Career / Work · Advice & Questions · Oct 17

My manager wants me to promote our product on my personal social account

Career / Work

The marketing lead sent me a caption and said, “This would sound more authentic coming from your own account.”

I make illustrations outside work and share them on a small personal page. Some colleagues follow it. The proposed post is about our company’s new storage boxes, with a photograph of me at my desk and a line about how I use them every day.

I work for the company, but I don’t use those boxes at home. I could change the caption to say I helped with the packaging, which is true. I’m still not keen to turn the page into a place for workplace promotion.

My manager called it a fun way to support the launch. I haven’t been told it’s required. I also don’t want to sound as though I’m embarrassed by a product I worked hard on.

How would you decline the personal post while staying helpful on the launch? Would offering the photograph for the company page be a sensible compromise, or just make the next request easier?

Discussion

3 community replies

@PatchTuesdayish

The supplied caption makes a claim you don’t want to make because it isn’t true. I’d deal with that plainly, regardless of where the image appears. You can offer accurate wording about your packaging work while declining to post it on your personal page. Those are two separate decisions.

@NextReview

A personal illustration page can have a purpose you want to preserve. You don’t need to dislike the storage boxes to keep that purpose. “I keep this account for my own illustrations, so I won’t use it for launch posts” gives the manager an explanation they can understand without inviting a debate about whether you’re proud of the company.

@JulesAfterDark

Have they asked for your participation because you worked on the packaging, or because they want access to the people following your page? That distinction would shape any alternative. A company-page feature about the design process could serve the first aim. It wouldn’t serve the second in the same way, and you don’t have to pretend it does.

My manager wants me to promote our product on my personal social account

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