Branding & Engagement, pt. 1: What’s In a Name…or Face?

After reading a recent post I wrote on the topic of engagement, a friend sent me a DM on Twitter with a question about her Twitter account:

“as a biz page with a person running it, should I use a personal photo or keep the logo? hmmm….”

She went on to say that she tries to be personal and engaging, but feels that she falls short. She summed it up this way:

“It’s hard to be ‘a person’ while also being a logo/company. People seem to be on twitter for friends OR to promote. Catch 22.”

So what’s the answer? If you’re on Twitter and Facebook, should you be there as yourself, as your business, or perhaps have separate accounts?

I have mixed feelings on this, as evidenced by the fact that I have both a personal account and a business account. I use both, and I admit that at times I only had one. My personal account is @kmueller62 (featuring my photo as an avatar) while my business account (@inkling_media) features my logo. If I had to do it all over again, I might just go with one account, with my photo, representing me and my business. At this point in time I keep both, because, well, I’m rather…prolific on my personal account. Yeah, I tweet a lot. And for some that’s a turn off. The business account allows someone to follow me and get just information related to Social Media, inbound marketing, SEO, and the like. Oh, you’ll also get that on my personal account, as well as a lot of other banter.

And then there’s the matter of what image and name you use to represent yourself. If you only have one account, and it’s a business account, do you use a photo of yourself or your logo? And do you name the account after yourself, or your business? No easy answers here. My gut says to use a combination of the two. Perhaps a picture of you, then an account name that has either your business, or something like @AcmeProductsKen. (This is what Comcast does with their digital customer service staff). Or use a logo with your name on the account. People will make the connection.

One thing I do know, though, is that I find a difference between those who have gotten on Twitter for personal use before using it for professional purposes, as opposed to those who’s first experience with Twitter is merely professional. And this gets to the second point my friend made about people being on Twitter for one of two reasons: either to chat with friends OR to promote a business/products.

There’s no reason you can’t do both! But I think you’ll find more success if you join Twitter with the expectation of conversing and building relationships before you think about it as a tool for business. If you get on solely for business purposes…and avoid the human side of it, you won’t be nearly as effective.

This is why I also stress the “social” part of the term “Social Media.”

Tomorrow I’ll tell you about someone who I think is doing a great job at this, as I show you my new favorite Facebook business page. And it’s for a company with whom I’ll most likely never have the chance to do business! Stay tuned.

In the meantime, I don’t claim to have all the answers, and I think there are a lot of different answers for different scenarios. So I bring it to you the reader: How are you using Twitter (and Facebook, for that matter) as you try to market your businesses? What works for you? And if you don’t represent a business, but are a consumer, what do you like to see from a business using Social Media?

Related articles

• The Secret to Increased Social Media Engagement (inklingmedia.net)

Tagged as: business, Comcast, facebook, Logo, Online Communities, Social Media, Social network, Twitter