When I first started using social media, about 7 years ago, I recognized the importance of having a personal brand. I branded myself as a resource for many friends and business associates. I began to realize the "power of me" as well as the people with who I was connected. I had some amazing people around me.
As I began to become more involved in social media, I began blogging. I saw how easy it was to use my personal brand to get people to move over to my business brand, Friends Food Family. I created anticipation on the launching of the website and the start of a "Facebook Fan" page as well as a newly created Twitter account. I was able to get my networks up and running quickly with the support of people on my personal pages.
I started moving back and forth between my personal brand and my business brand, but I noticed that sometimes my personal brand did better on certain networks than my business brand. Case in point: I had an account for Friends Food Family on Twitter, complete with logo. As I attended conferences and events, there were tweet ups, people were meeting for coffee and many were engaging with each other prior to arrival. How do I converse with people as@friendsfoodfam? How do they know what I look like? Do I wear a box over my head with a logo on it? At that point I realized, putting a name with a face was very important. I could use my business brand "twitter handle" but I needed my face to show people who I was. I was a really small brand, people might not engage as much with my brand as they would with me.
More and more networks have integrated themselves into social media and as I have joined each one, I have had to make a decision on whether I should share my business information on a personal page or a business page. If you are a small brand and not sure where to start here are my 5 network suggestions for Personal VS Business brand:
1. Linkedin - With all the tools available on a personal profile page, I would concentrate on a personal account. Add articles and projects to job experiences and take advantage of creating an article like this one. People may not follow your business page, but they would be interested in connecting and interacting with you.
2. Facebook - I would first get your personal profile started. It is the best place to begin when trying to get comfortable within the network. If you are a business to consumer (B2C) company, creating a Facebook Business Page can help with fan participation and engagement. Remember that Facebook only sends your message out to 5% of your fan base so you might want to add paid advertising ($5) to posts that lead people back to your website. (Look at the posts with a large number of shares and comments, I have boosted them for $5)
3. Twitter - Here you have two options: start an account as your personal name or you can set it up with your business name. I would suggest using a business "twitter handle" using your portrait instead of your business brand. You will have better engagement as people can see who you are.
4. Google+ - Create and engage as a personal brand. What's great about Google+ is you can share anything and everything on your personal page. Don't feel shy about sharing business information, personal information or information that may be helpful to your audience. By using circles you have the ability to put the people you follow into streams. This will allow you to share information with specific circles or post everything publicly. Because Google+ is where you register your Google Local account, you will have a business page. You will want to share information on a business page, but I manage a number of small brand business pages on Google+ and the individual's personal page always gets better engagement than the business page.
5. Pinterest - Lastly, create a personal account on Pinterest. This network is made up of mostly woman who want to pin pictures about food and drink, do-it-yourself projects, and home decor, just to name a few (and the top 3 pinning topics). You have the ability to create business boards on our personal account. I have a number of them for Friends Food Family as well as Fun Enterprises. I have had a few board that have gone viral, but not on any of my business pages.
I hope this helps you figure out how to better engage as a small brand. Too many small businesses engage as a business brand and don't get the results they are looking for usually leading to poor results and abandoned accounts. Try it and please, give it some time because sometimes the best branding is the "power of you".
