TOO MUCH INFORMATION…! WHEN SAYING TOO MUCH ABOUT YOURSELF BECOMES A PROBLEM.

For many businesspeople – especially those that are tied to their businesses in a figurehead role – it is difficult to separate what you do after hours with your role within the business.

With social media being used to keep friends and family up to date with what we are doing some business people are choosing not to use social media to market their business because the separation isn’t clearly defined.

Having existing customers and potential customers knowing about everything that you do away from work may polarise their opinions of you and your staff.

It could be as simple as a “ford” vs. “holden” discussion or something more serious about people’s attitude to your alcohol consumption or choice of people to hang out with.

Keeping work and private life separate allows us to truly relax “out of the public eye” and let our hair down.

Being able to relax helps us all control stress and the hard times that seem prevalent in today’s financial climate.

Some IT people I have talked with recently just don’t do Facebook and other social media as they have concerns about privacy.

But they also admit that many businesses can benefit from social media use to increase sales, increase customer interaction and ultimately lead to increasing customer numbers.

So what are some strategies to still use social media – but keep your privacy intact…

Firstly question what percentage of your market is already using the popular social media tools.

Research has shown that a high proportion of NZ web users also use social media – but are they your specific targeted market…?

If in doubt – ask them.

Create a questionnaire using one of the free tools such as Google Docs – embed that onto your web site, use it in an email to your customers and use word of mouth when talking with your customers to get a feel for which tools they are using.

You may want to do the same with family members – find out who is likely to be using which tools.

You can then decide which tools to start with – or which tools to spend more time on using.

Check under the hood…

Facebook, Twitter and blogs have many options now to keep your privacy intact.

New security features are being tested and released nearly every other week. Mashable.com is a great place to start to keep up to date with the current state of play about your favourite social media tool.

Work out your strategy for friending people.

Split business and personal...

Another strategy is to have two separate accounts with social media platforms – this could be against the terms of use with some of the tools (such as Facebook) but can be a great way to keep things separate and still use the power of social media.

A good idea is to “font load” the expectations that people may have about interacting with you via social media – do this by stating clearly in your bio or description that this is a business related medium or a private “close friends and family” only medium.

In that way people can see that you want to keep the interactions private and have an explanation as to why you may not respond to their “friend” or “follow” request.

Play nice...

The best way of ensuring that your reputation doesn’t suffer is of course to make sure that you don’t post anything online to destroy or reduce it.

Some features of social media tools may also need you to ask friends to not post photos of you or talk about you in their social media activities.

If done nicely then you won’t put anyone offside and still protect your self from the unwanted exposure.

Watch for the "T's and C's"...

You may also need to check the venues that are visiting as some bars and restaurants are now taking digital photos and posting them on their social media platforms.

They have this as part of their “conditions of entry” to the venue or for a special event – so check on tickets or at the venue if you are concerned about getting the attention when you visit.