You already know that if you want to elevate your name and business, using social media is the way to do it today.
However, if you really want it to make a difference without wasting your time and effort, it’s important to understand how to create a compelling social media profile.
Here are eight key elements to include in your Social Media Profile.
1. An Interesting Picture of Your Face – If you want people to trust you, they need to see your eyes and face. The more centered and easier it is for your viewers to see your face, the more likely they are to find you interesting and trustworthy. Our best advice is to get a good image of yourself (in your snappy work attire) and save a copy that is 500 pixels wide by 500 pixels high. Most social profiles will require a profile image that is the same width and height. The video below shares some great idea, to get a great profile image.
2. A Telling Display Name – Your display name depends on the platform. In some cases, just using your own name is the very best way to use the “display name” feature. After all, you want people to know you as you. However, if you want to be known by a certain name or handle or persona, that’s okay too. For instance, TaxMama may use her name, Eva Rosenberg, EA, or her handle and you know who it is. If you are using a business name, make sure to use the exact business name that you have in all of your online citations. This will improve SEO.
3. A Keyword-Rich Username and URL – This is super-important because you don’t want the URL to be random. The URL needs to have keywords and your username listed in a way that helps people find you.
4. Relevant Links – Within your profile (depending on the system), you need to add links to the information about you that you want your viewers to know. It might be links to your content, to your portfolio, or when allowed, groups and products you are promoting.
When providing relevant profile links, it’s good practice to always make sure you add your own website URL first. As an example, YouTUbe will allow a small number of profile URLs to be show. Make sure that sirt link, is you primary website URL. This also helps with SEO as it provide an authoritative backlink in most cases. It will also be the first link a user will click on.
5. A Short but Audience-Centered Bio – When you write your bio (or any “about me”) information, it’s important to think of yourself in the third person and describe yourself for your audience in a way that your audience will relate to. Remember – it’s all about them and what’s in it for them, even when it’s about you. Here is a resource on writing the perfect social media profile bio.
6. A Little Extra Info about You and Your Interests – If you really want to become a real person in the minds of the people who view your profile and read your content, it’s important to also offer to them a little extra information about your interests and hobbies in a way that helps them connect to you on a human level. Are you all about family, or a world traveler? Get a little personal and connect with people who will be visiting your profile.
7. A Background or Cover Image That Draws Your Audience – The background image that you share can offer further information about you and how to contact you outside of the platform you’re using. The video above can also help provide some pointers on social media profile backgrounds.
8. Updated, Relevant, and Consistent Activity – Even though this is not about your profile data exactly, it is important to ensure that your profile on the platform is viewed by the people you want it to be viewed by. Make sure you put consistent, relevant content up on your profile on a regular basis.
With most social media platforms, you can schedule posts. You may also enjoy tools like Hootsuite, that allow you to schedule many posts across multiple networks. Tools like Hootsuite will save you time and efforts in your social media posting.
Start with these “fixes” to your profiles and then ensure that you tweak them slightly for each platform to ensure that your vibe matches the vibe of that network. For example, LinkedIn is a more buttoned-up business version of Facebook or Twitter. And Facebook and Twitter are also very different from each other. If you work on ensuring your profile speaks to your audience and gives them the right feeling, they’ll be sure to follow you.
Need help with your social media profile? Take a look at our Digital Marketing services and we may be able to help you!
