Refreshing Your Social Profiles for 2016

May 4, 2016

With social media seeing no signs of slowing down, the various networks have gained traction over the last ten years and are becoming an ever increasing part of our lives. You may have been an early adopter of social media or maybe you have only recently jumped on the bandwagon. Either way, are your social media profiles up to scratch? Do they portray the image of either your business or you as a personal brand, in the ways you are hoping they do? Fear not, we have put together a quick check-list, to make sure all of your channels are working the best they possibly can for you. In a world that is all about the right now, it is easy to forget the basics and keep up to date with maintaining the overall image of your brand.

 

Branding & Profile

If you are at the early stage of only starting to create social profiles for you or your business, use a name that can be used across all of the platforms to maintain consistency. Of course, this many years in, not all names are available so you may need to get creative constructing your brand name. But if possible, build a profile that is relevant and personal to you. By creating a recognisable brand, the functionality of searchability becomes easier for your friends or customers to discover you across all channels.

All of the social platforms offer a ‘bio’ section as part of the profile, so you can explain a little bit about yourself, your company or your brand in a few short, sharp, punchy sentences. Bear in mind the SEO benefits of this and make sure you use key targeted words that are going to help you be discovered.

However many fields there are to a personal profile (different networks contain different elements), make sure you complete them all – this is your opportunity to shine! Make sure all of your information is up to date, with regular check-ins to make sure the content is all still relevant as time goes on.

 

 

Images

Good photography is no longer just for professionals. We have access to so many great photo editing apps and technology, that our humble phones can now take great pictures and buffed into shape by one of the great photo editing applications, to straighten and crop or make brighter and clearer. There really is no excuse to have poor quality images. Use the highest resolution and best quality you can.

And if possible try to obtain some continuity across all of your channels, using the same image and branding. Be strict with yourself and the images you upload. Bear in mind that the world can access your images, so make a call of judgement that the image is portraying the person or brand you wish to be. In addition, some platforms have an option for background images, this can really make your page stand out. But again, make sure the image is of the highest quality and is an eye-catching design.

When posting content, research has found that content that includes an image has a 94% increase in being viewed than content without any images, so try to use them as much as possible whenever relevant. Twitter has recently included the option to incorporate gif images within posts, offering another creative way to stand out.

 

 

Content

Often you are given the opportunity to cross-reference your other social channels or websites, so make sure you link through as much as possible. Chances are your friends, followers and customers will be keen to access and learn more about you from your other channels. Facebook is one such social network that encourages you to link to your Instagram or YouTube accounts.

Some of the networks, such as LinkedIn and Facebook, also offer you the chance to host reviews within the channel. Use this space productively – ask friends, colleagues or previous customers to take a few minutes to add some comments about you, this is an excellent way to strengthen your profile.

Both Twitter and Facebook offer a ‘Pinned’ post option, so any posts that you deem particularly significant can always appear at the top of your timeline to promote yourself or a particular post you are wanting to push. With Twitter having a very fast timeline (said to be only 8 minutes long), this is an excellent way to ensure an important post doesn’t get mixed into your feed with everything else.

Publishing content regularly is a no-brainer, you need to build up an established channel and you will gain followers organically if your content is genuinely interesting. There is a lot of research to suggest that ‘Humanising the Brand’ is the way forward in social media through the use of personalised content that empathises and resonates with your followers.

 

 

Comments

Engage, engage, engage! This can be through actively seeking other profiles to connect with. Or if you are lucky to have engaged followers who take the time to comment on your profiles, make sure you reply to all of the comments – join in the conversation! And if  you don’t have time to spend commenting on a regular basis, make your mark in a different way – Facebook’s Reactions are a quick way to join the conversation. Similarly, actively seek like-minded companies or individuals and connect with them, there is a reason it is named ‘social media’, the whole point being that you can connect with all types of people and companies around the world.

If you’re a business, research your competitors and see what they’re up to. On LinkedIn you can join groups, on Twitter you can build Lists, on Pinterest you can create specific boards – there are many ways to connect but make sure you participate in them regularly.

Likewise, use content methods such as hashtags and tags to enable your content to be searchable and easily found to anyone looking to find out more about a given topic.

 

 

Privacy Settings

Some channels such as Facebook are a lot more complicated in their settings, than others. Check to make sure that all of your channels are set to suit you – that your personal information remains private and your public information is set to be widely available. If you have company profiles, check who has access and who is able to post – change the security log-ins if you think it necessary.

 

Following a few simple steps such as those we have suggested, will help your social channels become a little less stagnated and help with your engagement levels overall. Check your analytics across your various channels and assess what works well for you and what doesn’t – and change accordingly! There are no hard and fast rules to social media, you have to work out what works best for you.

 

At Venture Stream we endeavour to keep on top of the latest trends to help your website rank as high as possible in your industry. Get in touch with us today for a free online audit to see how we can help improve your digital and e-commerce business!