Social Networking for Professionals-Keeping Your Personal and Business Profiles Separate

A question often asked is whether or not to keep your personal and professional profiles separate when participating in social networking. The answer itself is divided.

Social networking sites were designed for the specific purpose of socializing on the Internet. Their success has surpassed even the wildest of imaginations. The popularity of these sites has inevitably led to businesses joining in as this free form of advertising is addictive.

The question then arises as to what is the best way to use these social media networks?

Did you know that there are many social networking sites available to you? There are several that are strictly for business and professionals. This is one way you can separate your personal and professional profiles. Sites like linkedin.com and ecademy.com are business related and professionally focused social networking sites.

But, do you really need to promote your business on just professional sites? The answer to that is no. You can also use social sites like Facebook and Twitter as well but there are some rules to pay attention to before promoting your business on these social sites.

Facebook

Facebook profiles are strictly for personal purposes. Doing anything to the contrary is strictly against the rules and if caught, your profile can be shut down. Definitely create a personal profile and begin getting friends on Facebook but you will then want to do a couple of other things to make it work best for you. Keep in mind that you are only allowed one profile in Facebook.

Create two lists of friends. Make one list for business contacts and the other list for friends. You may even want a third one for family. In this way, your communications can be more appropriate for each list and you continue to have only one profile. Also, Facebook notes that your profile is not just for business but includes family and friends.

An even better suggestion is to create a ‘fan page’. Fan pages are where you can actively promote your business. This is what they are designed for. The good news is that Google indexes Fan Pages but doesn’t index personal sites. This is fantastic because the flow-on effect of having a fan page is good for your SEO.

Twitter

Twitter is a bit different in that you can have multiple profiles. You can have one for business and one personal if you wish. Your Twitter profile pages can be personalized to reflect either your business or personal profiles.  You may choose not to have different profiles which are fine, but remember that these are social networking sites and the whole idea is to build relationships. This can only be good for your business because people like doing business with people they feel they know and trust.

The bottom line is that whether or not you choose to keep personal and professional profiles separate in the social media sites is up to you. There are benefits to each and dependent on the sites you want to use as part of your marketing strategy.

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Tagged as: ecademy, Facebook, linedin, personal profiles, professional profile, professional social media, professional social networking, twitter