While the varied social media platforms differ in their function and role, there is one common feature they share: bios and descriptive features. However, each platform has different requirements for those items. It’s important to carefully consider the content of the bios and listings to maximize your presence visibility. Here are some tips relating to Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Avoid the impulse to be clever and creative in your Twitter bio. Think business. Pack your bio full of keywords and hashtags. This is something I heard about years ago and then had a personal experience that drove it home to me and convinced me for good. When crafting your Twitter bio, think about search. If people were to run an advanced search and plugged in terms related to your industry, would you show up in a list of results?
What convinced me to use keywords and hashtags was a Seattle WordCamp I attended a few years back. I attended a session and was surprised by one of the presentation slides. This particular session was in the main stage area, which happened to be in a large room with a giant screen. On one of the slides, the presenter listed a number of Twitter accounts related to WordPress in the Seattle area. I was surprised to see my Twitter account in the list. On the big screen. Early in the list. My jaw dropped and I seriously could have easily fallen out of my chair. That was it for me from then on out. Keywords, keywords, keywords go into my Twitter bios. Also, by naming the city instead of something like “everywhere” or “planet Earth” I was able to be found for someone looking for WordPress folks in the Seattle area.
Following the Twitter model and using what I learned from LinkedIn guru Lewis Howes, I’ve packed my profile title with keywords. There isn’t much space, but you can do it. Before taking some of Lewis’ training, I used something generic like Sr. Technical Writer. I don’t even recall at this point. I expanded the description to include multiple keywords. People definitely run searches in LinkedIn. Take advantage of descriptors in your profile title.
To see more examples, look up some well-known individuals in LinkedIn and see the types of terms they use in their profile title. How can you change yours to make it more appealing and searchable?
There are two places to consider when setting up a presence on Facebook. One is your personal profile. The other is a business page.
Personal Profile
This is your main account. There’s one item in particular to consider setting up: your Position on your profile. You do so through:
Your profile home page > About > Work and Education.
These are the options that display in a drop-down list when I type in Business in the Position field:
- Business Owner
- Business Development Manager
- Business Systems Analyst
- Business Development Executive
- Business Manager
- Business Consultant
- Chief business development officer
- Businessman
When you select Business Owner, you can add a project as well. If you’re working on a large, visible project, that is something to consider.
Here’s why it might be helpful to identify yourself as a Business Owner. When I go into Ads Manager and start to define an audience for an ad, these are the interests that display related to businesses. Now think about this for a moment. Businesses can post ads that you might see if you identify yourself as a Business Owner in your profile and the business selects Small Business Owners in the ad. Many businesses offer discounts with their ads. If you state that you’re a Business Owner, perhaps you’ll see an offer of interest to you that could save you money. I’m not saying that would happen with certainty, but I think it would increase the chances. That’s something to keep in mind if you want to post an ad directed toward small business owners.
Business Page
There are several features you can add to your page to provide more information to users and help build your presence. Some are features that are available but not activated by default. Others you can add separately. There are also some tips for making use of the functionality available to Facebook pages. Here’s a list!
- Services: an available option for adding information about your services. Be sure and set it up!
- Add Twitter feed: use an app to add your tweets right to your page. Here’s mine: 2moroDocs page Twitter feed
- Add email newsletter signup forms (available via your email marketing platform)
- Set up a preferred page audience via your page > Settings > Preferred Page Audience (think about what I mentioned in the previous section re your profile settings)
- Create photo albums to curate information
There are many options to spruce up your Facebook page. Look through the Publishing Tools and the Settings on your page and see what functionality is available. Have fun!
Profile Photo
Invest in having a professional photo taken. This truly is an investment, not an expense. Have a good photo that you can use in LinkedIn, on your website – everywhere. Again, I can offer an example from my own experience. Way back in 2010 I went and had a picture taken. After selecting one to use, I uploaded it just before heading out on a vacation. Well, while I was on vacation, I found out that I had been included in a list of Most Influential Bloggers. I knew nothing about this ahead of time. They used the picture I had just uploaded days before! It’s in a graphic on their website. You can see a link to it on my Awards page. I’m number 16 in the list. I thought “whew – glad I uploaded that picture!” It literally was just in time. Had I waited until after my vacation, a different picture would have been included that wasn’t as professional. Like the Twitter bio example above, I learned from that. I’m due for a new profile picture, but still have a headshot everywhere. That’s even for Facebook, as I’m in multiple business groups. While I think you can be a bit more casual with your Facebook profile picture, think about one that’s more business-friendly.
Between this experience and the WordCamp Twitter example, I really recognized that anything you post online can end up anywhere. Always put your best self forward! Your photo is very important. It’s time for me to go have a new picture taken!
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For other tips in this series, see this post: