Branding Your Small Business's Social Media

More and more business owners are embracing social media everyday, you hear the importance of using Twitter and Facebook and getting in front of a bigger audience from just about any business source you can find. One of my favorite business publications, Inc. Magazine has entire section of their website that focuses on online marketing, and social media is a major part of that. Sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube let you put yourself in front of your audience in the comfort of their own environment and in the convince of their own schedule. It's not as simple as signing up though, not long ago we discussed what you need to do to make the most of Twitter. A part of that was branding, and that rule doesn't only apply to Twitter. All of your social media profiles should remind the viewer of your website. It should clearly reflect your business' brand. I like to think of my social media profiles as an extension of this website.

I've collected my major social media sites and added some screenshots below along with a few tips specific to each network -

Twitter:

Make your profile photo, a photo of you, not a logo. Personally unless you are Best Buy or Samsung I want to see a photo of a person. Personally for me I am my business, my clients know me and my name so I want them to see my photo. I like the personal connection that is often overlooked in utilizing social media for business. The background of my Twitter page looks a lot like my website, the colors match the feel matches.

Facebook:

This is something I really love about the cover photos, it allows me to continue to use a photo of myself as a profile photo but I can use my logo as my cover photo. The cover photo done well can be amazing - it's really worth the time investment to design or even a small financial investment if you're not comfortable designing it yourself.

YouTube:

It is worth remembering that YouTube is a powerful social media tool. I recently started embracing video and uploaded my very first video in hopes of winning a scholarship to Marie Forleo's B-School. I'll be launching more videos in the future including some great social media, email marketing, and WordPress how-to videos. YouTube can be branded in a very similar way to Twitter, with a profile picture and a background. I use the same background and profile picture as my Twitter page. The only difference is one is Twitter and one is YouTube.

It's important to note the consistency between the sites, you'll notice I have the same profile photo everywhere, and it matches the photo that is on the home page of this site, and the bio box at the bottom of this post. It makes it clear that it is in fact "that Stacey" and "that On Demand Virtual Assistant" I believe consistency is key in every part of social media.

Stacey Harris provides administrative and technical support as well as WordPress design and maintenance to entrepreneurs. For tips on making the most of your virtual assistant visit http://ondemandvirtualassistant.com or email info@ondemandvirtualassistant.com.