The Interesting Intersection of My Personal & Professional Brands
Author: Gary Whitehill
I thought I had it all figured out. When I launched my business a few years ago, I thought I would use my LinkedIn profile to interact with all my business contacts and use my Facebook profile “just for friends and family members.” Later, I added a Twitter account, declaring that it was also “only for business use.”
I dutifully joined lots of business-related groups on LinkedIn, shared articles and opinions, answered/conducted polls, and networked with business leaders from all over the world. My absolute favorite aspect of LinkedIn is the testimonials; and I’m so fortunate to have quite a few of them from clients and former/current colleagues on my profile. These testimonials have helped me land some new business and build trust and credibility with potential clients. On Twitter, I shared valuable information about the topic of leadership, offering tips for business leaders about how to tap into their leadership strengths.
On Facebook, however, I interacted with high school buddies, Army buddies, current friends, and my family members. I posted silly pictures of my cat, my favorite foods, and me singing in my acoustic duo, The Sparks. This was a space for Friend Holly, Former Soldier Holly, Daughter/Sister/Wife Holly – but not Leadership Expert and Entrepreneur Holly (I sound like an action figure!).
My social media strategy was segmented and successful. And then it wasn’t.
Things got blurry when a LinkedIn contact sent me a Facebook Friend Request. He had just heard me speak about Leadership at a conference and wanted to tell me how much he enjoyed my speech. “And now he wants to see silly pictures of my new cat?” I asked myself. The lines between all my various “selves” were blurring and, at first, it concerned me. Admittedly, I perused my Facebook profile before accepting his Friend Request and wondered how all of my personal information would shape his opinion of me as a Leadership Expert. I even considered removing some of my silly pictures and fan pages on my profile (alas, I love the tv shows Little Britain, Absolutely Fabulous, and Glee – there, I said it!). I even considered creating a separate Facebook profile for Leadership Expert & Entrepreneur Holly (many Entrepreneurs I know have several Facebook profiles).
After taking a thorough look at my only Facebook profile, I decided not to change a thing. Mind you, I had no racy pictures or anything anyone could deem embarrassing – silly, maybe, but not embarrassing (if you knew me, you’d know that I’m ok with silly). I learned a long time ago as a Media Relations Officer at The Pentagon: don’t say anything you wouldn’t want your Mom to hear or you wouldn’t want printed on the front page of the NY Times. That said, I still wondered if I wanted to share my religion (I’m Jewish), my dietary practices (I’m a long-time vegetarian), or the fact that I’m married, love popcorn, and have an organic garden – with people who only knew me in a work context.
I want my clients, colleagues, and social media followers on LinkedIn and Twitter to understand my passion for developing leadership skills in others and I wondered if they would get that message if they had to sift through all the silly pictures and comments on Facebook. Apparently, they can. I’ve connected more authentically with several social media “friends” because they can see more of who I really am through Facebook. It turns out that many of my clients also have cats or love vegetarian food or visited the same cities I plan to visit (and they want to recommend restaurants, for example). Many of these followers like to make comments about all of these topics. Their comments have deepened our connections, adding another dimension to our virtual interactions.
It’s ironic that I struggled with this subject at all, because the very subject of “checking yourself at the workplace door” arises quite often when I’m conducting leadership coaching or workshops. A critical piece to developing your leadership strengths is to tap into your authentic self and I help business leaders do this all the time. I often state that “you bring yourself to work.” There’s a misconception that when you’re in a leadership role, you should act like someone else (based on your perception of what a leader really is), and I’m constantly encouraging people to act like themselves to get the best results. Granted, you don’t have to share every single, personal detail about yourself during every business transaction (and some people are naturally more shy than others), but in this “era of transparency,” all of us are more challenged to open up and share our whole selves in the work context.
This blurring of my professional and personal brand brought another surprise. Many of my friends, former Army buddies, and family members were potential clients. Initially, I respected the boundaries by posting only fun stuff on Facebook, nothing work-related. But, surprisingly, lots of my Facebook Friends started asking me to share work-related information on Facebook. It was very touching that these people were trying to help me build my professional brand. It makes sense, though, doesn’t it? These people care about me so they want to support me. Honestly, it never occurred to me to share the information before they started asking me about it.
Find me on Facebook today (although there is one other Holly Landau who is not me), and you’ll see that I am my full self: a friend, sister, daughter, fan, vegetarian, and a proud Leadership Expert & Entrepreneur.
Social Media BEST PRACTICES:
- DO understand that current and potential clients can easily Google you, seeking all of your “selves.” Monitor what’s posted about you, your comments that everyone can read, pictures that feature you that others have posted (and tagged).
- DO Google yourself often and explore the results. Ask yourself if these videos/images/comments accurately represent who you are and what you want the world to see. If they don’t, do some clean up and improve your SEO.
- DO Google your potential clients, partners, and employees before you enter into agreements with them. Their personal and professional brands will become associated with yours once you’re doing business with them.
- DON’T use foul language in comments or share extreme opinions unless you’re ok with seeing yourself quoted out of context somewhere else on the internet. It’s not fair, but it could happen. Control what you can.
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DON’T ignore the social media wave. It’s here to stay and you can’t fight it. As Entrepreneurs, we’re living in an incredible era of FREE marketing tools. If you don’t know how to use them, get some education and/or hire someone who is savvy to help you position your personal and professional brand.
Tags: army social media entrepreneur entrepreneurs facebook leadership linkedin marketing tools ny times pentagon personal branding twitter
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