People have short attention spans. In fact, we’re pretty sure that after you read the title of our blog, you scrolled through to see how much more to read there was. Before you abandon us, we’ve hidden some really good advice in the last sentence. Go ahead and read it now. We’ll wait.
Welcome back. You only have a few precious seconds to grab a person’s attention and get them to follow your account. A complete social media profile helps you build a connection with a potential customer. What we’re saying is, your success on social media goes beyond just securing the perfect social media handle and getting people to follow you. There are many key elements needed for a social profile that attracts followers and helps you stand out from your peers.
The Basics:
Profile Image: Let’s start at the top. Your profile photo should be your company logo or an image that resonates with your audience. The image you choose should be used across all social media channels, your website, and your branding to help make your brand consistent and recognizable. Always remember to use a hi-res image to best represent your brand.
Header Image: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn allow users to upload a cover image and in turn, show off their brand’s personality. Don’t miss out on the visibility opportunities a cover image provides such as highlighting new products or services, featuring awards or achievements, create seasonal greetings, praise customers or employees, and more.
Bio: Your bio is the perfect place to capture the attention of potential consumers and showcase your brand’s personality. The word count varies depending on the social network you’re using, so make sure you adapt your bio to each platform. Currently, Twitter and Pinterest allow for 160 characters on their bio, and Instagram allows for 150 characters. LinkedIn and Facebook allow for lengthier descriptions, however, it should always be your goal to keep the bio concise and attention-grabbing. Your bio is the place to share what your niche is or what products and services you offer, qualifications if any, and your values and beliefs.
Location: Even if you’re an online business conducting business across the country, adding the location of your headquarters helps your local SEO efforts. Whether you choose to add just the state or city, or the actual address, as Facebook and Instagram’s business profiles allow, having this information displayed helps customers in their purchasing decisions and to find you.
Website: At the most basic level, adding your website to your social media bio can help increase website traffic and generate interest in your business or brand. The website field could feature your website address or a specific landing page for a campaign. Some brands have taken to using services such as Linktree, which allow them to customize a micro-site that organizes an unlimited number of links. For example, your brand’s Linktree might feature links to your website, videos, recent press coverage mentioning your brand, other social media channels, and more.
The Razzle-Dazzle:
Branded Hashtags: Branded hashtags can be useful for generating engagement, or for promoting a new product or event. Using your brand’s hashtag in your Twitter or Instagram bio is a must, and will help create a community around your brand. As an example, HomeGoods, the national chain of discount home furnishing stores, features the hashtag #GoFinding, calling back to their 2019 commercial spot, on their Instagram bio. The hashtag has been used over 54,300 times and those who use it have the chance to be featured on the HomeGoods account.
Tagging Relevant Accounts: If your brand has multiple Twitter or Instagram accounts, link them to your bio. It is safe to say that the Amazon Twitter account, which has amassed over 3.3 million followers, is probably not able to address each customer concern that is tweeted at it. So in its bio, Amazon tagged @AmazonHelp for customer support and @AmazonNews for company updates, giving customers direct ways to connect with the brand.
Industry Keywords: Using industry-specific keywords in your bio will make it searchable. Twitter bios, for example, are indexed by search engines and help your profile appear in in-app searches. Be mindful of keyword-stuffing. Don’t make your bio so keyword-stuffed that it loses its personality. Try sticking with the top one or two for your industry.
Emojis: Brands should always be on the lookout for new opportunities to relate to their customers, and the emoji is the perfect way to humanize a brand. Emojis are an effective way to grab the attention of your audience, and we recommend using them on your bios instead of words to save on character count, break up your content, and convey your brand’s fun personality – unless you’re using LinkedIn, of course. And while Instagram’s bios aren’t searchable, the name field, which is different from your username, is 30 characters long and searchable on the app, so including your primary keyword in your business account’s display name is key.
There are many elements that go into creating a professional social media bio for your brand. To ensure marketing success, it is essential that you learn how to write bios that work for each social media platform. Consistency and subtle adaptations across the platforms are key. If you’re one of the few businesses that take the time to completely fill out your social media profile, you’re doing better than most of your peers, so taking the time to read this article and implementing the advice it gives will give you an edge.
The post How To Completely Setup Your Business’ Social Media Profiles appeared first on Laughing Samurai.