This is the control panel for a Winnebago. But I thought it was a nice metaphor for having your social media channels managed from one central, delightfully wood-panelled, location.
These days I find myself doing a lot of social media consulting, usually helping small businesses start using social media. And the first question I’m always asked is: “What social media channels should I be using?”
99% of the time, my answer is the same: Start with the trifecta of Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
“I get that I should be using Twitter and LinkedIn,” they say. “But Facebook? Isn’t that just for personal stuff, like friends and family? I don’t want the world to see my family pictures. That’s not appropriate for my business. And Facebook can’t help build my business anyway.”
When you’re a small business, you are your personal network
The thing is, when you’re a small business owner, much of your business is going to come from your personal network. Your sister-in-law, the guy you shared an office with 10 years ago and still keep in touch with, the neighbour you always hang out with on Friday nights when your spouses have other things to do – these are people who are often in a surprisingly good position to refer you, your business and your product to others. And they’re likely to be surprisingly enthusiastic about you.
In fact, they’d probably recommend you to more people more often if they could remember what you do and that you’re doing it – and that’s where Facebook can help.
For example: The other day, a friend from grade school posted a note on Facebook about how she was having trouble with her nanny. I don’t speak to her on a regular basis, and she lives in another country, so without Facebook I wouldn’t have known that she was having an issue. As it happened, my cousin-in-law, who runs a babysitting business, had just posted a note about how her company can help find nannies in that area. So all of a sudden I was able to connect my friend with my cousin-in-law’s business.
It wouldn’t have happened on Twitter (since my Twitter feed is too busy and my grade-school friend isn’t on there anyway), and it definitely wouldn’t have happened on LinkedIn (since ‘trouble with nannies’ isn’t the kind of content that tends to find a place on LinkedIn).
If you aren’t linking Facebook to your professional profile, how will these kinds of connections happen?
Stop worrying about the invasion of your personal life
Guess what? The convergence of your personal and professional life has already happened. If you’re a small business owner who’s been out there doing small-business-owner things like meeting people, attending events, publishing articles and making contacts, your personal life isn’t a mystical secret. Anyone with 30 minutes and some basic deduction skills can find out a lot about you, and can probably find a whole heap of photos, too.
This is a good thing. You want to be accessible; you want to turn up in Google searches. The more findable you are, the more credibility you have. And unless you’ve been a complete idiot, and posted a whole slew of photos of yourself doing jello shots off the naked torsos of strange men, attaching your Facebook profile to your personal brand – and associating it with the company you lead – isn’t going to be a problem.
When you’re too private, people wonder why
The other day I wrote about how authenticity and transparency in advertising isn’t as popular as the gurus would have you believe. However, where they’re right about transparency is when it comes to personal branding, and when you’re a small businessperson, personal branding is everything.
Before you ever get into a meeting with a new client, someone in the decision-making chain is going to Google you. If they can’t find much information about you, they’re going to assume you’re not as prolific, influential or important as you want them to think you are. They’re simply going to wonder why someone who calls themselves an ‘expert’ only has 3 search returns. Facebook can increase your searchable content volume while you’re building up your other channels – and that can be a big advantage.