You’ve probably heard it time and time again - “How do I demarcate between my personal life and business life on Facebook?”
It’s a very good question. And from the experts I’ve interviewed, a difficult one to answer.
In a perfect world, everyone would have a detailed business plan on their Facebook strategy before they signed up. But things don’t work that way, and that’s why you’ll find many entrepreneurs, actors, leaders and generally ‘famous’ people have varying degrees of usage.
You’ll often find yourself shocked at what one of your ‘professional’ colleagues post, or even super impressed with another’s skill or talent or travel adventures. Boundaries are crossed left right and centre. And there are people judging you - for better or worse - all the time.
There are some who use Facebook purely for business purposes. Every post, every photo, every link is painfully scrutinised. If it doesn’t in some way establish that person’s message or branding or business, it just doesn’t make the cut.
This is all good and fine, but unfortunately any close friends and family who find them, are just going to be treated like another ‘customer’.
Then there are those who use Facebook purely for personal reasons, and meticulously accept or deny friend requests based on whether they know you personally or not. Everything and anything shared is something they’d tell or show their own mother at the dinner table.
For these people who also own businesses, they are missing out on a massive publicity and lead generation machine, not to mention all the incredible relationships out there waiting to be monetised.
The Third category is one 95% (probably more) fall into. And that’s a mix of personal and business. Recently I decided to do some statistics on a few of my ‘guru’ friends on Facebook and found 9 out of 10 had a completely mixed presence. They usually had photos and videos of their partners, kids, house, holidays as well as large promotional messages and events from their businesses and websites.
Is there a right or wrong?
Let me be the first to say that I am not preaching to you, because I face these very same issues. Almost everywhere I go, people tell me how much they’ve enjoyed my holiday adventures and some of the more private things I’ve shared. But they also enjoy my quotes, my insights and if you’re reading this, my blog posts.
Facebook does have a heavy emphasis on privacy, and some of its features allow for you to control who sees what, create groups of people and limit other groups. I’ve yet to see anyone who has truly mastered this (and preferably automated it!) though.
According to Alexa, Facebook is the second most visited site on the internet, which has some seriously important implications for you.
I think it would be highly advantageous to do a ONE PAGE business plan for your Facebook strategy, briefly outlining your vision, mission, strategies, outcomes and action plan steps. It will give you some clarity moving ahead. Share it with your partner and see what feedback they have. Then ask your best professional mentors and colleagues. You’ll be surprised at what they say when you ask.
And never forget, at the end of the day, Facebook is just one channel for your message, personal or professional. It really can’t beat good quality face to face or even phone contact.
If you enjoyed this article or would like to hear more of my insights on Facebook, please leave a comment!
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