Social media is a relaxed and creative community. However, I do feel business is all about perception. We may see loose, comfortable, creative clothes, and someone else may see a baggy lackadaisical mess. Representing a company’s brand is controlling how they are perceived by their consumers which is the deciding factor in business. I wouldn’t want to talk to someone “dressed down” when it comes to certain transactions (banking and investing). These industries constructed their images and have thus shaped their consumers’ expectations. We need to follow these expectations when representing them in social media; unfortunately, we need to follow these expectations when we step into their lair.

Creating the creativity in your social media office is a different story. If a client is stepping into our lair, I don’t feel that the social media company’s office should change their appearance for that day. You dress cool, creative, and comfortable! You know your social medium and you represent your clients in a manner that fulfills consumer expectations.

We can dress as we will in our offices, but I think we’ll be trapped by the expectations of our clients for quite a while longer. As for the social media campaign.. the client has the say, but I strongly encourage looking to the customers’ expectations. Again, if it is something they use in only a professional sense, then it should it be “suit and tie.” However, a “suit and tie” approach should not inherently limit the potential opportunity to learn more about the service, company, and employees. The presentation of the product or service should, ultimately, reflect existing social expectations to some extent.

Then again, to your point about the space/time thing, I usually blog and “get my social media on” between the hours of 8 pm and 1 am so my preferred social media dress code is PJs and dog hair.