No doubt all of you at some time or another have heard about the employee who posted a picture like this on facebook and eventually was fired for being an idiot. No this is not a personal picture but one that was purchased so don't get any salty ideas in those devious little brains of yours. My life is not that exciting.
The recent company I was hired on at, even had me read a 10 page Social Media Policy handbook. Which simply stated don't be stupid and post something that you'll regret. In the age of Twitter, facebook, and other social media, including blogs, it's best to remain in the dark and keep your company in the dark as well. There is no point in embarrassing yourself or the company. Here's a couple of tips regarding social media:
- Privacy Settings: Make sure that if you're on facebook, or Linkedin, or twitter that you share only with your friends or people you actually want to see your posts. Facebook changes settings daily so be careful of this stuff. In addition, facebook also lists your cell phone number to other parties, so if you don't want people to know this information, be sure to change your privacy settings. I don't need another scam where people call my cell phone, and tell me that I won a $1,000 Best Buy gift card and all I have to do is hand over my social security number and address....uh right! And yes that is a scam if you get a call like that in the future. It's best to be minimal in describing yourself or listing your personal information.
- Keep it Relatively Clean - Don't be stupid and post videos like "Two Girls One Cup" on any page. First of all, it makes you want to throw up, and secondly, I don't post anything I wouldn't want my parents to see. They don't need to see me in compromising positions, or with students that have duct tape over their mouths like the teacher who was suspended in Ohio. Believe me, I share a lot with my parents even though they are old: they still have a sense of humor, and they probably wouldn't be alarmed by a picture of students with duct tape over their mouths. My mom would just say, "Oh look at this silly picture. First of all that duct tape is not even on straight and secondly he/she's not even a teacher."
- Affiliations: I don't even list my company on my facebook page because I don't want some creep checking out where I work or what I do for a living. I know that the many people are very open about everything but here's a tip "NOT EVERY STALKER NEEDS TO KNOW HOW TO GET TO YOU." Especially if you're a woman. I wouldn't list shit, and I wouldn't post where I was at, because there are plenty of weirdos out there in the world. You don't need some person approaching you after you've had a few cocktails at a bar which was posted on facebook, and then he/she slips a "roofie" in your drink. Remember, even your "friends" can have creepy friends.
- Personal vs Business: I believe it's best two have two profiles on facebook, one personal and one business, and the same applies to twitter handles. If you want to keep your personal life private, I would recommend this for sure. There's no sense in embarrassing yourself or your company with even the slightest misplaced word or picture. People nowadays are easily offended, and especially online. It's very simple to create a page or a handle as long as you have two email addresses. In fact, it's a good idea since you don't want to offend any of your business affiliates.
- Know Who Your Friends Are: I have some business friends on facebook but only because I trust they have just as twisted and weird a sense of humor as I do. So I'm selective with my business friends, and I know too that they have just as much weird stuff on their page as well. In fact, I have one associate who always posts pictures of where she's at during the day, and it's almost always during work hours. She posts pictures of cocktails, the beach, her dog, and then after seeing each post, I'm thinking, "If she's friends with anyone in the company who has a big mouth, she's fired for sure. I'm not going to say anything but someone else might?" Know who your friends are and DON'T POST PICTURES DURING WORK HOURS, UNLESS THEY ARE OF YOU WORKING! Are you seriously that dumb?
Just a few tips to keep you out of hot water...and I'm not even sure they'll work, but it's better to be safe then sorry. Now I have to go and change a few settings and delete a few friends...
Have a great day selling!
-M
