The 5 rules of social media posting to keep you out of hot water with your clients!!
Social Media is a hot topic right now and I am constantly amazed at how many people and business folks have made it so much harder than it really is or should be! This short little article is to help you just get an idea of a basic plan to keep you from offending any current or potential clients. A few things to remember and I am sure you can try to convince yourself these are not valid and that’s ok. EVERYTHING you post is seen and can be seen by almost everyone, I do not care about your privacy settings, challenge me and I will bet you, I can find anything you post as can almost anyone else even if you think you are keeping your business and your personal lives separate. Remember the concept is called SOCIAL MEDIA. The platforms whole concept is to connect you to the rest of the world and make it as easy as possible!!
Here are 5 things to stay away from posting about if you are interested in using social media to build or maintain your business. Just trust me on this one…… I do this for a living (Consult businesses on using social media for growth).
- Sex. I know this seems like it is obvious but I am amazed at how many business people post all about sexual issues and risque photos, thinking only their friends will see it. I would stay away posting that selfie of you shirtless drunk on the bar dancing and doing shots! Think about what you would think if you happen to see your C.P.A. on a bar in Mexico doing shots!! No thank you!
- Religion. Here is a simple question for you, would you be willing to change your fundamental core religious belief based on a facebook wall post? Now let me as you this……. Do you know people who post all about their beliefs? What do you think? O.K. let me go another direction. How would you feel about giving money to a person or organization who you had a complete opposite belief of? Have I made my point??
- Sports. Now this one is always one of the ones that everyone wants to challenge me on and that is perfectly ok. I am NOT talking about if your little nephew hits a home run and you want to share it with the world. I am talking about you crazy team fans posting about how your team will crush your rivals. Again, I invite you to think about how you look at someone you give money to and think about how it looks if they just despise your beloved football team??
- Politics. I can almost use the exact same thought process as religion. If you would be willing to change who you vote for because of some facebook or twitter posts, then please let me know and I will be happy to try and pursued you to vote my way!! Now I ask you to think about how it would feel if you saw your Business Coach or Financial Planner posting all about who they vote for and it was the COMPLETE opposite of how you vote? Come on, be serious!! It would really irritate you!!
- Negativity. Nobody cares that you had a crappy experience with your bank or airline, we all have! However, when you post all about your negative experience what you are really telling the world is that you use your social media megaphone to broadcast your distain for someone or entity. If you post about all the things you hate or irritated you and I was a client that had a challenge with your company, would you post about me? I wouldn’t give you business just based on the chance you would post bad things about me if for some reason our relationship didn’t work out!! Just not worth it!!
I hope this helps you think a bit about how and what you post on your social media profiles. You can still tell your story and be authentic while staying away from these 5 things that may take away some potential clients or worse yet keep someone from hiring you or your firm!!
Please feel free to connect with me on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/CaseyFan twitter at http://www.twitter.com/DoubleYourCheck
If you would like to have a conversation with me regarding social media, marketing or building an online presence please head over to http://www.ConnectWithCaseyEberhart.com and pick a time that works best for you!!
Give someone an AWESOME day!
Casey
