Is it Public? Or is it Private? How to Create Both.

My first career, before starting my own publicity firm, was as a radio broadcasting talent working at several radio stations including K103 FM here in Portland. I have recently realized that what I had to develop early on in my radio career is something that everyone is now having to learn and develop in their own lives, and that is: How to develop a private/personal life online.

Social media is all about engagement, authenticity, and communication. So was radio broadcasting to a certain extent. We just had the phone, mail, and person-to-person events for engagement, while social media demands engagement and involvement from everyone and more often.

In radio, I had to develop ways of reaching my audience and building rapport with them so that they felt they knew me. From the station's perspective, this brought them more listeners and therefore more advertising dollars since rates were set by the results of the Arbitron ratings. From my perspective, I wanted to entertain my audience and make them feel like they had a friend in me.

In order to do that, I had to create a public/private life. Think about it. When do you feel like you're really getting to know someone? When they share things about themselves at a private level. The superficial level is OK, but it doesn't go very far. At the other end of the spectrum is TMI or "too much information." When someone shares too much, it can be very awkward and can damage a person or relationship. Sharing one's deepest, darkest secrets isn't a good idea either, so, how do we do this? How do we create a public/private life online?

There are lots of ways, but an example of this from radio was while doing the morning drive show, I'd tell a story to my co-host, the news guy. I remember one story was about how my husband and I had had an argument the night before and I wanted to know if he thought I was right, or if he thought Gary was right. I also wanted to hear from some listeners who would then call to give us their two cents. What this did was it created rapport. Notice I didn't share some awful story, some deep dark secret that would embarrass me or my family. No. I shared something that was private but that it was OK if others heard about it since I knew they would be able to relate to it. Anyone who has ever been in a relationship with someone else has had disagreements. I knew sharing about a personal disagreement would be a great way for my audience to connect with me.

So, how does this apply to Social Media? As you are strategically using it to build your business, ramp up your cause, promote an event or service, or simply to add to your social life, think about who your friends or followers are and what they would be interested in. Then post accordingly. Not everyone will like every post, and that isn't the point. It's simply important to discover for yourself what you are comfortable talking about regarding your personal life, and what is off limits.

You get to decide what to share, and share we must. Our connected world now demands this kind of interaction, and beyond that it can be a lot of fun

Do let me know your thoughts below regarding this post. Have you already developed a public/private life, or are you just considering how you'll begin doing that?

Warmly,
Joanne