Social Etiquette - Are You Confused?

What seems so obvious to me apparently is really difficult to so many people that I continue to get frustrated!!! Time after time I will get requests to connect here on APSense or another social media site - yet the person just says “hi” or they don’t provide a profile picture of themselves. I get the fact that people want to promote their business with branding, but on social sites there’s a wrong way to do this and a right way to do this…. Do you agree?

So let’s start at the beginning - First off, if you really want to connect with me…. Don’t just say “hi”.


That will not get you far. In fact, I will just delete your request to connect! Frankly, I don’t have the patience for people who are too lazy to write a good greeting about connecting with me. I don’t know what’s up with that! Perhaps they are just plain lazy or they are using some sort of automatic connector. Maybe these people would understand if they would just READ this article!

Even if you use the old “copy & paste” technique to say some sort of greeting, this will be better for everyone. While I sometimes just type in on the fly - occasionally I will write up the greeting in a notepad and go with that. But it’s only used for the initial greeting. After we connect, I like to say something a bit more intelligent.

Another mistake often made is using a branding logo as your profile picture. Hello? What is going on here? Why in the world would you create a social account and then use a logo for your face? Look, I don’t care if you feel you’re not picture perfect - everyone has their little facial quirks that they want to hide. The truth is, although you may not feel you are photogenic, people really don’t care that much. Posting your photo in your profile makes you more real! For all those people who feel that they must use a logo - DO NOT DO THIS!!!


A logo should be reserved for marketing your business, not used in place of your profile picture. The best ways to use your logo is when you write and article, blog or in some other form of marketing. Just break the bad habit of using your logo as your profile picture. When you fail to use your own picture, this just says that you lack the confidence to build your brand. People like to see the face of the person they are connecting with because it provides a more emotional connection. Emotions are what drive your business.

Showing that you are a real person, helps to build the bridge of connection between you and the other person. Building bridges is what creates an emotional connection and in the long run will help your business to grow. Imagine walking into a store to purchase something and the person who is ringing up your order is faceless. Okay, I’m not talking about someone who is covered head to toe in clothing for religious reasons. Rather I’m talking about the person looking like a logo. Let’s say you walk into Walmart, and all the associates look like the Walmart logo.

Yikes! That really sounds scary - like a really bad nightmare! But imagine if that were the case everywhere you went. You go to order something at McDonald's and all you see is that clown face.... everywhere! So you see, putting a face on your profile is a nicer way to portray who you are. Marketing is not just about your business - it’s the face behind the business that creates the emotional connection.

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