Is your social media posting in harmony with the corporate mission?

Personal branding is a critical part of corporate branding, especially when using social media in the B2B world. Simply put, people connect with people and trust usually starts from the first point of contact even when that contact point is virtual. One LinkedIn post for example, can set the branding wheels in motion. However, getting the mix right balance right between personal branding and corporate branding is a tricky business.

Often unwittingly, people get ahead of their corporate brand, self-promotion can appear to overtake the corporate mission. Of course, authenticity has to be at the center of an effective online presence. Trust, the ultimate goal, can't be built if your account appears too often to be a conduit for corporate content, especially content that isn't very good or engaging.

That said, Authenticity, 'personhood', let's call it, can become too noisy. and can appear much more egoistic than intended.

AI can look through your posts and divine a personality profile that is scarily accurate. In fact, we have been using AI to develop personality profiles for the last several years based only on Social activity. I hasten to add that our intentions are benign, we are trying to help people understand what others might be glean so that they can make adjustments accordingly.

I often tell the story of an auditor for a large accounting firm who, because they had not taken their LinkedIn profile seriously, left an impression that they weren't detail-oriented. You can imagine that person's sudden Social conversion.

When we are asked to support multiple execs or 'listen' to the posting of a population of leaders from the same company a strong picture of corporate culture, mores, and employee engagement emerges. When we add in some of our tech there is even more clarity. Even when the majority doesn't use Social effectively, they still leave a trail of bread crumbs that is telling. Are they very cautious, are they engaged with the corporate mission, are there loose cannons or brand destroyers?

It's amazing how quickly someone can stand out for the wrong reasons. We've gotten pretty good at predicting long-termers versus those likely to jump to another organization in a year's time just based on their Social activity, especially when looking across the whole field of an organization's social media activities. Don't worry, we're not hired to make these kinds of assessments! But rest assured that your Social activities leave many 'tells' for others that don't take rocket science to interpret or wonder about.

Clearly, there are examples of CEOs and owners whose personal brands are synonymous with the corporate brand, people like Richard Branson and Elon Musk are prime examples. What is good for their personal brands is normally good for the corporate brand. But they are the exceptions.

Staying on message

So here are a couple of things to keep in mind to ensure that you're not telegraphing your next move (unless that's part of your plan) or damaging your own brand:

• Study other leaders. Before you start posting, take a look at what other leaders?- successful leaders - in your organization are doing. Every time you draft a post, imagine how that post will compare with typical posts of the other successful leaders you are following. It is sometimes better to sacrifice engagement stats if your content might appear 'out there' from a cohort perspective.
• Quality over quantity. Ultimately, quality is so much more important than quantity. It's easy to get giddy with stats that suggest strong engagement. Some clients/prospects - and colleagues - may begin to question your priorities if it appears you are spending a tremendous amount of time and effort cultivating your online brand. If engagement comes from the people who matter in your professional life then by all means keep it going. However, if the engagement is more random or not so related to your core constituency then you may need to dial things back or re-tool. A good rule-of-thumb: always have at least one person in mind from your core audience when sharing a post. Would they find the article or thought useful, if not compelling.
• Are work colleagues engaging? If you aren't getting much engagement from your own colleagues, especially those you work with every day, then for sure you need to re-adjust. Silence speaks volumes.
• Selfies - useful, until they are not. Selfies done strategically and with an eye toward good composition (lighting, background, expression, etc.) can work wonders for engagement especially when the person pictured is popular.?Perhaps it goes without saying, people who are popular in the offline world tend to be, or have the potential to be, popular in the online world - as it should be. Engagement can light up when you 'show yourself'. As discussed, this is often essential for people who are synonymous with the brand. However, those who play on large corporate teams need to be more attuned to shining too much light on themselves and not enough on colleagues, events, and ideas. There is no precise mix here in the ideal circumstance but if the week's content always includes at least one closeup of yourself, you may be sending the wrong message. On the other hand, you pictured together with your team or with new recruits is a different story. Again, corporate norms are important.
• Be sure to bring the right content mix. Though we often have to encourage our clients to post more personal content to help build trust and engagement, the opposite is also true. Also, pick the corporate content that you believe will play well with your network and the people you are trying to attract. Someone who rarely shares their organization's content is sending a strong and perhaps unintended message about their commitment to the organization and its mission. Again this is where a review of the posts of other successful leaders will provide an important benchmark. Of course, sometimes your organization's content is just not good enough though you may wear the company's logo on your sleeve. A bit trickier situation. If no one is sharing the company's material then you are on safe ground. If, however, your colleagues are doing otherwise, judicious participation is advisable while you share feedback internally to hopefully improve content quality. By all means, add some of your own thoughts in these posts to bring what might be the missing sizzle or insight.
• Be careful of the 'opportunity' of being one of the few who are active on social. Organizations who are behind the eight ball may see your Social activities as strange or a waste of time. Sectors that are heavily regulated and risk-averse may be especially cautious if not anti-social media, even those that are active corporately. Large accounting firms, banks, and big pharma are examples of industries requiring extra caution in the public sphere. All publicly traded firms will have immutable boundaries it's important not to violate. They are often very nervous about the reputational and legal risk that incautious employees can expose the company to. If your firm is slow to the party, there may be good reasons why. A go-slow approach makes sense while sharing the fruits of your labor. Be that role model that inspires and incites other leaders to follow your lead.

In the old days, as in 12 years ago, one of the most common concerns when we were being interviewed by a prospective client, was the fear that an executive's brand might receive much more benefit than the corporate brand. This fear is less present today as people have come to understand the importance of personal branding for the good of the corporate brand but it is clearly still a concern that must be kept in mind and negotiated effectively.

Keep shining your light!?