15
2008
Showing Personality is Great, But Sharing Too Much Information Isn’t
A few days ago a friend who recently launched a new business asked about the importance of creating an online presence. She’d been doing well in her local town based on word-of-mouth alone, but wanted to ramp-up her marketing efforts. I replied, somewhat cavalierly, that if her business didn’t have an online calling card of some sort, it may as well not exist. This is not entirely true, of course, but the point I was trying to emphasize was that today’s online footprint is the equivalent of yesterday’s requisite Yellow Pages listing.
She completely understood and while eager to jump right in, was somewhat concerned about the “how.” As the founder and head of her company, she felt that she was one of its main evangelists — and her enthusiasm for her work certainly shined through. She’d heard the terms “transparency” and “authenticity” being thrown around, and was trying to figure out how to present her personality online in such a way that it advanced her business goals. She was asking all the right questions and, as a result, she’ll be successful when her site launches.
But I wasn’t entirely surprised that she was struggling with striking the right balance between online sharing and not revealing too much — even some social media and communications professionals frequently confuse authenticity and transparency with letting it all hang out online. No wonder clients are confused!
No, I’m not going to provide links to questionable online behavior – calling people out publicly is not my style (although it does seem to be an unofficial sport among some members of the online community, who take enjoyment in other people’s mistakes and feel it’s their duty to embarrass the heck out of them) – but spend just a few minutes online, or even conduct a relevant keyterm search, and you’ll find a plethora of examples that will make you cringe. So, for example, while talking about your latest vacation is ok, oversharing in excruciating detail about the effects of the local diet on your digestive system probably isn’t.
Showing personality doesn’t mean being myopic about your online behavior and how it will be evaluated and received, but neither does it mean people should be so fearful of criticism that they become cardboard cutouts of themselves. Stand for something! But don’t let it all hang out!
What are some of your favorite examples of how to show personality the right way?
Tags: blogging, marketing, Reputation, social media
Craig Says:
October 15th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
If you are funny, say something witty and make a joke. If creative, paint a picture with words. Bottom line is to be yourself and is usually the advice everyone has. Because in the end, you can only fake a different personality for so long till it blows up in your face or just gets annoying to keep it up.
Craig
http://www.budgetpulse.com
Justin Thorp Says:
October 15th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Andrea, a big part of my job at Clearspring is being a face of the company. So I do a lot of communicating about who we are as a company and showing that personality. I do this a lot through our blog. We had a company picnic where our CEO attempted to use a paraglider.
http://www.clearspring.com/blog/2008/08/12/clearspring-ceo-hooman-radfar-attempts-to-take-flight/
Andrea Weckerle Says:
October 15th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Craig: Good point and very true (”you can only fake a different personality for so long”).
Justin: Fun stuff!
Rich Becker Says:
October 15th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Andrea,
Very well advised. We just had one of our clients send us a link to a former client’s blog, citing a post that revealed in great detail current personal struggles, including a divorce.
While I imagine it was meant to be inspiring to her, but it didn’t read that way at all. Sometimes it’s okay, but there always has to be a underlying reason, I think, to share more than readers really need to know. Good stuff.
Best,
Rich
Mark Dykeman Says:
October 15th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Don’t do or say anything online that you wouldn’t do or say stone cold sober in real life in front of a six year old and a ninety year old at the same time.
Mary Fletcher Jones Says:
October 15th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Well, Andrea, I think you have a point. And to answer your question, I think it’s fine to let your personality show through on your website, Flickr photos, blog, video, etc. because it engenders trust when you show you are a real person/your employees are real people and not a faceless corporation. But if you are business person, what you say has to be informative and relevant to your audience. And useful, right? And then you can worry about entertainment value. I try to think: Why should they care about this? What’s in it for them? How is this related to my core business? That’s my internal editing tool…and why I don’t have a (lot) of quirky apps on my Facebook page. My 2 cents :)
Andrea Weckerle Says:
October 16th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Rich: Good point. I think we are still in a period of experimentation where people are trying to define acceptable parameters. I say we should err on the side of caution.
Mark: That would definitely be playing it very safe.
Mary: Yes, I agree that one’s personal persona and professional side can coincide happily online.
Social Media Myths and Reality » The Buzz Bin Says:
October 16th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
[...] brand and persona part of your business plan, a necessary part. As Andrea mentioned yesterday, a web presence is a must for any business. It’s time to stop thinking about whether or not to go online. Instead, [...]
Mojtaba - FriendFeed Says:
October 25th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Demographics and social media | emandtee Says:
October 29th, 2008 at 12:22 am
[...] asserts: I just wonder if most companies will ever get it, that organizational social media really is about [...]
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