Ep 45 - How much of my personal life should I share on social media?

Episode Show Notes

Welcome to This Week’s Episode

One of the biggest challenges for clinicians and health professionals using social media is knowing how much personal content to share. You want to build trust and connection with your audience, but where do you draw the line between being relatable and maintaining professionalism?

This week’s episode was inspired by a question from one of my clients in the Accelerate Mastermind group: How much of my personal life should I share on social media? If you’ve ever debated whether to post something personal, worried about oversharing, or felt unsure about how to balance credibility with authenticity, this episode is for you.

Episode Summary

We explore the fine line between personal and professional sharing as a healthcare professional on social media. While personal content helps to build trust, oversharing can dilute your credibility. I share a three-step framework to help you define what to share and what to keep private, so you can show up online with confidence while maintaining professional boundaries.

We also discuss common mistakes clinicians make on social media, why engagement-driven content can be tempting, and how to ensure that what you share aligns with your business goals.

Key Takeaways

• Personal content builds trust, but it should be intentional and aligned with your values.

• Oversharing can blur professional boundaries and impact credibility.

• Define your key themes - choose 3-5 personal elements that support your brand and client relationships.

• Set clear boundaries - decide in advance what’s off-limits.

• Consider separate accounts if you also want a private space to share more freely.

• Take action today - post one small personal insight that reflects a shared value with your audience.

If you found this episode helpful, please leave a review and share it with a colleaguewho might benefit. And if you have a question you’d like me to cover in a future episode, send me a DM on Instagram - I’d love to hear from you.

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Episode transcription:

Sarah Almond Bushell: [00:00:00] Welcome along. Today we are tackling a question that comes up time and time again. How much of my personal life should I share on social media? It's a tricky balance. You want to build trust and connection with your audience, but you don't have to share everything. After all, you're not an influencer. So where is the line? 

Now this came up as a question from one of my clients in my Accelerate Mastermind group this week, and I thought it was an excellent one to answer on the podcast. For some It's easier if you are or if you've ever been your ideal client because your day to day life is going to be very relatable. But if you've never been where your audience are now, you may wonder how you relate to them or how interested they're going to be in pictures of your lunch. 

So we are going to answer that question. What should you share and what should you keep private? And by the end of this episode, you'll have a clear strategy for making the personal [00:01:00] side of marketing work for you, without it feeling like an invasion of your private life and whilst maintaining our professional boundaries as healthcare professionals. 

As always, I'm going to give you lots of ideas on what you can share and a simple action step that you can take today to start showing up more comfortably online. 

So if you've ever sat staring at your phone debating whether to post something personal, a snippet of your day on social media, then I'm totally with you on that. It's a constant tug of war between knowing that you need to show up often and being relatable to your audience, but also wanting to maintain a level of professionalism. 

You've probably heard a million times that people buy from people and that your audience needs to know, like, and trust you. And yes, that is absolutely true because people don't buy from faceless businesses. They want to know the real [00:02:00] human behind the brand. But we are healthcare professionals who also have ethical and professional boundaries to maintain. 

So where does that leave us? It's a really big question. Maybe you've asked yourself, if I post too much personal stuff, will people take me seriously as a professional? Or if I don't post anything personal at all, will I come across as cold and unapproachable? And how much is too much? What are the boundaries here? 

And what if I cross a line without realising it? So the HCPC, the Health Care Professions Council makes it clear that social media use must be professional and in line with our duty of care. We have to be mindful of confidentiality, of appropriate interactions, and how our content reflects on us as healthcare professionals. 

So the struggle is real. We need [00:03:00] to be human, but we also make need to maintain credibility. And you know what? That's fine if you work full time in the NHS because it's much easier to abide by these rules as you're not trying to connect with people on social media. But to be honest, as a business owner, particularly one who wants to use social media as part of their visibility strategy, I think that balance can feel really tricky. 

And so what usually happens, I've seen my colleagues, my clients, and my friends fall into one of two camps. So either they share nothing personal and end up with a social media presence that feels a bit clinical, perhaps a bit stiff, a bit unengaging. Or they share too much and come across a bit more like an influencer. 

