If you haven’t read my earlier posts on Starting a Social Media campaign in 15 minutes, check them out. I designed this series to prevent information overload. And don’t get caught up on the ease of the steps. They are designed to be short and convince you to take action.
Create your social media profile
You’ll spend the next three days on this step – making your public debut by creating a profile. The hardest profile to create is your first one. Once you create your first profile, you’ll be able to import themes and info into your next profile.
But your first one is the hardest to start because you are staring at a blank page.
Create your profile first and be OK that you can make changes
So I’m going to offer a suggestion – create your profile knowing that you’ll probably change it. That’s fine. The important thing is to get something down on the screen. You can always go back and update/modify it.
On the first day, log in and enter your name. Start looking around at the information that will be asked of you. Don’t worry about entering it at this point. Just look at what you’ll need to answer and come back to it.
(Also you don’t want to enter more than your name because the information will automatically be made public)
This will be the easiest with LinkedIn and Facebook because you’ll enter your real name. But Twitter is a bit more challenging because you can enter any variation of your name, nickname or title you want to be associated with. Spend a few min brainstorming ideas. You can always change it. But it’s usually better to build your brand and stick with one name.
After you put your name in on the first day – close the account down.
Start with your photo and stop!
On your second day, find is your photo. My suggestion is to use the same photo on all three sites. This is an advantage both from a branding perspective – people can easily figure out who you are – as well as making it easy – you upload the sa same photo on all three sites.
So think of a professional yet approachable photo you can use. If you consider LinkedIn as your standard here, you’ll have an easier time. LinkedIn is more of a professionally based network so it tends to be the place you use your most conservative photo.
Don’t worry about hiring a photographer. Unless you already have headshots.
Just find one that fits the bill. Or have a friend take a headshot of you (up to the midchest) behind a white wall. Again, this is not your photo for life. Just a place for you to start.
If you want more tips on what photo to choose – check out these sites:
- http://www.linkedin-makeover.com/2011/10/31/top-5-tips-to-a-powerful-linkedin-profile-picture/
- http://theundercoverrecruiter.com/7-pictures-you-should-never-use-your-linkedin-profile/
- http://www.careerealism.com/linkedin-photo-tips/
Stay tuned for your final steps to the profile!
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