How Do You Represent Yourself Online?
image credit: wormwould
What do you do when you are the only face and name behind your business? How do you represent yourself online? This is a question that we get very often, and let’s explore a few of the options.
Option A: Erin
Erin represents herself as both Erin Loechner and Design for Mankind, but as one entity. She has one Twitter, Flickr, Gmail/Google, and Facebook account, simply because that’s the only thing she can handle (her own words!). She also loves connecting with old friends and family who have no idea what she does, so it’s a great way for them to see what she’s been up to.
Also, since she is a bit of a workaholic, sometimes she believes that if someone doesn’t really “get” what she does, they don’t really “get” her, because work is practically all she does (again, her own words!) So, work and personal life are somewhat intertwined for her, and this might be something that works for you if you don’t mind your blog readers or customers hearing about your outfit, dog’s recent tricks, or what you ate for dinner. She says, if your brand is who you are, then why separate it? I totally agree. This option works really well for some bloggers, artists/designers, and smaller shoppes.
Option B: Jaime
I am quite different. My brand and I are separate entities. In the beginning, I did what Erin did, but I started growing and realized that soon I would be unable to handle everything on my own anymore. That meant I needed to start separating myself from my brand, as difficult as it was. It also means I now have a handful of Twitter accounts. I manage my personal Facebook profile as well as the Design Milk Facebook page. Everything I do related to Design Milk is no longer under my own name, but under a brand name. I actually like it better keeping my personal life separate because I don’t feel a need to watch my every word, or turn people off because I’m talking too much about Beans or my gall bladder. If you’re more of a private person, or your business is growing at an exponential rate, you might want to consider this option.
Long story short, I think this leads to a greater question: How personally involved do you want to be in your brand? If the answer is very personal, stick with one account. If you’d prefer some privacy, opt for two.
For further reading, check out this article from Social Media Today — they seem to think that regardless of which option you choose above, something human and real needs to show through in your interactions. We agree.
A great point to think about…Thanks so much! I really like being my brand (kind of like Erin).
Thanks so much for addressing this. I was unsure what to do, I’m very much like Erin (my own words!), so I’m going to go that route. I like the mix of responses I get from my “organic” and “online” friends. Although sometimes my FB friends that I also work with at the day job will reference something from the blog and I’ll get this weird dejavuey feeling…like…how did they know!!?? Then I remember they have access to my other sites and I chuckle.
I struggle with this myself! My business carries my name I am part of my business ‘brand’. But that causes issues with struggling to separate myself from what I do for a living … and that can lead to all sorts of complicated problems!
I also needed somewhere just to be myself online. I’ve decided that Facebook is that space (aside from my business page). These days my friends on Facebook are people I really am friends with or people I’d like to get to know better personally. I don’t really use it for marketing and networking, even though some friendships do cross over. Plus I keep my profile restricted so I feel I can safely muck around there. It works well for me and provides a bit of sanity.
I am in the mist of creating a fictional character, Owly Byrd, for my online business. I think it will add to the memorability of my brand, and it seems to keep me separate from the identity confusion.
I do personalize some communications, but there is not a set parameter when I should sign as myself or the brand/character. It really depends on when I think patrons should take things seriously or will a bit of imagination.
I do notice that admins sometimes fill out personal profiles for organizations, and it is rather pretentious to not consider other members.
By having a fictional character, it is bound to not offend except for those who demand to know who the puppeteer is.
It is funny, because I originally started off as a separate entity with a face name (that everyone thought was real) and everything.
But as time went on I found myself frustrated with it, so I just let it be more me. I feel that I can filter what I let out and I use my facebook fanpage for all buisness related things, while my personal page stays that way.
I’m more like Erin. I guess it helps that I gave my business brand name a sort of personal name – “Miss Malaprop”. It’s hard to disassociate it from a person too much because of that. I’ve been interacting in various forums and communities online for so long that sharing semi-personal info doesn’t bother me much, and I’m pretty good about never over-sharing. Hopefully this method will continue to work for me and if it doesn’t, I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.