3 Steps to an Effective Social Media Profile

Your Online profiles on different networking sites like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are the online equivalent of that first moment you meet someone.

What do you think your profile says about you, as it stands right now?

Does it make you feel proud of who you are? Does it show what you stand for? Does it tell people more about you and who you are and what you do?

A good profile will do all this and more. Before you start with any specific profiles, it’s worth taking some time when you set up the account to look at exactly what kind of data you will be allowed to enter. Different sites have different rules about what you can share. They also have different privacy settings you may want to consider, so you are only ever sharing what you want to!

Here are my top 3 things to make sure you have set up right on any profile you create.

Tip One: Be easy to find

Check out what others are called on the site. Is it the done thing to call yourself your full name, to have a user name or to create a business profile? Whichever it is, and you may be able to choose, take some time to think in advance which you want to get found for. This is a good starting point as you may not be able to make changes to this afterwards.

Think about your message and purpose when you do this – for instance any keywords which are important to you, as well as your primary name.

Tip Two: Add the detail

Thinking about when you meet people for the first time, in real life, they are able to start making their own picture of you because they can visually see you. Online, your profile is the equivalent of this. What you want to do is start building a picture so that they can understand who you are and how you work. Details like a good, professional looking picture, a link to your website, and contact details, as well as the additional detail sites will let you have, help people “get you”.

Tip Three: Be consistent

Consistency is really important. Whilst you want to take the differences of different social platforms into account, you also want a consistent look and feel so no matter where people first find out about you, there is a consistent approach, visual look, and message.

A final tip for free…

Remember to go back in and update your profile if anything changes. Keep a list of profiles you have created, in an easy to find place, so that if you move or change business direction, it’s easy to go back in and ensure you don’t miss out on any new business.