5 Steps to branding your social media profiles
Posted on 24. Apr, 2010 by Kelly Hobkirk in Branding.
It’s well-known fact that the current generation was brought up using facebook and LinkedIn to find each other. My brother used facebook as his phone book when he was in college. Now it’s how his family stays in touch with friends, in an indirect way of course. Large businesses know that the best way for them to connect with customers is still through large-scale media, but small businesses can connect with potential customers on a small scale using social media.
This post will show you how to keep your social media profiles true to your brand and connect with potential clients at the same time.
To complete this task, you will need the following:
• Logo in JPEG, GIF, and PNG formats
• Tag line
• Profile photo
• One brief paragraph describing you, your business, and your specialty
• One brief paragraph describing you personally, including both professional and personal interests, in that order
• Detailed description of your product or service
• Scissors and paste
Create consistent profiles
Businesspeople have pretty thick skulls these days, but in spite of that I wish to impart the following idea into the thickness of your skull: Create consistent profiles, create consistent profiles, create consistent profiles. Got it? Good.
You may be asking, ‘Why create consistent profiles?’ The answer is 3-part and simple.
1. Consistent profiles help people learn and remember who you are without confusing your message.
2. Consistent profiles save you bucket loads of time.
3. Consistent profiles consistently reinforce the critical info about you that people need.
Some social media sites have their own unique characteristics, and it’s fine to tweak your profile to fit those idiosyncrasies, but keep it consistent wherever possible.
Instructions:
1. Create a JPEG, GIF, and PNG of your logo. Start with a large hi-res file, and scale down. Never scale up, unless you are working from a vector file. If you are scaling your logo, do so only proportionally. You will probably never need an image larger than 200 pixels for a social media profile, so create a 200 pixel wide file (for both horizontal and vertical orientations, if your logo is used both ways).
2. Fill in the blanks using your brief and detailed profile text. Remember, consistency is key. Use the same descriptions on each profile so people know you are not schizophrenic. If you are inserting your tag line, keep the wording exactly the same as it is on your identity.
3. Use the same photo across the board. Make sure you like it.
4. If you have a video and are naturally good on camera, great. If not, no worries. Place your video on those profiles that allow it. If your video blows, don’t use it. Your brand doesn’t blow (hopefully), so don’t use any elements that might bring it down a notch.
5. When finished filling in the profile blanks, don’t touch them again until it is relevant to do so. If your profile text sucks, hire a copywriter to make it great. A good copywriter can turn virtually any boring text into rockstar text that engages the right people. Keep it real.
Is it really that simple?
It really is that simple. Keep your profiles consistent, and your brand will thank you. Your social media life can be short, sweet, and relevant without wasting copious amounts of your precious marketing time.
Now, take the scissors and paste, and go make something. Don’t eat the paste.
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