Avoid
Using the Business Page as a Personal Page
The Manifesto is direct about it: do not use your business pages and platforms for personal purposes. Give yourself a presence that is clearly yours.
Content Ideas: The Skyline Strategy for Business Owners
All consumed media educates, entertains, inspires, or connects. The Skyline Strategy asks for two pieces about your work for every one about your life. Here is one of each, for each purpose.
| Purpose | Brand Post | Personal Post |
|---|---|---|
| EducateTeach something useful. | The three numbers you check every Monday, and why. | The routine that gets you to work in the right frame of mind. |
| EntertainMake it enjoyable to follow you. | The strangest customer request you ever said yes to. | Your worst first-job story. |
| InspireShow what is possible. | The week the business almost did not make it, and what saved it. | The person who believed in you before anyone else. |
| ConnectGive people a reason to reply. | Introduce one team member and what they taught you. | Ask your audience what they would build if they started today. |
More Ideas for Business Owners
- Build in Public as the Owner. Share how the business is built: decisions, hires, lessons. People buy from the company whose owner they know.
- Document the Build. Share one real decision from the business every week: a hire, a mistake, a number, a lesson.
Plan the ratio with the free Skyline Planner (opens in a new tab).
What to Avoid
Avoid
Letting the Company Speak for You
If every post is the company's announcement, you have built the company's brand and not your own.
Avoid
Waiting Until the Company Is Bigger
Documenting the journey from founder to owner of a growing business is itself the content. It cannot be recreated later.
Measure It First: The Identity Positioning™ Brand Audit
Twenty-five questions, about seven minutes, free. Choose Business Owner / Founder on the intake and the audit scores all five pillars, places you on The Hierarchy of Personal Branding, and returns the three moves that would raise your score most, each traced to the subchapter it comes from.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should a business owner build a personal brand or a company brand?
Both, as two separate assets that grow together. The company brand is decided at launch; your personal brand is you, and it travels with you whatever happens to any one company.
Will my personal brand distract from my company?
Not if it is pointed at the same goals. Founders often have larger audiences than their companies, and a trusted founder makes the company easier to buy from, invest in, and work for.
Where should a founder start?
With the 4 Pillar Questions, then a presence that is clearly yours: a page, a byline, and a consistent profile, separate from the company's channels.
