Social Media | Twitter | New Rules of Marketing and PR | Personal branding | Best Practices
Social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are great places to engage both your professional network as well as your personal. However, most people separate business and personal on social media and I think that's a mistake. A fun aspect of social media is getting to know a bit about the personal lives of those we do business with.
I love to post about what I am up to personally and typically do this on my @dmscott Twitter and @dmscott Instagram feeds. Some of my biggest passions include international travel, surfing, live music, and the Apollo lunar program and as I skim my Instagram posts over the past year, I see examples of all of those things. And a bunch of business related posts too.
Most people who use social media for business present themselves as one dimensional. They’re business, business, business. I think we really want to get to know what those we work with are like as people.
I’m not suggesting that you share everything if you aren’t comfortable. It’s fine to leave that shot of you relaxing on the beach while you’re on holiday off your social feeds. And some people aren’t comfortable posting photos of family members. That’s fine.
But I do think that when you open yourself up by sharing what’s important to your personal life it means a great deal in our often cold digital business world.
For example, Dr. Jon Marashi is a cosmetic dentist in California. He’s got nearly 9,000 Instagram followers at @drjonmarashi because he not only posts about his work, he also posts about skateboarding. If I lived near him, he would be my dentist!
