I’m about to address what is sure to be a touchy subject.
I want to delve into the dicey area of bloggers promoting freelance work to their personal (not blogging) networks.
This post is rooted in a weariness I have over my Facebook feed being overtaken by it all.
Freelancing in social media is tricky. It’s competitive, jobs are hard to come by, and those of us who feel the silent (or not so silent) pressure from our spouses to “figure out how to make money from this so-called hobby called blogging you spend 40 hours a week on” are anxious to get gigs, broaden our careers, and make a contribution to our families.
But why must our personal lives be part of the equation? In most other industries, working professionals are not required or asked to pimp out stuff to their friends.
Yet I see this happening every day with social media freelancers and writers. I see folks promoting item after item after item. I see them sharing giveaways they’re running for clients that are not relevant to me or probably to their other friends. I can spot which people are being compensated based on pageviews, and I wish things would change.
I’m going to go out on a limb and probably piss a bunch of people off with my perspective, which is this:
I don’t want to ever work for a company who expects, requires or asks me to share nearly every post I write for them {or campaign I work on} to my personal network.
Digital age be damned. My personal life is not part of a package deal for a job. They’re not written into the job description. My friends are not up for grabs. And I don’t want to be up for grabs with your employer or client, either.
If I’m friends with you on Facebook, I’m there to connect with YOU, not your job. I’m also not there to ask you to help me be more successful at MY job.
Selective sharing? I don’t mind. “Liking” your own posts? I’m okay with. Using your Facebook fan page as a distribution tool? All good. But in some cases, I don’t even see updates about a person anymore, just a constant stream of links to stuff they’ve written for other people. And that makes me sad.
I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve pared down my feed to rid myself of the noise…so when a person DOES make a personal update, I miss it. And that makes me even more sad. I miss the people behind the freelance work.
I recognize that some folks are okay with the tradeoffs associated with promoting work to friends. Some, due to financial reasons, may have to – and I understand that.
I also recognize that someday very soon, I might be in the position where I *have* to take work that requires me to use my friend network. I’ll be bummed if it comes to that. I’ve never been in that position. I’ve been blessed to have clients who trust me to share judiciously and carefully: where it makes sense and where it adds value to the client AND to my network.
We all need to do a better job of educating our clients that oversharing with one’s personal network is a misguided approach. Nobody wins. Sure, the first twenty links might get great traffic for the client, but is that short-term upside worth the risk of oversharing and being deleted out of someone’s feed? Because once you lose a set of eyeballs, it’s really, really hard to get them back.
In the same turn, clients need to trust freelancers. If we’re professional, we’ll carefully select what we share with our personal networks, where and when it is appropriate.
I’m proud of all of the work I do, but that doesn’t mean you have to be, too. 
If you write as a freelancer or work in social media, what’s your policy on sharing your work with your personal Facebook account? Are you required or expected to share everything or do you have the choice? How do you make the right tradeoffs? Should companies have the right to expect this level of sharing?
Share your perspective with me – I’m anxious to know.
About the Author Gigi Ross
I'm a blogger, social media geek, mom and wife, foodie, reality TV addict and Jason Mraz fangirl. Not in that order. I write here about parenting, blogging, technology, social media and pop culture.
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
I love your courage in voicing your opinion.
I am with you on this. I don’t even share my personal blog stuff on my personal network (for reasons of my own), and I most certainly won’t inundate my friends and family with freelance/ work stuff. Not only are they not really my/ my client’s target audience, I personally think it’s very presumptuous to assume they would care to click on every. single.link.
I would however make exceptions if for example, I have a client who’s giving away spa vouchers and I know a friend who loves that sort of thing, I would contact her privately to let her know.
And yes, people will say, then just hide those updates from that friend. Which kinda misses the point with actually being connected in the first place.
There is no happy balance, is there?
Alison´s last [type] ..The Easy
My approach is similar. I try to really ask myself whether my Facebook friends would really want to see the link. If I’m not certain, I don’t share it.
I agree with you. I manage our blog at work, and I will occasionally link to an interesting post from our blog on my FB or Twitter account, but I do it rarely because the focus of the blog doesn’t interest my personal network.
