For a B2B consultancy with a dry subject matter (e.g., financial planning) in the UK, what ethical and engaging tactics can we use to incorporate the team's personality into our blog posts and LinkedIn updates without sacrificing credibility?

Quick Answer

Incorporate team personalities into B2B content via genuine storytelling and behind-the-scenes insights, ensuring it ethically builds trust and relatability while maintaining professional credibility and adhering to brand guidelines.

## Building Connection: Ethical Personality in Your B2B Content For B2B consultancies, especially those in traditionally 'dry' fields like financial planning, the idea of injecting personality might feel counter-intuitive to maintaining credibility. However, our goal on social media isn't just to inform; it's to connect. People do business with people they know, like, and trust. You can absolutely weave your team's authentic personalities into your blog posts and LinkedIn updates in ethical and engaging ways without sacrificing your professional standing. * **Storytelling with a Purpose:** Don't just present facts; tell the origin story of a particular challenge your client faced and how your team helped them overcome it. This isn't about revealing confidential details, but about framing the problem and solution in a relatable human narrative. This humanises complex topics and shows your expertise in action. Remember, **educational content** is saved and shared most, especially when it resonates on an emotional level. * **Expert Commentary with a Personal Touch:** When discussing industry trends or regulatory changes, have different team members offer their specific insights and perspectives. This demonstrates the breadth of expertise within your team. For example, a financial planner could share their personal 'aha!' moment that led them to prioritise a certain planning approach. This builds **trust faster** than generic company statements. On LinkedIn, these individual perspectives can spark valuable conversations. * **Behind-the-Scenes Glimpses (Strategic & Professional):** Share snapshots of your team collaborating, celebrating small wins, or participating in professional development. This could be a photo of a whiteboard session, a team meeting, or someone presenting at an industry event. **Behind-the-scenes content** builds the strongest connections, showing the human effort behind your high-level services without revealing proprietary information. Just ensure these glimpses maintain a professional tone suitable for a B2B audience. * **"Meet the Team" Features (Beyond the CV):** Introduce team members through short, engaging interviews or Q&As in your blog posts. Ask about their favourite part of their job, a professional lesson they've learned, or a unique skill they bring to the team (e.g., someone's passion for data analytics outside of work). Posts with **faces get 38% more likes**, and this approach allows your audience to put a face and a personality to the name, significantly enhancing relatability. This can also provide great 'evergreen' content for your social media content calendar. * **Thought Leadership Through Problem-Solving:** Instead of just listing services, frame content around common problems your target clients face. Each piece can be authored by a different team member who specialises in that area, offering their unique insights and solutions derived from their experience. This is a subtle way to infuse personality through individual expertise and approach, positioning your team as accessible problem-solvers. This strategy naturally improves your **social media content ideas** by focusing on client needs. ## Potential Pitfalls: What to Avoid While adding personality is beneficial, there are boundaries to respect, especially in a professional B2B context. Overstepping these can quickly erode trust and credibility. * **Over-Personalisation or TMI:** Sharing too much personal life outside of work, or details that are irrelevant to your professional offering, can distract from your core message. While some glimpses build connection, remember your audience is primarily looking for solutions and expertise, not a reality show. Focus on professional anecdotes, not family drama. * **Inconsistency in Brand Voice:** While individual personalities shine through, the overarching brand voice of the consultancy should remain consistent and professional. A sudden shift to overly casual or informal language can confuse your audience and undermine your seriousness as a professional service provider. Ensure your **content strategy** includes guidelines for tone. * **Ethical Lapses and Compliance Issues:** This is especially critical in regulated industries like financial planning. Any content shared must strictly adhere to industry regulations, data protection (GDPR for UK businesses), and your company's compliance policies. Never share client-specific details, engage in speculative financial advice, or make guarantees that are unrealistic or unethical. Always have a review process for content before it goes live. * **Forcing Humour or Jargon:** Attempting to force humour that doesn't feel natural to your team or your brand can fall flat. Similarly, relying too heavily on industry jargon without explanation can alienate your audience. The goal is clarity and connection, not showing off your internal acronyms. Authenticity, even in a professional setting, is key; **unpolished content often outperforms overly produced content** if it feels genuine. * **Ignoring Engagement:** Posting content and then disappearing isn't effective. Failing to respond to comments or questions promptly on LinkedIn or blog posts gives the impression that your team isn't truly engaged or accessible. **Responding to comments within 1 hour** boosts algorithm favour, and it's a vital part of building community and demonstrating your team's approachability. ## Alice's Rule of Thumb Authenticity is your greatest asset in the B2B space. Your personality should enhance your credibility, not detract from it; focus on sharing your expertise and passion through a human lens. ## What This Means For You Building an engaging online presence for your consultancy isn't about becoming someone you're not, it's about strategically showcasing the intelligent, relatable humans behind the expertise. If you want personalised support on how to refine your B2B content strategy and authentically incorporate your team's strengths, this is exactly what we work on together in my coaching, helping you translate 'dry' subjects into compelling narratives for platforms like LinkedIn profiles and company pages, ensuring your team confidently shows up and connects with your ideal clients to expand your **business visibility**.

Alice's Take

I often see B2B businesses, especially those in highly regulated or 'serious' sectors, shy away from showing any personality, fearing it will make them seem unprofessional. But think about it, what makes you choose one consultant over another? Often it's the feeling of connection, the sense that you understand and trust the people you're working with. For a B2B consultancy, injecting personality is about demonstrating genuine expertise, shared values, and the human problem-solving capabilities of your team. It's not about being silly; it's about being relatable and trustworthy. Start small with 'Meet the Team' features in your blog posts or have different colleagues author sections of your LinkedIn updates, sharing their unique perspectives. These small shifts make a huge difference in how prospective clients perceive your firm, turning an impersonal entity into a team of approachable experts.

What You Can Do Next

  1. Brainstorm 3-5 'client success stories' (anonymised) that highlight a team member's problem-solving skills, and draft a blog post or LinkedIn series around them, focusing on the journey and outcome.
  2. Schedule a 'Meet the Team' photo session where colleagues are encouraged to show genuine smiles and professional yet approachable demeanour. Select faces for upcoming content featuring team members.
  3. Identify a complex industry topic and assign different sections to 2-3 team members, asking them to explain their part in their own words for a co-authored blog post or LinkedIn article, demonstrating varied expertise.
  4. Review your existing content for areas where you can naturally insert a team member's quote, insight, or 'behind the scenes' photo of your office work environment. Consider a 15-second 'tip of the week' video for LinkedIn.
  5. Implement a content review process to ensure all personable content maintains professional integrity and complies with industry regulations before publication, protecting your firm's credibility.
  6. Commit to responding to all LinkedIn comments on your company posts and team members' thought leadership pieces within 1 business day, actively engaging with your audience to build rapport.

Expert Guidance from Alice Potter

Alice Potter is a social media coach and founder of AJP Social Studio. She helps creators, entrepreneurs, and businesses grow their online presence through practical, proven strategies for Instagram, TikTok, and beyond.

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