How Much Do You Want to Share about Yourself? Company Branding, Identity and Creating Value

A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with a client about privacy and security in the world of social media. How do you both share interesting and engaging content while maintaining a sense of privacy for your personal and family life? Each person and company is different in how much they want to share publicly, and Schmooz respects those boundaries by working hard to understand what people are comfortable and are not comfortable with. This post is going to talk about my own experience with trying to define what Schmooz will and will not share. It is a constant learning experience and there are decisions to be made every day about what is the right content to share with you.

A few weeks ago, when I got married, it was a specific decision to share this with Schmooz followers in a simple tweet. Now that I am back from 3 weeks away on my honeymoon, I wanted to write about this private vs. public topic and why Schmooz has made the decisions we have made. As Chief Executive Schmoozer, I want people to know things about my life, and I want the people who get involved with me in business to know a bit about who I am as a person. I also do not want to over-share or hurt anyone in my personal life.

However, the things I do in my personal life help me to grow as a business person, and impact the decisions I make in business. I want to tell my followers and clients about the things that got me thinking while I was away on my honeymoon – for example, how did climbing the tower pictured in Sienna (Italy) lead me to think about perspective in a new way? How did visiting tourist attractions and going to restaurants around Italy, France and Switzerland make me think about social media, content sharing and marketing in a new way? I have to show you pictures, I have to tell you what I am thinking about, I’m too excited to do anything other than that and I have to be genuine to what my company stands for.

However, I recognize that my own attitude and my own business decisions are not the same as what every other client may want or need to be successful. I have to be comfortable with my brand and my company’s identity, just as every client needs to be. A Facebook or Twitter profile should not follow one formula to be successful - it should be genuine to the company’s values, goals and bring real value to the community or audience it is trying to reach. With that being said, I look forward to sharing with you my experiences over the past few weeks, and in the coming weeks and months to follow. I hope to engage you as I discover and explore, and as Schmooz continues to grow.

Always interested to hear your thoughts and comments. Hope your week back after a long weekend is productive and challenging.

- Zoe Share, Chief Executive Schmoozer