Having a robust social media profile brings you exposure online, helps build a connection with customers or prospects, increases your chances of showing up in searches for your products or services, and enhances your online reputation. Each platform has specific quirks: word counts, special sections to share your story and photo size that brings depth to your profiles.
Understanding platform requirements is the key to standing out on any social platform, from big brands to small entrepreneurs and everyone in between.
Do you feel overwhelmed figuring out the where, what, when, and how of setting up your social media profiles? We’ve got you covered! Enjoy our social media setup tutorial.
First, you should understand the difference between a business profile and a personal profile. Facebook is arguably the most popular social media platform in the industry–nearly 2 billion daily active users and increasing 6% every year. Facebook lets you promote your brand through groups and pages. A business profile showcases products and services for your company and gives you additional tools, like a sophisticated ad platform, access to the Facebook Marketplace, and a meeting scheduling tool. To set up a business account, you have to have a personal account –a singular profile of a user that’s meant for the fun stuff, not a business. If you run a business account using a personal profile, you risk Facebook closing your account for a Terms of Service violation.
Now that you have the correct profile in place, here are some tips to get started:
Choose a profile photo: 180 x 180
Pick a cover photo: 820 x 312
Fill out all the contact details
Put down the brand story and a detailed description on the timeline
Create a CTA with Facebook’s “create an offer” tool
Add your work hours to inform people of your availability
LinkedIn is a social networking tool in the literal sense: employees, employers, businesses, and business owners use the platform to network and share business information. LinkedIn is ideal for corporate branding, business news, thought leadership, and HR and Diversity and Inclusion efforts. It enables companies to connect with new audiences, build goodwill, enhance the brand, and conduct business professionally. Employees can also link business profiles to their profiles, which paints a more detailed picture of your business and its mission. To get started setting up your profile, you need to:
Add a profile picture or a company logo that aligns with your brand message.
Add an 1128 x 191cover photo that compliments your company logo
Include 250-2000 characters in the description
Add a short description about your company
Tag your team on the page
Post informative articles in a specific genre to establish yourself as a trusted authority.
Asking senior leaders and managers to reshare on their pages, write “blogs” for LinkedIn Pulse, and tag the company in updates can also go a long way in creating a solid profile.
Twitter is a platform where trends soar and where news junkies and celebrities alike go to share their commentary on life in 250 characters or less. Crafting pithy and engaging tweets and using hashtags strategically are only part of the puzzle–a well-designed, intentionally written profile completes it.
The following are a few steps to set up your Twitter account.
Use 160 characters to describe your brand (include SEO keywords here)
Use a URL that goes to a specific page, like a lead gen tool or contact page
Set up a profile picture: 400 x 400
Add a cover photo: 1500px by 500px with a slogan or Call To Action
Add a location to localize your page
Best practices to boost your social media reach
Once you’ve set up your profile, your social media will have a solid foundation to wow your followers and create raving fans. But it’s essential to keep the momentum with good content (after all, they say content is still king!) There are some primary tips to make sure that you make your mark in the digital world. Some such practices are:
Use the same profile picture on every platform
Use the same handles on each forum
Use the right keywords in your profile to stay easily searchable
Set up highlights and stories for the audience to sneak a peek into your operations
Learn how to set up a LinkTree URL and get more traffic to your social media profile and specific parts of your website
Share other people’s content, not just your own
Balance content between “sales” and promotion and entertaining and informational posts
Respond to comments and engage with other users
Consistency is key. Schedule a time with yourself, an employee, or anyone else who will be responsible for social media day-to-day to check in at the same time every day–just like you check your email or messages. Once you get in the habit of intentional social media management, it will become much more manageable.
Social media can bring new life to your business branding without spending a cent! By setting up your profiles the right way, you’ll enjoy cross-platform consistency and optimized profiles to help you find your place in the social media landscape.
Comments