At this point in your professional life, you are probably a member of several (or, at least a few) Social Media channels. That means that you have a social media profile for each of the social media channels that you have joined. How are those profiles working for your business? If they aren’t, there are small tweaks that you can make for amazing results.

Social media is a serious hub for business owners

The truth is that people (at least, a very large number of them) spend a significant amount of time on the various social media channels. That is actually a really good thing for business (well, it can be). However, people are less inclined to take a regular look at their Social Media Profiles and tweak them as needed. That is sad because a small amount of effort will definitely go a long way.

There are a number of reasons why they don’t tweak as much as they should (or at all). One of them (and possibly the most popular reason) is time. Business people are very busy. They tell themselves that they don’t have time to devote to something as trivial as updating their social media profiles. The fact of the matter is that it will not take very much time at all and the results will be well worth the effort.

Another excuse is that people are just too busy to deal with updating their profiles. However, taking a little time and making that effort will have very positive results. So, no more excuses. It is now time to make those suggested tweaks and then to sit back and reap the benefits.

• Basic tweaks: The first thing that you will want to look at is the size of your Photo and profile. As far as the photo is concerned, considering that your photo is professional and appropriate for social media, you just need to make sure that the size of the photo is appropriate. Additionally, your profile should also be the appropriate size. It is important to remember here that large numbers of other people will be reading your profile so you want to make sure that it is effective (in every possible way) as possible.

  Your photo should not be distorted in any way (stretched, squished, grainy, etc). If your photo is not what it should be, you will not be able to establish the connection online with other people in a way that you want to. Your photo is a representation of you professionally as well as your business and your brand. You need to make sure that your reputation remains pristine at all times. It is also important for you to remember that your photo will be connected to every social media profile of which you are a part. It is an important part of your brand.

• Consistent photos: Up above, we spoke about the fact that you will be using the same photo across all of your social media channels. Your photo should be professional (if possible, hire a professional photographer to take a good-quality head shot, or at least, ask someone who knows how to take a decent photo to help you). Your photo represents you but it also represents your brand. If you want people to associate with your photo, you want to make it really good.

  Many people don’t understand how important the photo is. They will use a photo of them partying, or a photo of the person with someone else (or, worse yet, a pet) in the photo, or an animated picture of themselves, or some bizarre placeholder instead of their photo. None of those are acceptable or appropriate. The most important reason why the photo must be perfect, is because your photo gives people a way to connect with you on a human level. Hopefully, that connection will last a very long time. If you use anything except a professional photo, you are sending the other person the message that you are not serious about what you are doing. That is definitely the wrong perception to create.

• Guilt by association: It is amazing how much bad stuff people put on the Internet. That includes inappropriate photos. It isn’t enough that you were not the person who actually posted those offending photos. If you are in any way associated with them (if you are in them or if you are mentioned), your reputation will be on the line, it is a bad thing. You want to disconnect that association as quickly as possible. Otherwise, you will be considered guilty by association. However, not all hope is lost. You can untag photos that you don’t want to be associated with. If you don’t approve of the photos, you don’t have to give your approval. You will want to pay close attention to the photos in which you are tagged. They are going to keep coming up so you need to be on your toes about continuing to disassociate from them as they do.

• Use the same name across all of your profiles: Just as your photo should be consistent across all social media channels, your name should also be consistent. If you use a middle initial (if you have one) on one social media channel, use it on all of them. Also, remember never to use a nickname unless that is the only name that you have ever given to other people. In any case, always do it in the same way. People will come to know you by that name. Again, it is an important part of your brand. Also, it is too much for you to expect other people to remember a bunch of different names for you. Use one name and be done with it.

• Use keywords and key phrases effectively: Keywords and key phrases are important in all of your content. That includes your social media profiles. If you want people to not only find you but also to believe that you are the person to call when they need what you are selling, the keywords and key phrases will help a great deal. Those keywords and key phrases will also help to elevate your rankings on the search engine’s pages. If your terms are consistent and they seem to be working, stick with those, while, at the same time, introducing some new terms that will capture other people’s attention. You should use the keywords and key phrases in every aspect of your social media profiles.

• Connect your social media profiles to each other: You want to make it as easy as possible for people to connect with you on all of your social media channels. Also, you want other people to be able to get to your website easily. That is exactly why back links are so important and so effective. Make sure that your links are functioning properly. If people to try to click on one of your links and it isn’t working, they will give up and turn to someone else. You should test your links periodically to make sure that they are working properly. After all, you want to make it as easy as possible for the other person. Having those links in your profiles does two very important things: it helps you to promote your business much more easily and more broadly and it allows other people to interact with you very easily. In short, it is the beginning of your relationship together.

Conclusion

Periodically taking a good look at your social media profiles is critical to your success. If you make the suggested tweaks that we have discussed here, you will see what positive results they produce. Interestingly, people have a tremendous desire to interact with other human beings and to learn from what other people (including you) have to say. You really have nothing to lose by making those suggested changes and the benefits far outweigh the risks. Make sure that your target audience is always in mind when you make changes to your profiles because your focus will always be getting a positive reaction out of them.

We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. For a complimentary assessment of your online presence, let’s have coffee.