Keeping Your Personal and Professional Lives Separate on Social Media

If you’re tempted to use your social media accounts for professional or commercial purposes, there are considerations you need to be aware of. We break down the pros and cons of using a business or personal account in this article.

Having a clear distinction between your personal and professional/corporate accounts is an important step in protecting your mental health and creating a more sustainable online presence.

You may want to consider a more formal appearance on your corporate account, but you should still be able to express yourself through your personal account.

It doesn't have to comply with strict requirements enforced by your professional profile, giving you more room for personal expression!

Why you should separate your personal and professional social media accounts

The idea of having separate online identities for work and personal work is contentious at the moment. But what are the benefits?

• 1. It fosters professionalism

  It's important to post the right content if you want to have an impact. This separation ensures that you don't promote your most recent blog article one minute and then whine about bad service the next—you do them separately instead.

  Having two separate profiles allows you to post whatever you want with one while keeping the other profile focused on business-related content alone, giving you greater freedom.

  Integrating your personal and professional lives into one account comes with a certain amount of risk. For one, there's always the chance that your personal opinions or attitudes will cost you business deals and clients.

• 2. It reduces name confusion

  People get confused when content is attributed incorrectly, which is surely the case if you’re using a single page for your personal and corporate brand. So, you'll have to decide where to use your name and where to use the company's name.

  You should try and avoid name confusion as it can lead to a lot of negative marketing issues. One problem that might arise is customers not getting what they originally wanted. Another potential issue with name confusion is customers getting what they want, but not in the way they wanted—i.e., it complicates your product or service delivery to consumers.

  Splitting your personal and business profiles helps avoid perplexity related to name confusion and similar issues. This approach ensures that people know which account they should be following, because seeing personal information on your professional profile may make people worry if they've found the wrong brand page.

• 3. It’s easier to manage

  

  It is easy to share content on social media when you have separate business and personal profiles. Enforcing a clear strategy for the two profiles will be simpler for management, as opposed to it being one combined account. You don't have to worry about publishing the wrong thing, because each account is specialized for its specific needs.

  Using a content curation and scheduling tool like Buffer makes the process of managing social media easier. You can schedule posts ahead of time, including images and videos, to suit whatever schedule you need. Plus, for variety, you can include various sources.

• 4. It ensures you don’t confuse your followers

  Whether or not you’re trying to create content that is suitable for a wider range of people, be aware that not everyone follows you for the same reasons. Your audience is diverse, with some people following for your personal content and others for your professional output.

  When posting to a personal account, you should edit your content so that it fits within its post guidelines. People may stop following you if you don't give them a sense of direction for your next posts.

  It's important to maintain consistency when it comes to your social media content—whether personal or corporate. Doing that will make it easier for your fans/customers to know what to expect from you. YouTubers, who make videos on specific topics and post new content on specified days of the week, often use this approach.

• 5. It helps you target the right customers

  

  To reiterate, your fans should have a good idea of what they can expect from you. It's also important that this reflection comes through from a marketing perspective, as different social media platforms may require varying types of content.

  Certain content will need to be boosted inorganically to achieve higher levels of interaction. Keeping your personal and professional presence attached to one unit is inadvisable, as you'll never know which followers are the best fit for a promotion. If you don't separate them, your message may not make it to those who matter.

The best ways to keep your personal and professional social media presence separate

• 1. Consider the best social network for each account

  Which social media platforms do you use for work and which ones are better left for personal use? LinkedIn is a business-oriented social network, but what about other networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram? Well, it all depends on your niche or lifestyle, of course.

  Consider what you want your online presence to look like and what information you want to share. For example, create a private account on Snapchat and Instagram if you don't want them to be seen by recruiters, partners, employees, and employers.

  Feel free to only share your life with people you trust on this channel. It is perfectly ok to reject someone if they seem invasive.

• 2. Keep your professional/corporate account business-oriented

  There's no one-size-fits-all solution to social media management, but having an account for your business or career doesn't necessarily mean you have to post solely about work. Instead, focus on what is most relevant to you or your company.

  A couple of social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook, can be used for business, career, or personal purposes. It's a good idea to be sure you're using the right profile picture for your professional or corporate account. Posting a photo from a conference or workspace-related event—instead of those from parties—is a better way to project your professionalism.

  Your online presence can be a great business card for you. By being visible on various platforms, future employers or customers will have much more opportunity to find you.

  Make your talents and experience clear in your bio and content so people know who they're talking to when they come across your profile and posts. The same is true for the language used and make sure there are no issues. Typos and grammatical errors always make a bad impression, so be sure to check everything.

• 3. Showcase your unique skills and connect with other professionals

  

  There are a lot of great benefits to social media, such as being able to show your personality to the world and learning things you didn't know before. You can find world-class information by following the right company profiles, reading inspiring publishing pages, and viewing professional profiles.

  New corporate, professional and personal content is added every day by people like you. E.g., learning from the best motivational speakers and following inspirational Pinterest pages can help with improving your PowerPoint presentations.

  Isolation has historically been a common pitfall for people. Having access to private forums and organized spaces can help you make connections and meet new individuals who can introduce you to others or give you a leg up on your career goals.

  Keep in mind that wherever you make your presence felt, people will be drawn to your social media profile to check out who you are and why you're trying to join the community.

  This is where your content and online image come in handy, which is why it's important to share relevant posts and promote yourself on the web. People are most influenced by what they read and how you come across online. Creating interesting content and promoting your work is the best way to make them trust you.

• 4. Create a profile that suits your professional or personal goals

  You can now control your online reputation and social media presence to the best of your abilities.

  For your professional brand, think about what you want your prospective employers and clients to know about you and work towards building a strong, clean image that will help you in the future.

  It’s important to constantly keep your social media accounts updated and engage with others. To stay up-to-date and remain at the forefront, you can comment or like posts and even repost them. This will only help to supplement your social media outreach and show that you're interested in some topics.

• 5. Always stay authentic

  

  One of the most important goals of social media is to maintain authenticity and consistency. A personal profile should be an accurate representation of your personality, and any corporate page should portray your brand messages. You'll be better off if you protect your professional reputation while keeping an approachable and honest public image.

Wrap up

It's a controversial issue, and some people have different opinions. In general, it's a good idea to keep your personal and work social media accounts separate—but there are exceptions to every rule.

It's a controversial issue, and some people have different opinions. In general, it's a good idea to keep your personal and work social media accounts separate—but there are exceptions to every rule.