Social Media and You

I must admit I am a bit of a Luddite when it comes to social media.  There are just so many platforms to choose from, and they are increasing by the day!  The greatest challenge to my mind in times like these is not only deciding which platforms to utilize for your unique business, but what to upload onto your social media platform and ensuring that uploads and the way that they are presented portray a true and fitting representation of your business values.

Two decades of working in the corporate world with global premium clients left me cautious and suspicious of social media.  For, in respecting NDAs and client confidentialities, our instruction was to avoid social media should in case there is an unfortunate mention of even the most un-useful, trivial information about a client.  More often than not though these days one of the first things a small business does when it commences operations is to open social media accounts.  Regrettably, these become operational even before the small business has thought deeply about their brand values, brand essence, brand aspirations, preferred clientele etc.  Why does all that matter?  Because we need to ensure that whatever and whenever we are communicating on social media we are communication with brand authority, brand essence and that we are communicating deliberately to our preferred clientele – and that we are doing so without losing our personal and business authenticity.  Complicated?  Well, sometimes.

But how can we ensure that because everyone is on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the likes, we are thinking through what we are posting so that these catch the interest of our preferred clients, catch the curiosity of potential clients and portray our brand essence?  It all starts with a strategy.  Something a stakeholder analysis.  Who are the clients we want to engage?  List them?  What do we know that they like to read?  In what business language?  Is that parlance business casual or business formal?  What kind of pictures are they more likely to be warmed towards?  How often do we post on the social media platforms?  What times of the day do we post?  How do we present our goods and services on social media authoritatively?

We’ve all come across social media platforms where there is a fusion of personal and business essence.  Where the brand is using the character and personality of the CEO to boost the brand in the use of social media.  To my mind this is perfect the CEO has developed authority, executive presence and the likes.  A little bit of quirkiness in your social media posts becomes almost necessary.  Think of Sir Richard Branson.   But when we are building our business brand, a fusion of personal and business inspired postings need to be carefully thought through so that they do not, well, offend.  It’s not the time, for instance, to make your dislike for dogs a public and social media when some in your business sphere are likely to be dog lovers.  It may also be unwise to start a religious debate on your Twitter handle when you are reaching out to clients across a range of beliefs and faiths.  One would need to consider setting up a personal, non-business social media handle for those purposes.

And the list goes on.  Thinking through these seemingly tiny issues can radically alter the responsiveness of your business, and increase the interest in your business.