About two weeks ago I was at a gathering of influential business women owners, and I got into a conversation about Facebook. A friend shared a story that really struck a cord with me. It confirmed what my marketing and branding gut has always told me, but was never confirmed by hard facts. Curious?
Here’s the deal: Chances are you are repelling prospects and you don’t know it.
Case in point, my friend was looking for a service provider to work with on a specific part of her business. And immediately thought of a woman she knows through a networking group they are both a part of. So, she jumps onto Facebook to get this gals contact info (they are already “friends” on FB), and she starts looking around. Suddenly she notices that most of the photos on her profile include beer, booze and partying. “Huh” thought my friend, “That doesn’t seem very professional.”
And that was all it took. Game over. Deal lost. Months of building a relationship via networking G-O-N-E all because of photos posted on a free site, available to millions of people.
The point of this story isn’t to tell you not be yourself online. The point is to think about the audience you are sending messages too. We all have many facets, many sides, and many parts that make up the “whole us”. The question is what are you putting face forward? Are you perceived as credible, approachable, thoughtful, well traveled, or are you communicating that at 40 you can still master the beer bong on the weekends?
And what’s it costing you?
