Today we’ll talk about your social media presence. First of all, I need to say that your social media platforms need to be created and maintained with a strategy in mind. When I first started on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+ I just threw stuff on there whenever I thought about it or saw something inspiring. Not exactly how you’re supposed to do it!
During this post we’ll cover your social media presence. Before now we’ve covered:
- Part One — Bio, Headshots & Business Cards
- Part Two — Elevator Speech
- Part Three — One Sheet
- Part Four — Internet Presence
Part Five: Social Media Presence
I made an investment in some social media training so that I could learn how to make sure my presence on social media was made up of compelling content in addition to looking professional. I learned that it’s important to engage your audience and rotate a number of different types of posts. Not the same thing all the time.
But that’s a topic for a different day. I would like this post to concentrate on packaging yourself well on your social media platforms. Why? To make sure the lasting impression you leave is a positive one that will cause people to want to engage with you, and communicate credibility and expertise.
SOCIAL MEDIA MUSTS
Let’s go over what I consider to be the social media musts:
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CUSTOM DESIGN
Make sure your banners on all your social media platforms are custom designed and match your website.
Note how my Always Faithful banner for Facebook, and both computer and mobile banners for Twitter all have professionally designed banners.
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CONSISTENCY
Be consistent. All across your social media platforms, communicate the same message with the same look. Be sure you keep the same look all the way through:
- Font
- Colors
- Feel
- Design
Another great example is my good friend, Linda Grabeman. Notice how her website and both Facebook pages are designed with her brand in mind.
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BRAND YOUR GRAPHICS
Make sure you brand or theme the graphics you post.
When you use images off picmonkey.com and add quotes or scriptures to share on social media, be sure to include your domain name or at least your ministry logo. If someone shares the picture, there’s no way for the person seeing the shared version to know where it originated. Below you’ll see some examples from Shannon Ethridge’s Facebook page.
And when I had my radio show in Texas, I had some definite consistencies in the themes of the graphics I posted.
- I always took a picture of the book I was giving away and interviewing the author of, up against the microphone.
- I always invited my listening audience to a local Mexican restaurant to continue the conversation after the show. I posted pictures from every gathering and got lots of interaction about the photos!
- I posted a daily scripture with a picture of a bench, as that became a consistent theme throughout my radio ministry as God continued to remind me to “be still and know that I am God!”
Social media can be a daunting task to develop and maintain, but it’s one of the best ways to stay connected with your readers/followers and build the relationship with them. If it all seems to overwhelming, consider investing in some coaching to get to a place of feeling comfortable with it and having a plan and strategy that you can follow. It will be well worth it!
You can view the entire Lasting Impression: Package Yourself with Class series or subscribe to our RSS feed in your favorite reader so you won’t miss an update!