Social media mistakes are easy to make, especially when you type before you think. Sure you might want to share a little personal information about yourself, but too much information can be a professional and social media killer. Let me show you a good example of a bad self description and a good one.
The Bad:
I’m an email marketer with fifteen years of experience. I’m older than most in my field so I must be smart. So old if fact, that I now need a pill so I can pee, a pill to sleep and another pill just so I don’t bury the idiots I encounter in the backyard. I drink quite a bit but it helps to make other people more interesting. If you find yourself in Texas and would like to get together to discuss your email marketing needs, we can grab a bottle of tequila and spark-up a blunt and discuss your needs. I mean really how hard could it be? Sending email isn’t rocket surgery. Oh and BTW my girlfriend left me because my Viagra prescription ran out, but I now have more time to work on your project.
The Good:
I’ve been active in the email marketing industry for fifteen years helping Fortune 500 companies as well as small and medium size businesses be successful with their email marketing campaigns. I offer a free one-hour phone consultation to review your current email marketing efforts to see where we can help. Successful email marketing campaigns take time to plan, create, test, implement and to review the analytics. Email marketing isn’t rocket science, but there are specific processes you need to follow to be successful. I’m confident I can help you reach your goals.
The Review:
As funny as the bad is, it just isn’t going to win you any clients. It will hurt your professional reputation and you’ll be relegated to being that funny guy no one really wants to work with. Also keep in mind, you don’t want to publish, email, tweet, blog, etc. anything you’re not comfortable being printed on the front page of the New York Times. Remember, most social sites archive everything. You may delete something, but chances are there is a copy of your content somewhere that will come back to haunt you.
So what is the lesson we have learned today?
Keep it professional, it’s okay to be funny as long as you keep it within the realm of good taste.
Just for the record, nothing in the bad is true about me, well except for the needing a pill to pee.
Cheers, Chris