Workplace Instagram and work

[designerdreamin]

I need some advice in separating my real life from work. I have two Instagram accounts. One is a personal account (using my name) and the other is my business account (my name plus the field I work in). - both of them are open to the public. On my personal account I post photos of daily things including some great photos I took while travelling. My business one is purely of things that I create to inspire my customers. Although I publicise my business account to my colleagues and customers, most of my followers on my personal account are either customers or colleagues who found me.

Now I've started following some YouTubers/bloggers using my personal account and there have been a few following me back. I'd love to also be able to post things like OOTD or photos of my purses/accessories, etc., but I'm worried about how it's going to look to my colleagues/customers. The world of beauty/fashion YouTubers etc is very different to what most of them know and I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable or think I'm showing off.

I'm thinking of changing my personal account name and then deleting my friends/colleagues from my personal account so I can start afresh, even though it would leave me with about half a dozen followers. Has anyone done this before? Any advice so I don't cause issues?

 

[designerdreamin]

Okay, I just read through my post again and realised it might be confusing. My real friends don't follow me on Instagram at all - most of them are on Facebook. People who follow me on Instagram are work related and so I'm not wanting to mix work with my personal life.

 

[L etoile]

Okay, I just read through my post again and realised it might be confusing. My real friends don't follow me on Instagram at all - most of them are on Facebook. People who follow me on Instagram are work related and so I'm not wanting to mix work with my personal life.

Part of me wants to tell you to keep them completely separate, but part of me wants to tell you to go ahead and mix your personal life with work life a bit.

I tend to keep things separate (just have a personal instagram and Facebook), but some of my colleagues are able to mix the two well.

 

[DariaD]

I can relate very well!

I personally decided to minimize my number of accounts and only keep one account on IG both for my business and private life. People who buy my art and merchandise are also interested to see a person behind the brand and I am OK with that. Yes, it limits you to some extend, but for me it was easier to edit my posting habits and themes, that invest a lot of effort into two separate accounts and keeping them separated for a long time.

Good luck with your business whatever you decide!

 

[ms-whitney]

I think it's fine to mix it because at the end there are some things that are too private that you wouldn't want to put on the internet for people to see and have written in history..friend or not

however, if you're talking about stuff that's unrelated but still okay for public, more in line with friends..I think since your friends don't use instagram, keeping it on fb would be helpful to keep those two separate

I never have anything online picture wise that I would regret because people and the power of google these days..I tell ya.. also keeps my picture uploading in check lol

 

[designerdreamin]

Thanks everyone! Yes I am careful what I post anyway, my life is pretty sedate so no worries there, lol.

DariaD Yes I totally get that, that people want to see the person behind the art. Interestingly those photos get the most 'likes'.

Thanks again everyone, it's great to get another view of things and see what others do.

 

[CrackBerryCream]

I only have one account which doesn't have my real name at all. I mostly post about food, bags and work, so yes I mix both personal as well as business. Only because I work in the luxury field anyway (finally...) and nothing I post is offensive per se. We sell chandeliers for 30K and so on, so designer bags aren't that surprising