If you have a brand on Instagram, there’s a good chance that someone has told you to be real with your followers. In the same breath, they’ve also probably told you to reveal your true self as much as possible. But what they may fail to mention is that there is a line, and it can be easy to cross.
Of course, potential clients are going to feel compelled to become committed clients when they feel like they can resonate with you. However, you’ve got to remember that at the end of the day, you’re still running a business. This means there is such a thing as being too relatable.
Why Do You Have a Brand?
Before you go too far down the relatable rabbit hole, you’ve got to get reflective for a minute and ask yourself – why are people following me? People want to see high quality, interesting, intriguing content. If you’re a business consultant, people are going to want to see pictures of how you keep on top of your schedule and stay organized – not photos of your acai bowl in the morning. When all is said and done, they want to see brand-related content.
Relate it to Business
If you’ve just gone through a bit of a hard time and you’ve learned from it, then this is something you can share with your followers. However, if you’re sharing it on your business account, make sure to relate it to your business somehow. This is the kind of authentic and real self that your followers want to see – someone who has struggles and bad days just like the rest of us, but who can pull it together and maintain their professionalism online.
Be Real Within Reason
Everyone’s brand covers a different niche, which means that your comfort level is going to be different from someone else’s. If your followers like it when you share a personal pic that gives them a little bit of an insight, then keep doing it. It’s just important to remember that most of your followers are there because they want to see more of your product, which means you need to be making the most of your platform and sharing the stuff that they really want. There’s nothing wrong with occasionally showing them that you can be relatable, but try to find the balance between making a personal connection and keeping it professional.
Keep it to the Captions
A great way to separate the two is to keep the personal stuff to the captions. This means that you can continue to upload high quality, professional content that relates to your brand while sharing a personal insight or relatable comment in the caption. If you’re not used to doing this and haven’t quite worked out what your brand voice is yet in the captions, try talking to an expert to see if they can come up with something that’s quirky, unique and of course, on-brand.
As you grow your brand, you’ll develop more intuition around it. You’ll be able to read your community and figure out what they like and what they don’t like. Whether it’s sticking to just the captions or choosing a certain day to post something personal, finding the balance when building a brand on Instagram is essential to keeping your followers around.