets in a confessional blog. But let people know a little bit about what you’re doing. Just be smart about it. Don’t broadcast your address, your mother’s maiden name or the names of your young children. And just remember that you should censor yourself. Don’t broadcast anything you wouldn’t be comfortable with being on the internet forever. Some people hear that and feel that staying mute online is the best option. It’s not. If you are mute – and don’t bother creating your own voice or conversations through social media – you may as well be invisible. And no business person wants that. Contributing to the discussion online means you have a chance to shape your brand and how you’re perceived. If your online voices is true to yourself and your values – that’s only a good thing. Author and Wired editor Chris Anderson famously said: “Your brand isn’t what you say it is, it’s what Google says it is.” And that’s absolutely true. When people want to know more about you or your business, they’ll Google you. Guaranteed.
So what are your options?
- You can be invisible
- You can let others shape how people will perceive you
- You can create an online persona that’s all work and no personality.
- Or you can directly impact your brand and reputation by developing an online voice that people know, like and trust.
The choice is yours. TODAY’S TASK This task is not one that you’ll complete in one day – it’s an invitation to look at how you communicate online so that people know, like and trust you. Until tomorrow, Suzi
