As a blogger with a relatively new company, one thing has become crystal-clear — I wouldn’t have many page views if it weren’t for social media.

Without some modest promotional efforts on LinkedIn, Twitter and, to a lesser extent, Facebook, I wouldn’t have a lot of meaningful traffic. That is, people who don’t already know me well. Nothing against Facebook (or my friends), I just haven’t used it personally for business. Until now. I’ve used Facebook as it was originally intended — as a purely social application. I keep up with old friends and acquaintances  — and new ones — on FB and don’t want to spam them with business stuff. Unlike many who update their lives with the same posts simultaneously on ALL their social media, I’ve kept Facebook updates separate. I haven’t exposed my FB friends to every tweet or pearl of alleged wisdom on this blog.

However, after advising people on how to set up FB business accounts, I now feel it’s only right that I set up my own Jay Knows Networking account. I feel slightly uncomfortable doing so, but will now separate the business from the fun. So fans of the company won’t be subjected to the silliness I often add to my personal page.

Ironically, it was that silliness that has led to some important business meetings scheduled for the next two weeks. People say they came to this site only after enduring months of self-indulgent and sophomoric (others say thoughtful) Facebook status updates posted 1-3 times a day.

Lessons learned? Be real, if not clever, whatever and wherever you’re posting  Don’t spam your friends. While you always need to be careful what you write on any social site, sometimes your best self-promotion is just being yourself. That’s true in business and real life.