KeAnne´s last [type] ..Lazy Fall Weekend
It’s a fine line sometimes. I think everything in moderation
I totally understand what you’re saying, and although I do often share my blog posts in my personal Facebook feed, I *think* (hope?) I am not doing it obnoxiously enough for you to have hidden me.
The reason I do share most (not all) links is because I have a lot of friends and family who want to keep up with what I’m doing, but they are not necessarily “blog savvy.” They don’t subscribe in readers or by email, they don’t even follow my blog’s Facebook page. And most of the time they’ll go read the post, then come *back* to Facebook to comment. It just seems easier to keep them updated about my blog and my writing via Facebook.
Having said that, I’ve never been specifically asked to share on my personal network, and I would not be thrilled with that as a requirement. I also typically post a handful of Facebook updates per day, so a link would not be the only one.
I think where I’ve seen an overabundance of links (and I’m guilty of this myself) is on Twitter. That channel has lost almost all of its allure to me in terms of conversation and connection.
It’s all a very delicate balance, isn’t it?
Stacey @ Tree, Root, and Twig´s last [type] ..Sky, Fields, Family
It is a delicate balance. And I think sharing your personal blog posts is ok, because as you said, sometimes that’s the only way your non bloggy friends can access your stuff.
I don’t recall ever seeing you promote a ton of your freelance stuff though. When you do, it seems judicious.
I’m with Stacey–my friends and family on my personal facebook page seem to keep up with the blog that way (people who have never heard the term reader.) Hey–I don’t even use a reader. I tend to keep up via Twitter. Anyway, if I were writing a post for something totally random and not about ME personally or an issue that people like me deal with, then I would not share it in the personal network. By the way, I feel the same aggravation on Twitter. Don’t want the twitter feed to feel like a product commercial though I know that is how some payments work. Nobody has ever offered me money to tweet about something . . . so I guess I can’t fairly say whether the payment is worth the turn off to followers. Maybe it is?
Nina´s last [type] ..I’ve Been Anthologized!
I would have to agree! I never post my freelance work on my personal Facebook account. I think it would annoy people. The friends that want to know what’s going on with my business do like my page, so they see the updates if they want to. I use Twitter and a Facebook page (several) for business and don’t mix it in with my friends
Anastasia @ eco-babyz´s last [type] ..BobaAir Baby Carrier Review {Giveaway tomorrow!}
You know where I draw the line – why make money when you can just write for free in the same dirty sweatpants everyday?
No, in all seriousness, I have my side projects but I keep them my side projects. I feel some pressure to double dip, but I really strain to keep the silos separate. Fortunately, my voice and style is so clearly humor and ridiculousness that I’m not asked anymore to do anything that doesn’t fit that bill, but even so, I know what people come to my blog for. I don’t want to confuse them. And, in effect, confuse myself.
Good post, Gigi.
I don’t do freelance work (yet) but with my blog I don’t share that on my personal FB page. It has it’s own page that is specifically set up for promoting it.
I have to agree with you… I wouldn’t use my personal social media channels to promote something I’ve done freelancing unless it was something that was really important, required by them (not sure if I’d do the job then), or something that I thought my friends, family, and readers would enjoy.
I guess it can be fine line…
Jackie´s last [type] ..The winds of change
I completely agree with you. I never link my blog or anything blog related to my personal accounts. I have actually have been accused of hiding my blog from friends because I don’t do this. I have a link to my blog on my personal Facebook account and that’s as far as I go.
I don’t share a lot of my posts on my personal wall – I don’t even share them all on my fan page. I’m selective though some campaigns require I share it on my fan page which is okay with me.
I generally share personal posts or stuff I think my friends are interested since many are preggo and have babies like me – I figure they might want to know about a car seat I reviewed. In fact they will ask me about those things.
And like Stacy above – a lot of my FB friends don’t understand how to keep up with a blog unless I share a link. I had one person ask me to post more of my photos on my fb album instead of my blog because she doesn’t always know when to go look….some just don’t get it but like the sharing.
