It's becoming very apparent that the most "engagement" on social media occurs on posts that are pretty darn personal.
The posts can be happy (new baby, house, or job), sad (illness or a tragedy of some sort), or introspective (self-examination on life and love), but one thing is for certain, they're not about finance, branding, operations or any such topic that would have you thinking about business.
The posts are about the person, and while I used to think the personal approach wasn't professional, I have started to see the benefits of letting people in to see the "authentic" me.
Cliche alert - people buy from people that they know, respect, and trust. They don't buy from a talking head trying to communicate their subject matter expertise.
That comes later, after the trust is built. It might seem counter-intuitive but IMHO, that's the way it is.
Sharing strengths, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities can help a person see you for who you are, and once that happens they can open up to you on a business level.
Social media, and particularly LinkedIn, has made that more apparent to all of us.
Personally, I have found it difficult to reveal certain aspects of my life, but I'm getting closer to dropping the veil of invincibility and sharing what is going on.
In some respects it feels liberating!
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