How Personal Should You Get Online

In today’s world, social media has blurred the line between personal and business. Most of the people we do business with want to know something about who we are as a person first. After all, so much of business is developing relationships. And when building a relationship, you want to get to know someone. However, this can be complicated for a lot of people because they are unsure where to draw the line between sharing personal information and being professional.

Here are a few tips to help you feel more comfortable in what you do and don’t share.

• Talk about your family. Share family vacations pictures. Share family traditions and get togethers. Talk about funny stories about your kids. Stay away from family drama. You don’t want to post on social media things you wouldn’t normally talk to clients about on the phone or in person. Stick to family topics that show your life.
• Share your interests. Do you love to garden, ride your bike, go hiking or taking yoga classes? If so share those things. Share things that inspire you. Things that you do for your own self-care. Think of what a great glance they will get into who you are as a person and what they were getting in a partner when they hire you.
• Avoid politics. There are many subjects that you can talk about on social media that allow people to get to know you. This is one topic you don’t want touch with the proverbial 10-foot pole. The topic of politics is too polarizing. You don’t want to turn off current clients or potential clients because you may disagree on certain issues.

Remember to use social media as a tool. It is a daily introduction to you and who you are as a person. You can more easily build relationships because people already feel they’ve gotten to know you online. If you stay real and mostly positive it will make a good impression. You don’t have to be all roses and sunshine. You want to show that you are a real person too. So, if you have a rough day, share, just don’t dwell. By staying mostly positive you will show that having you in their lives and in their business, will be a positive experience.

Social media doesn’t have to be intimidating. You don’t have to keep everything separate but you also don’t have to treat it like a reality show. And maybe by editing ourselves, we can start to change social media. So, it isn’t quite so much a place where everyone throws up everything that’s in their mind onto a computer screen. But it becomes a better place for thoughtful dialog and interactions and a way to extend and build relationships. Next time you’re sitting down trying to figure out what to say, what to share and not to share, remember to stay positive and true to yourself.