If you’re reading this now, chances are, you’re on some sort of social media. Whether you’re on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Pinterest, You Tube, Twitter, Clubhouse, all of the above, or something entirely different… I bet you’re on at least one of these! For the purpose of today’s blog, I’d like you to focus on your PRIMARY social media platform.
What’s in a profile?
Your social media profile is your virtual business card. It’s what people see when they are surfing. It’s where people go when they want to find out what you’re about. It’s basically your first impression on social media, so you want to make it a good one! Follow the steps below to do a quick audit and make some immediate changes to improve your online presence.
Step 1: Strike a pose
That’s right – your profile picture should be YOU. As cute as your dog is, or as precious as your baby is, when someone is scrolling you want them to recognize that it’s you and your profile. Ideally, this will be a headshot. No, it doesn’t have to be professional. Yes, it should be clear. And when you start to stress about finding a picture that’s glamour-shot worthy, remember, it’s more important that it look like YOU than that it’s “beautiful” by some artificial catfish-y standard.
Step 2: Pick 4-5 topics that represent “you.”
These will be the core of the content (the “pillars”) that you post on your personal page. That’s not to say that you won’t ever post about other things, but consider these the main things that you want to share with the world! Some people put these in their bio (I did) but I don’t actually recommend that. Mine began as “Church. Family. Work. Teach. Play. Repeat! ❤️” But over time, that shifted. As the kids moved out, my dog Buster became one of my main posting topics. Now that he’s passed away, that’s changing again. Maybe these 4-5 pillars are hobbies (sewing, crafting, cooking, camping, Disney, reading.) Maybe they are family or pets. Maybe they are religious. These can be anything, although if you are building a business, I’d steer away from controversial topics, even when they are important to you.
Step 3: Clean up controversy.
Speaking of controversial topics, take this opportunity to clean up your page. My assumption if you’re reading this is that you are building a business, and unless your business is for an extremely niched market, it’s probably not in your best interest to anger half of your given customer population at any point in time. So delete the rants, or change the privacy settings to share with a select few people in your inner circle.
Step 4: Check your privacy.
Depending on your life circumstances, you may want to be more or less public. If I had small kids at home, I might set up a smaller audience to share kid stuff. As it is now, my life’s an open book so almost everything is set to “public.” Yes, I get the one off stalker that I ignore, but if a friend/customer tags me in a nailfie, I want their friends to be able to click through to see what I’m all about. You can read more about general privacy settings and how to change the privacy on posts on the help pages of your platform of choice. (Here’s Facebook!)
Step 5: Ready, set, post.
Consistency is important! Unless you sell something that is critical to survival, what you have to remember is that most people will make purchases when they think about it (or when they think about you!) They won’t necessarily think about ordering each week or even each month. But when they see YOU and your amazing manicure, that will remind them!
Now let me be clear… you don’t need to (and you shouldn’t post) ONLY about your product. We’ve all been around people that are radio silent except for incessant posts about their products, and if you’re like me, you just scroll faster when you see those posts. I use the general rule that ~ 20% (probably a little less) should be about my business. So if I post five stories, I’ll post one that’s about my business or product. (Now, if my cute nails happen to make it into a post about something else, that’s just a happy accident!)
That said, you should try to post on your personal account regularly. Once you are in the habit of posting on your preferred platform, you can expand and start to incorporate additional platforms if you want to. My personal goal is:
- Facebook (my preferred platform)
- 1 to 2 posts per day
- 3 to 5 stories per day
- Instagram
- 3 to 5 posts per week
- 3 to 5 stories per week
- Pinterest
- 3 to 5 posts per week
On the horizon: Tik Tok! (I still haven’t totally conquored this one!)
Please note, these are on your PERSONAL profile, not any VIP group that you might have. Those are separate. But people do business with those that they know, like and trust. And letting them into your life is the way they can do that!
What’s your preferred platform? What are your five “pillars” that you’re going to post about? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
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