8 Things That May Be Keeping Your Social Media Profiles From Looking Professional

As an entrepreneur, you’ve probably run into many times where you start something with great intentions, only to find you end up ignoring it throughout the year simply due to lack of time. If you have portrait sittings, files to edit, and clients to meet, do you really have the time to stop and edit your Facebook profile?

Since social media networks change their structure every couple of months, its easy for your profiles to lose their professional look and feel – leaving your business to look like a true “mom and pop” place. If you haven’t made your social profiles a priority lately, use this list to do a little profile cleaning and bring your online persona back to a modern day look and feel.

Facebook

Pages cover images should attract attention, not monetize your business
Facebook has made a number of layout changes since the beginning of 2012, most notably the introduction of timelines. Instead of being able to choose which “page” your Page opens up to, Facebook now has one standard look and feel. Your cover image is what introduces visitors to your business, and it should be representative of your business without selling them. The cover image should be 851 pixels wide by 315 pixels tall, and to make it load quickly, make sure your JPG file is less than 100 kilobytes. According to Facebook guidelines, covers may not include calls to action, price or purchase information, and they may not ask for “Likes”. Comply to make sure you aren’t shut down after you work hard to grow your followers.

Facebook tabs are still available
Before Facebook moved to timelines, your tabs were located in the navigation on the side of your page. Now tabs are listed prominently right below your cover image. You can have four “tabs”, the first of which must be your photos. Play around with them. What applications would you like to showcase? Make them more clickable by editing the content and the image that is displayed.

Advertising has changed
Advertising used to be located on the side of your profile or page. It was customized for you to make it more clickable to your interests. Now it offers a broader perspective. You can buy inline ads that blend in with a user’s newsfeed. You can promote individual posts to select readers. And you can promote your page by leveraging the networks of your fans. All giving you a much higher chance of being noticed by those around you.

Outside apps may not integrate as well
Many of the auto-posting apps that used to allow you to automatically update your feed with new blog content simply don’t work with timeline. If you’ve set up an automatic feed in the past, check to make sure things are posting regularly to your timeline, and that it has a professional look that makes people want to read what you have to say.

Twitter

Cross posting has been eliminated
Social accounts are now trying to keep their users by making them stay active within  their own services – Twitter is no different. They have been shutting down cross posting accounts from many different services, which means your posts are no longer integrated between the major accounts, such as Facebook and LinkedIn. If you think you’ve automated your Twitter account to help eliminate one more step in your day, check out your account and see what is really happening.

Twitter ads are a little better than before
Ever played with Twitter advertising? Don’t worry, not many have because it used to be entirely too expensive for small businesses. That’s no longer the case. You can use the pay-per-click and pay-per-follow features, and target to many demographics, including geographic or specific tweets.

Google +

Cover images should be used to attract people to your business
Google + has made a lot of changes in recent months, and in some ways have integrated their platform to make it comparable to other social accounts you may have. You cover image on Google + is similar to Facebook. You have a 940 pixel by 180 pixel cover photo, overlapped by a 250×250 pixel profile photo to the right of your business page. This gives you plenty of room to create something memorable for your business, and also to set your branding as people move from one account to the next.

Try a Google + Event
One of the coolest features with Google + is their Events feature. You can create a theme for just about any event, make invitations, invite your friends, and share photos in real time right from your phone. It’s a great way to get extra exposure for your business as you are out and about during your busy days.

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clientexperience@todaysgrowthconsultant.com' About Virtual Photography

We're the co-founders of VirtualPhotographyStudio.com and have been writing on this blog since 2004. We started Virtual as a way to help photographers stretch beyond a part time income, and develop strategies to become a Five Figure Photographer or a Six Figure Photographer. Ultimately its all about lifestyle, and if your goal is to live as a photographer 24/7, we think you should have the knowledge and the tools to do so. Welcome!

  • http://www.virtual-studio-set.com Robert

    Great article on social media best practices. Another cool idea is to create a creative cover image in facebook that incorporates your profile image and cover image to make something interesting and fun. Some great ideas here…

  • Veronica from SC

    Great article, Lori. I actually changed my FB cover after I read it. The Google+ Events is something I had not thought about, but it definitely sounds like a good idea to try.