And it can be really hard to actually identify that they are a clinician. And actually, neither of these extremes work when it comes to client attraction. [00:04:00] And that's exactly why we need to have a strategy to figure out what to share. And what to keep private, without the stress of that sinking feeling in your stomach that sometimes comes after you've posted wondering, Oh, have I made a mistake? 

And maybe even rushing to delete it. So let's imagine two different versions of you who could go on social media and what this might actually look like. So the first version. You're all business. You post expert advised, really well researched insights and professional updates, but you never show you. 

There's no glimpse into who you are as a person. There's no sense of what it's like to work with you. And because of that, your content might feel a bit Meh. A bit flat. It's useful, sure, but it's not making that deeper connection that turns a follower into a paying client. In all likelihood, your [00:05:00] followers are probably other healthcare professionals who are there for their own interests. 

In fact, it may not even be clear that there's a human behind the brand at all. You might come across as an organisation. I've often tried to connect with people who might have DM'd me for business advice, and when I click through to their profiles and look at their posts, I can't even find a first name. 

If I can't, then your followers can't either, and you're highly unlikely to get people wanting to work with you. Now let's look at the other version of you, the one who's all in on personal sharing. You're posting everything, your weekend outings, your family updates, even the occasional rant about life. 

Your audience might feel like they really know you, but are they seeing you as the credible professional expert that you are? Or is your social media presence starting to blur into something that feels a little bit too [00:06:00] personal? Again, sharing too much might well put potential clients off. The vast majority of us are somewhere in between. 

Personal stuff is required because it endears you to people. So, if you don't mind sharing your home, answer a question. that someone has asked you whilst walking around your kitchen, or perhaps sitting next to your dog on the sofa, or even while cooking your meal. This works really well because this is really subtle, behind the scenes, and you know what, it can be curated, you can organise this. 

But I also know that feeling, that you sometimes might go to post something that felt totally fine to do in the moment, but an hour or so later, it begins to niggle at you, it's in the back of your mind, and you start questioning whether posting it was the right thing to do. You might think, oh gosh, was that too much? 

Or, what if a client sees this and thinks, well, that's not very [00:07:00] professional? Or, what if another healthcare professional judges me for it? And What if their judgment is right and I made a mistake? And then suddenly, sharing your behind the scenes content on social media starts to feel like an emotional minefield. 

But we all know that pictures of you and personal posts often get more likes and more comments than our business related content. And social media platforms Favour this engagement. They want more posts like that, which means it can make it very tempting to keep leaning into that more personal sharing just for the validation and forgetting that damn algorithm to notice you. 

But you don't wanna wake up one day and realise that your social media presence has turned into something that doesn't actually serve you or your business, or worse, that you've shared something that's been screenshotted and reposted and you can't even take it back. And of course. Professionalism, that really [00:08:00] matters. 

As healthcare professionals, our social media presence is an extension of our credibility. It means steering clear of anything that could be seen as unprofessional or overly negative or simply not aligned with the standards that we have to uphold in our field. Your audience might really enjoy your personal stories, but at the end of the day, they're looking to you as a trusted expert. 

So, a photo of your morning coffee and your breakfast, that might be great, but a drunken night out, maybe not. 

If the stakes feel high, it's because Honestly, they are. As healthcare professionals, we've got a bit more to think about than the average business owner, and the HCPC reminds us that professionalism doesn't stop when we log off. So how do we get this right? Well, first of all, people primarily come to your social media because they've got a problem [00:09:00] or a desire that they know that you can help them achieve. 

So this needs to remain the focus of what you're posting. People come to influencers social media accounts to be nosy and to see how they live their lives, but that's not really us as business owners. So how do we share just enough? To make connections and be relatable without oversharing. Well, I've actually broken this down into just actually three simple steps for you. 

So step one is defining the purpose of your personal content. So as a business coach, I want to show my audience my freedom lifestyle. It's nothing extravagant. I'm not traveling the world with my laptop on sunny beaches or flying first class on airplanes. But I'm doing the school run. I'm taking daytime exercise classes. 

