We’ve all heard so much over the years about your “personal brand” and how transparency is vital if you want people to connect with the human side of your business. But let’s think about what we’re sharing. 

Do your clients and potential clients need to see the eight pictures of your toddler doing their latest cutest thing? What about your dog wearing sunglasses? 

We recommend keeping your personal and professional Instagram accounts separate, but authentic. Does that mean more work for you? Yes. Does it mean a higher-quality experience for your clients, as well as your friends and family? Absolutely. Does it mean you should never mention your children, dog or hobbies? Definitely not. People want to do business with people. They’re always looking for ways to connect -- so don’t be afraid to show your personality even on your business page. Just do so with intention. 

Here are a few ways to proceed with intention: 

1 — Find a Favorite

You probably have a favorite social media account. Some people prefer Facebook for its ability to connect with college friends. 

For a lot of people, it tends to be Instagram because hello, constantly scrolling lovely pics is straight-up addicting. 

But just because you enjoy the world of Instagratification doesn’t mean your business audience is there. Maybe they’re on Facebook or Twitter. So, find an outlet that you enjoy and create a personal account. Then find a social media outlet your clients and potential clients use and join them there with a professional account. It may indeed mean having two accounts on Instagram, and that’s fine, as long as it’s a researched and deliberate choice. 

2 — Vary your content

Part of the reason for having two different accounts, possibly on two different platforms, is because your content should be varied. 

On a personal account, you can post randomly whenever the mood strikes -- and it can be as straightforward or as oddball as you like. 

But on the business side, you need to be more strategic. When is your audience active on there? What do they need to know about your business that solves a problem for them? How are you going to engage with them? 

Professional accounts should never be done with a “set it and forget it” mindset, even though many third-party software companies will offer you that idea as a sales pitch for their scheduling systems. 

Your personal accounts also can be about you. A lot. Or maybe your child, your dog, or your grilling hobbies.

Your professional account needs to mostly be about your audience — your clients and potential clients. And it should be helpful to them. You should always sprinkle in posts about yourself to give it more personality, connection and authority. But the real focus should always come back to who your business is serving.

Less than a quarter of your posts should be some kind of sales pitch about why and how they need to hire you. Use the rest of the posts to connect, engage, and encourage. Useful tips and tricks that show potential clients that you know your stuff never hurt. And spreading the word to help celebrate a client’s win is rewarding for them and for you. 

3 — Be data-driven

And while it’s important to never get caught up in the likes or loves on your social media posts, it really doesn’t matter at all on your personal account. 

You do you. If people don’t want to see your feet on the beach, they don’t have to follow you. If they don’t like how many times you can share a video of your kid not liking peas, then too bad. 

But on your professional account, you need to think about the engagement you are or are not getting. As with anything else in business, you need to look at the data. What posts are getting a lot of attention and creating engagement? Which ones aren’t? Track the numbers and adjust accordingly. If you don’t measure it, you can’t fix it. 

Will having multiple social media accounts on several platforms mean more work for you? Yes, it will. But in the end, you’ll find that nobody will want to see every single thing you’re posting on social media.

Speaking of -

If you want to follow my business, you can find me here: @murphy_marketing

If you’re here for the baby and labradoodle pics, I’m here: @katieolantukh