How often do you get a hair cut? