Should You Share Personal Posts on your Business’s Social Media?
If you have a small business, a question that often comes up is, “Should I share personal posts on my business’s social media pages?”
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This is a great question – especially if it’s only you, or a small team behind your business.
Should you only be sharing business-related things, or also make your page personally about YOU from time to time?
To answer this, let’s think back to this question: Why are people on social media?
They are there to connect and build relationships.
Think about all of your family and friends that you follow. You are are there to see their photos, to banter back and forth with them, and even to post a funny meme and connect over a laugh.
All of these things are connection. They are relationship-building.
So the obvious follow-up question is: If connection is the goal, then why do people follow brands and companies?
The end goal is the same!
People want to connect with the brand. They want to see what the personality of the company is, and what they are “like.”
Because, in this day and age – people only buy from those they KNOW, LIKE & TRUST.
How do companies let their followers in to really know them? On social media!
Think about it – you can take out all the magazine ads and billboard space in the country. But this won’t allow your people to know you. (And without knowing you, they will likely never BUY…)
So, how does your audience build trust with your brand? By getting to know you through social media! By relating and getting to know the people behind the products, your audience’s trust in your company and your business will skyrocket.
Letting your company’s personality show on social media is crucial to your success.
And yes, that includes YOU personally. If you are the leader of your company, you need to personally be connecting with your people regularly.
When you think about it from the customer’s point of view, it becomes clear.
Let’s pretend you are wanting to buy some eggs directly from a farm. You find a local farm online, and begin following them on social media… before you have ever made a purchase.
You see that they talk about their eggs – but the farm owners also post about themselves, their family business, and the ways that they care for their chickens.
You now trust the quality of their eggs, because they have been personally involved in their pages and shared about themselves, their values, and their involvement in the farm. You know that they are raising their chickens right, and therefore must have a great product.
How much better than if they were just constantly posting about their “great sale on eggs!”
So the answer is: YES, you should post personal things on your business’s social media pages!
BUT, you should only do this periodically.
Remember, balance is everything with your posting routine.
MOST of the content on your business’s social media – about 75% of your posts – should be related to, on in line with, your business and products.
Keep in mind that these business-related posts can be widely varied! Some ideas include:
- behind the scenes in your business
- tips and insight in your field
- ask a great question
- interview someone in your field, or a supplier for your product
- post a frequently asked question, along with the answer
- share a process of yours
- highlight a person that works in your business
- tutorials or “how to” posts
- feature your products
(Head here for some more ideas!)
And then about 25% of your posts can be PERSONAL in nature.
Just as your business-related posts were varied, your personal posts can be as well.
Some ideas for these personal posts include:
- A family event
- A photo of your day
- A photo of your family
- Why you started your business
- Why you love what you do
- Your kids helping you ship products
- The ideas are endless!
When your customers see YOU as a real person, who is excited and passionate about your business and life, they connect with you. That connection helps to turn your followers into your loyal tribe. And ultimately, your loyal tribe turns into your paying customers.
As long as you vary your content, and follow the percentage guidelines – 75% business-related posts, and 25% personal posts – your customers will be connecting with you in a much stronger way than if you only focused on business posts.
Conversely, should you talk about business-related things on your personal social media profiles?
Spreading the word on social media about your business is always a good idea, as long as you are keeping similar rules in mind.
You could post on your personal profile about your business about 25% of the time. So MOST of your posts HERE are personal in nature, and SOME of them are shout-outs to your business.
Keep in mind that you WANT people to share about your business on social media! You want them to tag your business, talk about it, review it, and even share your posts!
When people do these things, it helps your posts to get more reach, your audience to grow, and your business to become familiar in people’s minds.
You can get the ball rolling on this process by sharing your business content now and then. BUT, you don’t want to alienate your family and friends by making ALL of your content business related!
Also, remember that Facebook’s policy is that you have to operate your business from a business page, not a personal profile. So you will definitely want to have your business posts less frequent than your personal posts!
Keeping the percentages in mind about business posts versus personal posts on your pages will allow your customers to see varied content and know your brand well!
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