If you own a business and you created social media profiles in the name of your business (and separate from your personal profiles), you did the right thing. A business needs its own, defined, branded social media presence. You should not, for example, be your using personal Facebook Profile to serve as your business’ presence; you need a Facebook Business Page for that reason. Plus, your social media profiles should all be named after and represent your business and not you.

Having social media profiles in the name of your business and separate from your personal accounts doesn’t mean that your personal profiles can’t still provide some benefit to your business or that you are free and clear to post whatever you want to your personal social media profiles.

Here are 3 reasons why your personal social media profiles matter.

3 Reasons why Personal Social Media Profiles Matter as a Small Business Owner

• Even with a separate business presence, people still associate you with your business. In fact – especially if you are a service provider - there’s a high likelihood current or past customers will refer you to others by using your first and last name instead of your business. Who did you use when you sold your home? Who did you call to paint your kitchen? What dentist do you see?
• Customers and potential customers will look you up on their favorite social media sites and may even request to friend or follow you personally, either in addition to connecting to your business profiles or instead of. They may also find your personal social media profiles in search if a friend or relative referred them to you by your name (vs. your business). Google favors all social media bios in search, so those accounts likely rank high on Page 1 of search results for you. Be extra aware of this if you make public posts on your Facebook profile, or have a public Twitter or Instagram account. That ‘hot button’ post you published might be OK for your personal friends and family, but might ruffle a few feathers if it’s publicly viewable and your customers are connected to your personal social media profiles.
• Looking at this point from a different view…why not use your personal social media profiles to tell more of your story? Since you are the business owner and you are – essentially – the business, why not provide a deeper look into your day to day life to help your customers and potential customers connect with you. Those personal glimpses can build a stronger, deeper connection, and can either win you new customers or turn existing customers into super fans. Positive, happy posts are the ones to make public or post to profiles that are always public so your customers can get to know you as a person and not just as a business owner.

As an added bonus, you can also occasionally share your business posts over to your personal social media profiles. It’s not something you want to do for 100% of your business’ social media posts, but here and there is wise because it may increase the exposure of your business and more often than not, your friends and family do appreciate knowing what’s happening with your business.