Online, personality matters. But how much is too much?
In a blog that is predominantly professional, is it acceptable to discuss personal and non-professional subject matter, and if so is there a line to discussing these topics, especially if this content could be construed as contentious (human issues, political opinions, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, etc.)?
While this question doesn’t really pertain to personal blogs, it does for blogs with a professional following. The main intent for business-focused blogs is to build relationships and credibility with readers through the blogging of expertise. Some could argue that sharing last night’s dinner experience or posting a movie or hotel review could be seen as counterproductive.
As a blog reader, I personally prefer reading blogs that have a focus aligned to my business interests. However, I also think that people should bring themselves across through their work, of which blogging can be one outlet. This doesn’t mean that they should ramble like a teenager but should, within boundaries, bring across their personalities.
My own blog content is generally centered around the core of my business - social media, online marketing and related topics. However, my ‘blog voice’ is also about creating a connection with my target audience by trying to replicate my personality in the working environment; professional and characteristic yet private. Opinion, word choice, language, sentence construction and humour all play a role in my blogging; it helps me define and reveal a bit of who I am as a person - something that is core to my business and my relationships with my clients.
In my opinion readers don’t care if we occasionally focus on personal or non-professional topics as long as the content is somehow relevant to the main community we’re trying to connect with, does not deluge from the core theme and focus of our blogs, and is presented in terms of value to our readers.
As with offline conversations, online conversations are reliant on personality. But is there a limit?
What do you think?
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Comments
Thanks for your comment Wendy. I share similar views. However, would it be OK if the business blog, about small business perhaps, blogs about a party organiser’s business savvy who was involved in their nephew’s birthday - i.e. the mixing of business and personal? Or should they blog about the organiser (from a business perspective) without the nephew’s birthday as context.
I would think a business blog is also about letting people get to know the people who work at the company - to see a personal face. The ideal is to show personality through the style of writing and not through extra or boring info about a nephew - but it’s a pretty tough thing to do. My concern is always being too business-like in a medium that’s supposed to be more personal.
I see what you mean- if its in context I wouldn’t mind it at all, even a small mention here or there of the persons interests can add character without distracting from the topic. The blog I had in mind is in fact the blog of a WASP member and author so sometimes articles link to her blog for industry info, often however the articles are personal tirades.
I think particularly in this case where this persons name is known in certain development circles they should be more professional when posting to a blog in any way associated with their work. If she had a totally seperate blog for friends and family I wouldn’t have to read about her romantic crisis when looking for her view on the latest web standards documentation;)
The way this persons blog was being handled left me taking her less seriously professionally.
Hi Katharina, As you say, I think that writing plays a very strong role in bringing across a personality, not only of the company/brand but also the respective authors. Of course, this also depends entirely on the brand and audience in question too - a private bank dealing with senior investors would require a different approach than one that is aimed at the marketing fraternity.
Hey Wendy, Any blog rant about a romantic crisis (unless she’s just started a fantastic online dating service for web developers 
should probably be kept off a work comm channel, which her blog sounds like it is.
In all honesty, I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer - except an answer that works for each individual, especially if we target unique audiences. I think the key, from a business perspective, is to try and keep it semi-professional - something that won’t bore your audience to death but would also not stand to your detriment if a client happened to come across it.
Good article- you mentioned a lot of things that have been on my mind lately while deciding whether to upload my blog.
Personally I have followed what I expected to be business blogs and found it annoying when the person started rambling about their nephew’s birthday. If a person wants a personal blog fair enough but keep them separate and make the focus of the blog clear to the reader.