Social media marketing is a crucial tool, with businesses successfully utilising their social media accounts to engage with their customers directly, drive sales and email sign-ups and generate leads. However, so many businesses get social media wrong, either by choosing to use their resources elsewhere or by making silly mistakes in their social media profile that cost them followers and engagement.
Never fear, your favourite social media puffins are at hand to offer some useful tips and tricks to help you optimise your social media profiles. Whether you’re new to social media or an old hand there will be something here for you.
So what does your profile need to include?
- Your brand name – chances are you’re already using your brand name as your social media handle but if you’re not now would be a good time to change it. Using the same name, where possible, across all of your social media channels will make it easy for your audience to associate your handle with your brand and engage with your content. Having a consistent handle across your socials will also help with your SEO and engagement.
- Working/relevant links – Social media platforms offer limited space for direct links, especially on platforms like Instagram, so it’s crucial to ensure that your links are working, relevant and direct your audience to the appropriate places. If you want to direct your audience to multiple places, linking to platforms such as Linktree will enable you to have multiple links on one convenient landing page.
- A bio – Potential followers look at your bio to learn information about your brand, so it needs to tell your audience who you are, what you do and why they should be following you. Your bio only needs to be a few sentences long, however, it’s important when writing your bio to sound natural and to use your brand voice. It’s also worth considering using relevant keywords to target the right audience and boost your SEO.
- Your location – This is an optional step, however, if your business is tied to a specific location then listing it will help to increase your reach in the area.
- Profile picture – Using the same profile picture across your social channels is an easy way to ensure brand consistency. Even if your profile picture is simply your company logo it’s important to make sure that it fills the space properly without cropping anything out. It’s worth checking the specifications for each social media site to ensure the perfect fit.
Here are some other things to consider:
Check your spelling and grammar – Poor spelling and grammar can be the kiss of death on social media, with most people associating poor language skills with untrustworthy sources. Taking the time to ensure that your spelling is correct and you’ve used proper grammar will instantly make you more trustworthy in the eyes of your followers.
Be mindful of your posting schedule – Developing your posting schedule is all about finding the right balance between posting enough to keep your followers interested and ensuring you’re not flooding their feeds. Followers will want to see that you’re active but be mindful that familiarity breeds contempt and too much posting will lead to annoyed and disengaged audiences.
Get verified – Being verified means that the elusive blue checkmark is added to your profile. It essentially means that your audience can trust you.
If you’re struggling with your social media profiles it’s worth asking the following questions
- Is it clear?
- Is it concise?
- Is it professional?
- Is it consistent?
If the answer to these questions is yes, then congratulations you have a fully optimised social media profile!