Creating an online identity for your business is not the same as creating your personal identity. Image: Flickr / walkingtiger / CC-BY
When starting, building or rehabilitating a brand, the creation of social networking profiles should always be on the to-do list. No matter how strong your personal network, your brand will need its own online identity.
Why a separate brand is important
No matter if your business is built on you as an individual or a great product or service, you need a separate brand. Building yourself as a brand means that you need to be “always on.” A perceived misstep or one bad night on Facebook could do serious damage to your brand, even if you didn’t mean for it to happen. Your politics, your beliefs, everything you share about yourself becomes a representation of your brand, rather than the product or service you are trying to sell. If your business grows or changes, re-branding it separately from you as a person will always be more difficult and expensive. A strong brand can also much more easily be turned into revenue because the commercial intent is clear, open and obvious.
Starting with online brand identity
Building an online brand identity starts in the same place building an individual identity starts. First, build a Facebook fan page rather than an individual profile. Personal pages and fan pages act differently and are indexed differently than individual profile pages. You should also research and choose at least a one additional social network on which to create a profile. Be sure to research and carefully follow any network’s policies on business pages to ensure you don’t lose your presence on that network and your following.
Building a long-living brand
Once you’ve got social networking pages and a website for your brand, product or service, you should carefully build your authority and identity. Have a strong plan in place for the type of person or business you are targeting and what interest or niche you are trying to fill. Find and engage in authentic conversations, online and off. Rather than trying to always push your product, represent your brand and suggest your product only when truly appropriate. Savvy consumers are trying to find a brand they can believe in and want to support, so tell people what the brand believes in first and what the products are second. Your professional reputation is important and should be carefully built, but it should never be confused with the reputation and identity of any brand.
