Your Business Doesn’t Have to Be Business All the Time
If you’re sharing business content on your feed all the time, how are people getting to know the person behind the business?
Useful information and expertise have a place in your content, but people also want to understand who is speaking to them. Sharing your humour, the things you notice and the way you see the world shows people who you are behind your art or business.
This week wasn’t all business
This week, I’ve talked about a woman running away from a pelican, a long conversation with my lifelong friend Mandy and Paul’s rogue iPad. The iPad story then developed into an entire bathroom calamity when I discovered that my puffer, prescription boxes and everything else in the drawer beneath the sink was wet.
Some of those stories led naturally towards a business point. Others were moments from my everyday life that I wanted to share. They all tell you something about me.
Not every story needs a business lesson
It is tempting to believe every story shared on a business account needs to end with a neat lesson. A pelican cannot simply be a pelican. It must become a metaphor for confidence, visibility or overcoming fear. Sometimes the story is enough.
A personal story can show your sense of humour, reveal something you care about or give people a way to join the conversation. That connection has value without forcing the story into a business lesson it was never meant to contain.
Your story still needs a doorway
A story doesn’t always need a business lesson, but it does need a doorway. The doorway is the invitation at the end. You might ask people to share their own experience, leave a comment or follow your work. Sometimes the natural doorway is one of your products or services.
The doorway gives people somewhere to go after reading or watching. It doesn’t need to turn every personal story into a sales pitch. It continues the conversation instead of leaving the story sitting there as a full stop.
Let people see what sits behind your products
I’m creating a Far North Queensland calendar. I could finish it, place a photograph on Instagram and say, “Here it is. Go and buy my stuff.” Somebody might find it on Etsy and buy it. However, the people who have followed the creative process will know there is more behind it. They have seen the illustrations develop and heard why the animals were chosen. They know about the possibilities I spotted for the cassowary and why I still needed to finish the frog first.
The calendar is no longer an unexplained product that suddenly appeared on their feed. It has stories behind it.
Share the person behind the business
Your business content can still teach people what you know and show them what you sell. It doesn’t have to do that every time you post. Share something you noticed. Tell the story behind a decision or introduce people to something that matters to you.
Give them a reason to recognise the person behind the work.
Your business doesn’t have to be business all the time. What could you share that would help people get to know the person behind yours?
