Transparency and Social Media

Social media is about being transparent. It’s about having authentic conversations with your following; building relationships with people who know you and your brand and share it with others.

All too often my clients are asking me to create social media accounts without using their real name.

Sounds ridiculous but it is sad and true.

If you aren’t willing to be transparent then how do you expect others to be transparent with you?

Facebook functionality is such that a business page must be created from a personal profile. Clients are asking for an account not associated with their own personal profile. I just don’t understand why. The first likes on a page are typically from people that already know, like and trust you.

Why wouldn’t you want them to know about your new business venture? The accounts don’t talk to each other except for the purpose of logging into the personal to get to the business page.

As a Facebook business page administrator I or my team members can be added as administrators on an account. This means I can access a client business page from my own account; there is no access to their personal account.

Twitter is another social platform where people are unwilling to be transparent. Clients are requesting that I not use their real name when creating an account for their business.

If you’re unwilling to use your real name, how will clients and prospects find you on social media? More importantly, how will they trust you? They won’t.

Social media is meant to be a real conversation with you, your brand or business. If you’re not willing to be open about your presence, then you probably shouldn’t be on social media.