@deairby I would say it depends who you are talking to and how good your relationship is with the person on the receiving end. For example if I was emailing you to open a tea shop maybe for franchising, I would definitely not say. “He Dea! Hows the British watering hole business treating you?:p lol I wanna open one of those herbal gold mines of my own, do you franchise?” 1 no .. That’s rude, unprofessional and not everyone may find it amusing. I think a certain level of comfort must be established before anyone starts cracking jokes in a professional situation. For example one of the first clients I ever had in my studio never even got to record .. Why? I kicked him out after he jokingly asked if adult movies were filmed here since its soundproof. My arm shot up and pointed at the door. .. Sorry I don’t need that bull anywhere around my business. Had my buddy that lives down the street from me that iv know since we were 8 jokingly said that, I’m not gonna lie I woulda laughed and maybe given him a “what’s wrong with you” look .. That’s it. . Why? Comfort levels. Thoughts?

@deairby I only use humor (which seems to be part of my essence) after I know my audience. I try to use sparingly — mainly to make sure something I typed is taken the right way. LOL is more for friends and close associates. With Twitter a dash of humor conveys your personality a little bit.

I agree with @demorden ‘s “make your audience smile.” After all, how many people are really laughing out loud when they type LOL? I bet they cracked a smile though.

first, proud of your integrity! second, agree on knowing the customer @sgsrecording

@joanmuschampfagnani @jeniferswanson (love Mayhem, too)  @debbielynnava  @demorden thanks for the input

@kc_kreative that reminds me to undo my auto Twitter to LinkedIn feature. Since I’ve gone out on my own, my Tweets are on a variety of topics, not all business related. I just need to use HootSuite to post to both when appropriate.

In my past life, my Tweets were really all work related, so it was simpler.

@kc_kreative thanks. I was on Twitter, but couldn’t find how to undo the auto feature. I like that LinkedIn allows me a choice.

@joanmuschampfagnani I just saw your post so you may have already figured this out. On LinkedIn, go to Settings (under your name in the upper right corner) and you’ll see Manage Your Twitter Settings in the box labeled Profile Privacy Settings. Click that and another box pops up. Select Remove next to your Twitter name OR check Share only tweets that contain #in. Save your changes and you should NOT see all your tweets appearing on LinkedIn.

Such an interesting topic and very timely for me.  As I work at differentiating myself from my competition in the food coaching industry, I’ve realized there’s an abundance of spirituality and a lack of humor.  And yes, even dealing with serious food issues can be pretty funny.  Of course, I would never make jokes at anyone’s expense, but I’ve seen my clients relax and respond positively when we can take some of the heaviness out of this subject once in a while.

I’m starting to experiment with writing this way, as well, and most of the humor comes from examples of my own life.  It’s just amazing how adding some lightness to a subject can bring in a whole new dimension.

Dea

This is a great question!

This year, I started integrating video as part of my social media strategy. Considering I am a video production company, this made sense.

I tend toward a humorous approach to life. This leaks into my videos. Well, leaks isn’t the right word. I think a better way to put it is this: I have a welcome video on my website. In it, I:

• dress like a caveman
• burp…loudly
• sport a big ol’ grey nose hair (this wasn’t on purpose, but, it’s huge in my closeups!)
• perform an uncanny impersonation of Kristen Stewart

When you see this video, you’re pretty much seeing me. This is how I roll. I don’t take myself too seriously. My work? I take very seriously. I work hard and produce great looking video. I just have fun doing it!

My clients are mostly small businesses. And all of them enjoy my “quirky” sense of humor. How do I know this? Because they laugh at my jokes. And because they’ve told me.

You see, life is way too short to spend all serious and grumpy and frowny and…businessy.

Have I lost business? I don’t know. If they didn’t like my sense of humor, they didn’t bother to let me know. So it all works out!

– Daniel

great video!  thanks for sharing @pronoya