Now I do get accused of posting about my kids too much but that’s me and that’s my personal life
can’t please everyone.
Darcy´s last [type] ..Random Life Update – October 2012
I tend to share the posts I write with my personal network of friends. I also use my personal page for personal updates. The way I look at it is if this is a conversation I would have with a friend on a playdate or over dinner, why can’t I share the article I wrote on my personal facebook page? I write about parenting topics and a number of my friends are parents. I post about one article per week so I don’t bombard their feed with self promotion. They don’t have to read it if they don’t want to.
I also think it’s ok to ask your personal network for help, especially when it requires very little effort from them. I have friends in the insurance industry and in the mortgage industry and they have asked for my business. I don’t think they are using me and I understand they need to make a living. If I can’t give them the business, I will refer to a friend. I am not promoting anything bad so I don’t feel bad about it. But of course, it’s always important to have a balance.
Valerie´s last [type] ..Caution: Intuition in Action
I agree as well. I very rarely use my personal FB account for anything related to my blog. I do share my posts… but I don’t promote anything! It may be a tough decision to make for some but i try to keep my personal and blogging life separate in a way.
Susi´s last [type] ..Weekend Fun {Quotable Bits}
I don’t really do freelance work (though I wish I did!) so I don’t know that I have much to add to the conversation. I do basically share all of my personal blog posts on FB for the same reason other people have said — many of my friends and family don’t “read blogs” or use twitter or readers or subscribe to blogs, so it’s the only way they see what I write. That being said, on the rare occasion I do sponsored posts or other more “business-y” things, I often only share on my blog page, not my personal page.
angela´s last [type] ..Reviewing Love Comes Later
There are too many sites which are offering huge amount of money but for that you need to prove yourself with your work art. So ready to take advantages from this.
Sam@India carnival´s last [type] ..Goa Holiday Packages
Yes, I do share some of my freelance articles on my personal Facebook page…but I try very hard to space out my “likes” and only share things that I think some of my friends may have an interest in ( like teen content). I wouldn’t share them on my blog’s FB page, because that audience is interested in my blog writing, not articles. But I honestly have a lot of family and friends who want to see what I’m doing, so I try and balance the sharing out. I am not expected to share my work or get a number of pageviews, but I like to feel good enough about what I’ve written that I can stand behind it and possibly spark a conversation.
Honestly, I feel that a big part of the “noise” I am getting on my FB is having to be told when one of my friends comments or likes something that I am not connected to…like a friend-of-a-friend’s picture of their dog. I find that I am hiding lots of “likes and comments” to clean up my feed. And? I don’t want MY friends to have to see all that crap, either…which affects how often I “like” pictures and stuff. I hate that I have to overthink what I “like” or “share” now, it’s taken some of the spontaneity out of FB for me.
Sherri´s last [type] ..The Night they Listened
Yes..there is a delicate balance–almost like a slow dance, of knowing how much is too much. Like Sherri I have been hiding things or unsubscribing to things on my FB feed—though it has occurred to me–do I post too much? I have tried to space out things that I would like to share-but admittedly, it is hard and I am sure that I have annoyed my friends at one time or another. I suppose it is all part of us trying to figure out what this really looks like, in real life….and we each need to find our own comfort zone within that.
Elena´s last [type] ..A California Road Trip Along the PCH
I don’t post freelance work on my personal FB either. And I actually don’t even post my own blog posts there – maybe 2 or 3 times total since I started blogging.
I think the big thing is whether the audience is appropriate. I do some freelance work that no one is going to care about so I don’t share it. I don’t even share those articles on Twitter – the audience isn’t the same.
I agree with Stacey about Twitter – it’s degraded, for me, to the point where I barely go on there because when I do I’m scrolling through tweet after tweet of links and parties and sponsored stuff. Not.interested.
Robin | Farewell, Stranger´s last [type] ..Grace in Small Things: #8
Great post, and I thoroughly agree. Although, I tend to go even more overboard and worry about self-promoting too much even on my blog FB page!
Chaunie@TinyBluelines@´s last [type] ..Do You Think I’m Selfish?