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Personal Brand Development
Most companies with experience in online marketing understand the basics of search engine optimization (SEO). What many online marketers don't realize, however, is that these same principles can also apply to social media profiles. Optimizing your social media platforms is becoming increasingly important to build client trust and boost its brand.
Developing a comprehensive social media strategy helps businesses keep the lines of communication open with their existing customers and effectively generate new sales. The more visible your brand is, the more likely you'll be able to connect with your audience and build a loyal customer base.
Here are a few tips for improving your business's social media presence.
Regardless of the social media platform, there are a few general rules that all profiles should follow.
One of the first features customers will notice about a profile is the username or handle. The username should be concise, easy to remember, and, most importantly, reflective of the brand. Preferably, the username should be the name of the business or some shortened version that is easy to read. If that is not possible, then the username should at least be a clever or simple name that matches the overall brand.
As we've mentioned before, in our recent blog "Design Aspects to Consider for Social Media Optimization," your profile photo should be either an attractive logo or a high-quality photograph that represents the business's brand. All social media platforms have a "Bio" or "About" section. This should always be filled out with your company's most pertinent information, but it should not be too lengthy, or a viewer will skip over it. This bio section should also include a link to your business's website unless the social platform has a specific area where you can add it.
Before launching a new social media platform, one important thing to consider is building up some content before attempting to grow followers. When a new follower navigates to a platform with no existing social content, they might assume that it is inactive or that the business does not take care of its sites. This is usually a bad look for a business, making sure there are at least 3-6 social posts before starting to grow the platform.
Facebook is a tried-and-true social media platform that allows businesses to create an official page for marketing. Like any webpage, your business's Facebook page should be professional, complete, and up to date.
The cover photo should jump off the page at the viewer. Facebook's cover photos display at 820 x 312 pixels on computers and 640 x 360 pixels on smartphones. The minimum quality of the photo should be 400 x 150 pixels. Check out Bell + Ivy's blog about Adobe graphic design tools to create visually beautiful designs.
Your business's Facebook profile should always include a call-to-action button (CTA button). This button directs visitors to take the next step, like visiting your website or buying a product. This is a critical step to taking your viewers from passive scrollers to active customers. If your business offers multiple services, Facebook also provides a feature where you can "Add Services." This allows you to add a page to your page that describes these services. This feature helps viewers navigate your page and understand all your company has to offer.
Facebook pages are relatively low maintenance after being set up, but it is crucial to keep the page active. Maintain a regular posting schedule, strategize your content, and most importantly, have a backup admin on the page, so there is always someone who knows how to manage it.
Twitter's primary purpose is providing short, informational updates, so your strategy should reflect this purpose.
Like Facebook, you should create a visually appealing header and profile photo. The recommended dimensions for headers are 1500 x 500 pixels and 400 x 400 pixels for profile photos. When a new user visits your business's Twitter profile, these photos are prominent, so as always, make sure they are attractive and professional.
Writing the Twitter bio is one of the next most important steps in optimizing your business's social media platform. This 160-character bio must be informative and in line with your brand. It should include your business's location and a link to your website. If your brand is light-hearted or humorous, don't be afraid to let your brand's personality shine on Twitter. You can create a color theme and curate Twitter lists, which can come in handy when you are working on growing your community. Again, the cover art is essential – even for lists.
Once you have built up a few solid tweets, pin your overall brand message to your profile, and work on getting the word out about your new profile. Most importantly, Twitter is a valuable communication channel. Keep your messages open and be responsive to customers' comments and questions in your DM's.
Instagram used to be just for sharing pictures with friends, but now it is a growing e-commerce platform. Instead of a regular Instagram account, be sure to make your profile a business or creator account, which will allow you to pull insights and generate analytics reports. You'll want to adapt your online behavior over time based on this data.
Posts on Instagram need to be stunning, making sure you have a strong photographer or graphic designer running the show. Though the posts need to be attractive, your company's Instagram page is only as strong as its call to action. Instagram posts generally do not allow you to post URLs directly on the page, so most business or professional Instagram profiles include a call-to-action and link in bio. There are numerous tools for generating an Instagram bio link, such as Lnk.Bio. These tools create a separate page that allows you to cleanly organize all of the links you refer to on your Instagram page.
The bio should be short and sweet – 150 characters – with clear next steps for your customers. Like Twitter, many customers use Instagram as a primary form of communication, so monitor your messages and respond promptly and professionally.
If you are designing a personal brand profile on LinkedIn, stick to a professional headshot. However, if you create a company page for your business, use the company logo and banner instead. The "About Us" section should also reflect your company's message and brand, and these messages should be consistent across all of your social media platforms.
An empty LinkedIn page is not only unhelpful to customers, but it may even come across as unprofessional. Ensure all of the key fields are filled out, including your website, headquarters country, industry, and company size. Your employees can – and should – add the company to their current work experience to help expand the network and increase engagement on your company's page.
YouTube is becoming increasingly important for brief informational clips and how-to videos. Once your company's channel is created, upload the icon and banner art and ensure the dimensions are correct. The recommended dimensions for a YouTube banner are 2560 x 1440 pixels. Enable customization to make sure the channel looks professional.
You can customize the channel's layout to promote a trailer for new viewers while displaying featured videos for regular subscribers. This feature helps your page welcome new viewers while making sure subscribers always see the newest content.
YouTube videos should have accompanying keywords to improve their search engine optimization. Like all of your online marketing efforts, you should be working towards having Google boost your video when people search for similar content online and adding keywords is one of many techniques to do this.
After you have built up a repertory of content, keep your page organized by updating the "featured videos" and categorizing your home page. There are several options for organizing your YouTube channel, but the most important consideration is making sure it is cohesive, reflects your brand, informs your viewers, and ultimately generates leads.
Whether you are an individual or a small business, Bell + Ivy has the tools and resources to grow your community and drive engagement. We offer a range of platform online services to help our clients create memorable first impressions with their digital presence. Email us with any questions.
