Personal versus Professional

There has been a lot of discussion online about the new generation publicizing their private world and not understanding the dangers of this blurring of public and private personas, but there is another blurring going on less discussed that is even being encouraged with the development of social media. Social media marketing is founded on a person to person style approach, a presentation of businesses as personal friends. How does a business maintain their professional appearance in this atmosphere? How much of that distance and polish should be held to, if any? And how does a company maintain the appropriate balance without unintentional crossings into the fake friendly “neighborhood” business, the over-sharing sales clerk, or the slimy “I know just what you want” used car dealer?

The first sad truth to deal with is, you’ll never please everyone. No matter how careful you are, there will always be someone who takes offense. What one person finds offensive another may find courteous. For instance, calling your waitress by name after reading her nametag; some think this the considerate thing, the customers have taken the time to notice them as an individual; others grit their teeth and bear it because it’s part of the job, the customer acting like they know you without ever having introduced themselves. The best you can hope for is to minimize the damage. Take note of the current conventions in emails and network introductions; on Twitter courtesy suggests you follow people who are following you, on Facebook or LinkedIn don’t try to friend people you don’t have a connection too. Get an introduction from a mutual acquaintance or send an introductory message. Avoid computer plug-ins of names and usernames especially in combination with titles because computers can rarely recognize that Miss Greatandpowerfuloz isn’t really a name. Besides computers don’t do personal- people do. Your social marketing campaign should be handled by a real live person who cares about your company.

The advantages of engaging in this personal style marketing have already been proven. Beyond the well-explored statistics of people turning to their friends for advice and recommendations about products and services, passion and excitement are better carried through personal connections, and passion sells. A little of that personal passion leaking into the email, tweets, or posts is good for business. Likewise, though there is a myth of the cool professional being able to deal with anything from the perspective of distance- it’s only business after all. In actuality, it is that human connection, that tiny bit of intimacy, that encourages better business. That connection makes it easier to accept the imperfect and deal around our foibles instead of letting little things become a full-blown rant to friends and a campaign against your business. The truth is we use that professional distance to protect ourselves from hurt, not to sell products. To bring out that personal side is to risk rejection, personal insult, and unwanted connections (many find it hard to draw the line in personal connections and so they avoid offering any invitation to more intimate interactions). It takes a particular personality to handle the personal nature of social marketing.
On the other side of things, with Tweets and status updates and the feel of a personal forum made public, it can be easy to forget the public and get caught up in the personal. Private jokes and in-speak on the message boards between people who know each other can be intriguing in part, but can also be alienating to newcomers. It’s important to always be open to new commentary. If there is chatter about an event most of your followers didn’t attend, be clear about what event it was, maybe turn it into an invitation for newcomers to attend a future event, or if it is an exclusive event create a side forum for discussion rather than making your public feel excluded.

Some obvious but important things to remember in striking the balance and maintaining a social and professional attitude:

Avoid negative language. Speaking ill of any person or thing could quickly backfire. You likely won’t avoid all negative commentary, but try to keep the overly sarcastic bites out of your language. A surprising portion of the population does not understand sarcasm and many others will automatically empathize with the victim rather than you. If you have venting to do, do it elsewhere. However personal this space seems, remember it’s actually professional space.

Be honest about how close or not you are to your connections. Assuming a closer intimacy than they have offered will turn people off and make them feel defensive. Actually, be honest about everything. Companies have been bitten before by trying to pretend they were just outside appreciators instead of admitting their connections to various blogs. Internet junkies are pretty good at sniffing out the truth so always lay your cards on the table and don’t prevaricate.

Allow interests outside of the company to show through. It makes your social identity more human and you never know when those alternate passions may feed back to improve your business. Does your company have a favorite charity or do they have a baseball team that competes against other companies- it’s all interesting and makes for new avenues to connect with people.

Relax and be human, show some personality. You may make mistakes and you may alienate some people, and true with the internet those people and their connections could do some damage- but, as a human, you can always apologize. Social media is about finding your business’s place in the school lunch room. That identity won’t make you friends with the whole population, but it’ll connect you with the groups who will care the most about the things that matter to your business and the people who need what you have to offer. Those connections will offer more per person value than you can get from bland mass appeal advertising.