I'm having a Tuesday morning nail appointment. I'm going for sunny dog walks rather than sitting behind a desk all day. And that's because [00:10:00] I know that my audience and I have that same shared value of freedom and family. In The Children's Nutritionist, I'll share my story about being a mother of a child with sensory based fussy eating and our day to day experiences of how I might present a new food on the plate, how I might be showing my frustration when packaging changes, or when I might be celebrating a win when something new has been accepted. 

So, think about the purpose of your personal content and why your audience would want to see that. What values do you share and what message does that send to your client? So, As I alluded to right at the very start, if you have been where your ideal client is or you're perhaps still walking in their shoes, this might actually come quite naturally to you. 

But for the majority of us, we haven't walked that path and so you may need to find some quiet time and just think about what's going to resonate with them. If [00:11:00] you've done your ideal client work thoroughly, you likely have a huge long list. Step two is to set your five key themes and your non negotiables. 

So this is where I want you to decide what aspects of your personal life you're comfortable sharing and what is strictly off limits. So for me, My five key themes that I'm happy to share are my home office workspace, my dog, my self care routines, what I'm going to eat, and my beach walks. However, I do not share details about my children. 

They're teenagers and they really don't want that. So, some ideas that have worked for me are photos while I'm creating presentation slides, or pictures of me sat at my desk, surrounded by research papers, assimilating the evidence from my latest blog. It could be when I'm looking at foods in the food [00:12:00] cupboard, or unpacking the food shopping, or even cooking a meal. 

So when you have these clear boundaries of what is acceptable and what is an absolute no, it'll help you feel more in control about what you go to post in terms of your personal life on your social media. And then step three. Is to separate personal and professional accounts. So if you're someone who enjoys using social media for personal reasons, definitely have a separate private account just for friends and family. 

So this allows you to have that personal space where you can post freely, sharing your opinions while keeping your business account focused on your professional brand. And it's also really great for making sure that your newsfeed is owingly showing you things related to fun or to hobbies and not what your competitor's up to. 

So I don't use TikTok for my business. Perhaps I should, but that's another [00:13:00] conversation. But I do use it for entertainment and recipes. I'm currently learning how to bake sourdough at the moment. And I'm also loving the sort of girlfriend, boyfriend. Prank videos. My Favourite one is the fa la la la la la la latte one. 

So honestly, if you haven't seen it, go and look up, it is so funny. But anyway, I love TikTok and for that, it means I don't see a single pediatric dietetic post or anything to do with marketing or passive income or online businesses. And that makes TikTok a really fun place for me to be. So, once you live by these three simple steps, you'll stop overthinking and your personal behind the scenes style content will be so much easier for you to share. 

So, the action step that I've got for you today is just a quick one. I just want you to take one small personal element, something you feel comfortable sharing that you know your audience will [00:14:00] relate to because it taps into a shared value that you both have. Maybe it's your daily walk. Maybe it's your clinic space or your office or a book that you're reading. 

Whatever it is, just post it today. So no overthinking, just a quick but intentional share that starts to build connection with your audience, but in a way that feels really comfortable and really aligned for you. So just a quick episode today. But we've covered how to find that balance between personal and professional sharing on social media. 

We've talked about why this feels tricky as regulated healthcare professionals and the risks of oversharing or undersharing in fact, and how to create a strategy that works for you. I've also given you that little action step to take right now. And I'd love for you to commit to that. Remember, you're not a celebrity. 

You're not an influencer. You're a healthcare professional running a business. So keep your sharing intentional, [00:15:00] keep it aligned with your shared values and keep showing up in a way that feels authentic and good for you. And if you're thinking, Oh my gosh, Sarah, there's just so many ethical questions about running a business.  

If you need some more support with this, hen I'm delighted to let you know that my diary is currently open for discovery calls. Head to the show notes to choose a time and let's chat about how I can mentor you to move your business forwards. See you next time. Bye for now.