Even mentioning your position, roles, or accomplishments can land you in HR if you work at the ‘wrong’ place.

Sometimes I’ll see a tweet that I’m certain was designed to bait me in. Thus far I have resisted.

You must keep personal attributes and interests separate from what you are businessizing in the social media circles. if you feel you must inject personal into the pool, then go “batman” on us and get a secret identity.

Great Article, BTW

Cheers!

George

Companies need to find someone willing to spend the time engaging others online to grow the brand, so this person has to have a social side, but the person they select also has to have the insight/maturity to know where to draw the line. You can’t blog/tweet every thought that crosses your mind, just as you can’t link to or put up on your social sites every cool thing you run across.

Those tasked with engaging on social media for a company need to remember that their personality absolutely has to be an ingredient or else the whole exercise comes off as a dry marketing gimmick. But they also have to remember that what they do for work isn’t the entirety of who they are, so their own personal issues, politics, beliefs, and tastes need to be filtered through what’s acceptable at the office.

That said, the old adage, all press is good press holds true to the extent that you don’t totally tank the company’s reputation. Name recognition, especially for a smaller organization, can do wonders, even if the name recognition does carry with it a hint of edginess.

The key is remembering that sites like Twitter are not for your inner dialogue. The informal nature of social media catches people off guard and they seem to forget this. The end result makes for great content.

on twitter: @prblog