Working in public relations, and more recently putting together social media recommendations, I have realized business executives are skittish about putting anything risky out for public viewing, and understandably so. When doing any sort of public campaign, whether it is PR or social media, the fear is that the consumer will pick apart your efforts and declare it to be bad.
I’ll spare you the “times are a-changing” speech. We all know that individuality is the wave of the future (or the present). As business leaders and innovators, we don’t need to be focusing on putting too much out there. Instead, assess our limitations as a brand or business, understand those limitations and build on them. Business life is not meant to be fully transparent, but it does need to have personality. 93% of my Twitter followers aren’t going to care that we have a new insurance policy. 93% of my followers will care that Dennis Quaid attended the BMW Charity Pro-Am this year.
Learning your business’ transparency limitations will help you build a stronger personality for that brand. You will find newer and creative ways to circle around your taboo topics, as well as better engage your fans and followers. In the meantime, you will make believers out of executives. One thing all execs can relate to is success.