When we meet with clients looking to build their brand, most of them ask the same question, “Do I need a separate Instagram account for my business?”
While there isn’t exactly a right or wrong answer here, we highly advise our clients to separate their personal and professional pages.
WHY SHOULD I HAVE TWO INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS?
We know, it sounds like a lot of work managing one account, much less two! We’re here to tell you, it will actually make your job easier, not harder.
While clients want to know about you as the business owner, they’re likely following your business page because they love your product or services, not because they love your children and pets (we know, they’re so cute though!) Think about it, how many business pages (aside from personal brands and influencers) do you see with scattered photos of their kids, pets and vacations on their grid?
Don’t get us wrong, your clients want to see you show up on your grid, but unless your kids and pets are a part of your day-to-day business, or your ideal customer can relate to the things you’re sharing about, you can choose what you’re comfortable with sharing. But if there’s not a direct connection to your brand, we recommend saving the super personal content for your stories. Keeping your business page, and the things that live on your grid forever should be more focused on businessy things will keep your followers engaged with your brand and give them a clear representation of what your business is all about.
HOW TO CREATE PERSONABLE CONTENT THAT CIRCLES BACK TO YOUR BRAND
Just because your followers might not need to see into the depths of what’s going on in your personal life, they certainly want to have a personal connection with you. After all, you’ve made yourself a thought leader in whatever it is you do, so your advice and expertise will be sought after by your followers. We know it’s easy to fall in the habit of only posting about your product and service, but we have some tips on how you can create personable content that circles back to your brand.
RAW = RELATABLE
Your customers and followers might forget that there is actually a business owner behind your brand. It’s easy to forget when you aren’t showing up and reminding them you’re real and relatable.
Being raw and relatable with your followers doesn’t mean you have to spill every detail about your life, but it does mean that you should share your personality and professional opinion when you have the opportunity. Remember, your followers want a personal connection with you and your brand, so be authentic. Showing those messier behind the scenes photos/videos, or quick stories about something that happened in your day are great connection pieces.
BEING THANKFUL > FLEXING
Your family, friends, and followers/clients are the reason you’ve made it this far in your professional life. Highlighting and thanking the loyal and inspiring people in your life (personal and professional) is a great way to show authentic gratitude. By showing your followers that you didn’t and couldn’t have done it alone, you’re showing them a much more human side of yourself.
SHARE REAL STORIES
Building a brand isn’t easy work, but your story is unique to you and you should be proud to share it! The struggles you, your business partner, and your family may have faced while building that brand could help your entrepreneurial followers from making the same mistakes or becoming more relatable to your followers who might be potential clients.
Your “how we got here” story is awesome, but you should be sharing stories on the regular. In our course, The Unbreakable Brand, we tell our students that they should write down a story from each day. It could be anything from “we got this wild request from a customer” to “you’ll never believe who sat next to me on my flight.” Before you know it, you’ll have a LONG list of stories to share with your followers. If you build a list of stories, you can say “byeeeee” to content paralysis.
“PEOPLE DON’T BUY GOODS AND SERVICES. THEY BUY RELATIONSHIPS, STORIES AND MAGIC.” – SETH GODIN
Whether or not you agree with Seth Godin, there is something to say about customer loyalty being about more than just your product or service. It’s about the emotional connection that customers connect with your brand. How can your clients know if they have a connection with you if you don’t share who you are? Make sure you show up on your business page in an authentic way and your followers will love you more for it!
