Readers Respond: Social Media Marketing - Is There a Line Between Professional and Personal?

While transparency and being authentic is important in social media marketing, is there such a thing as too much? What are your thoughts? Can being too personal harm your business or marketing efforts? What Are Your Thoughts?

Responsibility

I don't believe that a business providing a candid personal authentic perspective to clients and potential clients automatically becomes unprofessional. The same codes of conduct apply in social networks as they do anywhere else. It's about assuming responsibility for your actions. Don't turn the Twitter account over to the intern..instead allow people to represent the company who authentically can express something of interest or value about the company. It doesn't have to be difficult, but people are going to have to take responsibility.

—Guest Kyana Hansson

There is a fine line

Yes, there is a fine line between professional and personal. I am a freelance photographer and have run into that problem. I happen to make friends easily, but it can hinder setting prices and requirements for a shoot. Clients expect too many extras for free once you cross that line,causing situations that nobody really wants to be in. I have had great success with people loving what I shoot but they offer up my work for their friends without consulting me or what I might charge, so my advice would be "keep it professional" and if you manage to be friends outside of that...well....great.

—Guest Hal Stepanek

Very Blurry Line

A company's brand has always, in part, been made up of the collective personalities of its employees. Now those collective personalities are being seen and heard in an uncontrolled, unfiltered way. For some companies this is not going to play well, for others it will cause no harm. Who wins? Those companies that embrace social media and also embrace their employees. If you run a great company with superior products and happy employees, why not let them talk about it?

—paweber

No lines

Social media- as an entrepreneur I feel that there is no hard line. I blog about my personal challenges as well as my thoughts in business. My clients know my history and I have not hidden it. That alone grants our org more authenticity and my clients support this. It's a fantastic tool to create synergy and should be maximized. Life and business does not exist in a closed loop.

—Guest Neely

Who is the source

Ideally, there should not be a line between personal and professional. Customers today wants to know the source, the person behind the product. What the person stands for and does he speak up to what he believes in. What we believe in professionally should be what we also believe in personally. Most companies are simply afraid, unsure, imperfect therefore they are fearful that the customer's feedback might indeed hurt them personally. When there are no double standards, trust is built upon easily and solid businesses are thriving on trust.

—Guest JBrand

Feeding frenzy @ Multinational Corporate

This past weekend was good example of the unexpected and unanticipated power of social media. A large Multinational Corporate fell fowl of twitter when a freelance artist discovered a possible case of plagiarism. Unfortunately the Company did not respond very intelligently and took a rather legalistic" admit to nothing" approach. Within a matter of hours the topic had trended and I suspect that it cost the company dearly in share, sales and goodwill. 3 lessons here: 1. If your going to engage in social media have clear strategies and policies in place & the competent expertise on board to manage the process. 2. Have a clear policy about how you will handle disputes that go beyond legal stalling... on the net there simply may not be the time to stall, seek second opinions and then enage in damage control. 3. You don't have to be actively engaged in social media to get sucked into the vortex as I think was the case in this instance.

—Guest Steven Grindlay

Media is making branding captiliasation

Media is in interactiveness between the clients and end customers ,to felt the presence of organisation brand, spreading the uniqueness and quality offered by the brand.

—Guest ttaru47@gmail.com

Blur That Line

There should be no line between Professional and Personal but it must be real and authentic. Yes, it does take a great deal of work but with enough effort your business will float to the top in your field. In the 21st century you must build a community around your brand. You should not look at what you do as selling your product or service. You need to look at what you do as being a facilitator to the buying process. Consumers look to the people in their social community to help them filter through all of the noise of marketers. You need to build that kind of relationship with your potential consumers.

—BuyologyGuy

Blur That Line

There should be no line between Professional and Personal but you must be real and authentic in everything you do. If you hope to survive in the 21st Century of business you need to build a community around your brand. And yes it will take a great deal of work but those that put the effort into their community will rise to the top of their field. Business needs to stop trying to sell and learn how to help the consumer make the right buying decision. The best way to help influence the buyer is from the personal relationship side.

—Guest Buy-ologyGuy

Creative Progress,no just a change.

This is Organic and Natural Era. This is no more Plastic and Chemical. We have had enough pollution in body and mind that more and more we progress more poison it became . Concepts of productions that were cunning had met its eco deaths or soon. Means and ends both justifies not one. So, in a product like mine Organic Natural 100% chemical free garments all I have to tell customer is what is ture material and real colours. It is acceptable for the employees as well for customers. Falsification of facts only leads to entanglement not only in personel it is also in professional life. We all know now facts have began to speak in every area . Customers are becoming ethical by themselves producers have to apply fresh concepts not just another strategy of old millanium . In social marketting it is likely a trend one to noe produce and deliver on custme lines on needs advised by consultants one to one every way one can exist&survive as well as live .

—Guest N.J.Bond

Schoolhouse

If you're talking about "entrepreneurs," those in-home businesses like me, I know what you mean. Do we start a Facebook page for ourselves and then hope to promote our books or services at the same time? Mistake. Keep them separate. Don't have personal friends posting on your business social media site. It will take more time to keep them both up, but after a lot of thought and observation, I say keep them separate. Thanks for the great question. How do we keep up with it all and still get any work done? What's a small-time entrepreneur to do?

—Guest Camille

Must be used in an honest way

My feeling is that if you are going to choose to go down the social networking path, you need to have a clear plan of what you wish to accomplish with it and be honest with your internal and external customers. Otherwise there is too much room for faux pas and confusion which can lead to degredation of your brand. It is not something to be taken lightly...

—Falconcrest64

Part 2

Allowing our targets to give their views can only bring about positive change in the production process. After all companies need customer satisfaction. On the other hand, communication should be two-sided. Product enhancement means paying more. That should be the real debate. Is the customer ready to pay more for better quality? SM indeed allows for that personal touch, but should, under no circumstances, allow customer indulgement in our company’s policies. As long as we are ready to listen to the customer, he is satisfied, but proving him wrong is very sensible, and that’s where internal workforce competencies and reliability intervenes.

—RishiF

Part 1

People today need to trust before buying. Whatever the product or service provided, today’s customer wants to have comfort. In light of the global economic situations, I guess social marketing poses as the best marketing strategy so far. Companies need to indulge in the daily life of their targets. Proximity gives a sense of belonging to the brand. As long as this feeling of belonging remains, customers remain faithful to the product, and that’s what really makes the strength and stability of sales.

—RishiF

Professionalism is Always in Style

Every relationship is a two-way street, but that doesn't mean it's okay to go down every street with every person I meet. As an entrepreneur I want my clients to know I am a real person, that I'm well credentialed, and that I have a genuine concern for meeting their needs. That doesn't mean I'm perfect, but I approach every client as if it were my only client. One of the ways I can communicate my philosophy is by being "real" in my communications with them. I approach every e-communication as if I were conversing face to face. In other words, if I would feel uncomfortable looking you in the eye and saying something, I probably shouldn't "say it" on my blog, web page, or Facebook either. I may be new to these contemporary forms of marketing, but I don't think good sense, common courtesy, and professionalism go out of style in any form.

—Guest Diane M.