Ghostly Whispers
MARKET YOUR BUSINESS WITHOUT ANNOYING YOUR FRIENDS
In our consultant economy, it pays to have your own gig—whether it's on the side, or full time. But if poorly handled, things can go south fast. Today's post covers the basic safeguards you can employ to ensure your personal and work personas play nice.
THE BASICS
Establish your brand as
distinct from your own personality.


Unless you're a celebrity, there's little sense in using your given name for your business. All brand touchpoints should work hard to communicate what your company is all about, and that starts with the name. Don't be vain—this isn't about you.
«Keep in mind that your friends and family follow you because they're interested in your life; not necessarily your business. Those who want to learn more will ask.»
Ghost
Verbal Strategist
ALSO
Draw the lines clearly in your execution.
Establish business social media accounts
Do not try to artificially pimp your existing personal contacts into business contacts. This will end poorly.

Follow strict 'channel' and 'audience' guidelines.
Each social platform has its own strengths, weaknesses, and expected tones. Learn them. Know them. Then play around with them a bit.

Start with just one.
Seriously. Your brand has a purpose, and a tone of voice. It belongs somewhere, but not everywhere. Choose the best place for your brand to start—whether that's Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat etc—and commit. If you're not getting immediate traction, it's probably not the platform's fault.

Utilize privacy settings on personal accounts.
If you do choose to use your personal accounts to selectively amplify business messages, proceed with extreme caution (more on that below).
REMEMBER
Take it easy on your personal channels.
Owning a business is a big deal. You'll will want to tell your friends about it, and there's nothing wrong with that. But if your personal feed becomes an endless slurry of desperate self-promotion, you will be ignored (and worse, discredited).

Remember that your friends and family follow you because they're interested in your life; not necessarily your business. Those that want to learn more will ask.


AND FINALLY
Be safe out there.
People can be really fucking creepy sometimes. So if you have pictures of your family on social media lock that shit down. You want the right kind of attention for your business, and "after you have a stalker" is the wrong time to start thinking about your exposure. It's a depressing paragraph to write, but necessary all the same.
At GhostCMO, we know how important it is to put your best verbal foot forward. From branding and positioning, to messaging and copywriting—we know what it takes to create powerful results for your business.

Let's talk about growing your brand. Visit our homepage to learn more.
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