Your clients don’t need to know EVERYTHING…

You know how I’m always preaching about using social media to build personal connections with your audience, right?
Well, some people take this a little too far…

Building relationships and starting conversations on Facebook is ALWAYS going to get you more business action than hard sales.
In fact, Facebook has literally been trained to look for posts that look “adverty” and show them to less people.
(You can learn all about these sneaky rules in my Facebook Online Master Class)

There is such a thing as getting toooooooo personal.This happens a lot when people decide to use their personal Facebook profile to market their brand – and we’re going to go over why that is a bad idea, in just a sec.
I speak to clients ALL THE TIME that are worried about having their personal name attached to their Facebook business page. 

The good news is that this doesn’t need to happen, unless you want it to.
Your personal brand and your business brand are two different entities and actually don’t need to be connected at all.
In fact – They SHOULDN’T be.

Take my Storm Steen brand, for example:

• My brand personality is extroverted – I am introverted (believe it or not)
• My brand personality drinks a lot more gin than I do in real life. (especially until during lockdown)
• My brand personality has a filthier mouth (Yes, really!)

Granted, these traits are reversed in most brands, but I guess I like to do things a little differently.

My point is that, even with a brand of the same name, you and your company are two different entities.You CAN get personal, as your brand, and still keep your privacy.

You SHOULD get personal, as your brand, and share experiences. I am all about sharing experiences on my business page (and my emails). But I pick these experiences carefully.
Think about it: What’s my relationship status?

See?
You can build valuable human connections with people through your business page and still keep your personal boundaries 🙂

The best way to do this is by understanding the difference between how you use a Facebook profile, a Facebook page and a Facebook group:

Your Facebook Profile

This is the personal profile that you basically need to be able to do anything on Facebook. Here, you can set your privacy settings so that only your Facebook friends can see what you post and you can keep up to date with friends and family.
You SHOULD NOT exclusively use your profile to promote your business – and here’s why:

• Facebook limits profile connections to 5000 users, which means you won’t be able to grow your following further than that.
• Users have to accept or send a friend request to see anything you are posting – and they probably won’t because you haven’t built a relationship yet.
• Adding strangers as Facebook friends compromises your online security and your offline privacy (do you really want that creepy dude looking at pictures of your beautiful little girl’s first day of school?).
• Not all of your Facebook friends are your target market. If you keep spamming them with your adverts, they’re going to get pissed (I’m speaking to you, Herbal Life people!). Just saying.
• You can’t run Facebook ads from a personal profile.

Keep your profile personal. Only accept friend requests from people you know and trust and start a Facebook PAGE if you want to build your brand.

Facebook Groups

Facebook groups are a great place to socialize and find niche audiences. 
By all means, join groups and use them to engage in conversations around your brand, build communities and position yourself as a thought leader (Again – you can learn all this in my Facebook Online Master Class), but DO NOT create a group solely for the purpose of promoting your brand!
Here’s why:

• Facebook groups require users to “join” in able to engage in conversations. Unless there is a preexisting relationship, common interest or invitation – they are not going to join a group to interact with a brand they don’t trust yet.
• Facebook groups work better as a community-based discussion area, rather than a brand-focused one.
• Your posts will be muddled with every other person’s posts on the group timeline, drawing attention away from your message.
• You can’t run Facebook ads from a group.
  

Facebook Pages

You are doing your brand a disservice if you do not have a Facebook page.

• Anyone can see Facebook page content, so users don’t feel intimidated by having to “sign up” to see it. 
• You can run ads from a Facebook page.
• Users can recommend your Facebook page.
• You can host a Facebook shop on your Facebook page (a new feature, as of last week)
• You don’t have to associate your personal account with a Facebook page, so your privacy is protected.
• You can let your brand personality shine and build relationships with potential customers.
• Users who have followed your page have done so because they LIKE hearing about your brand and what it has to say – so you don’t need to worry about spamming your Facebook friends.

So get yourself a Facebook page, okay?

Don’t be afraid to share, as your brand.
Your audience needs to know that you understand them and their problems.
They need to know that you are not some robot who’s trying to take all their money, but that you are there to help.
They need you to connect.
They don’t need to know that your daughter just learned to say the word “asshole”. That’s between you and your other half – If there is another half? – but that’s another thing you don’t need to tell them.

Keep some secrets.
You’re allowed.
And a little mystery is always more sexy…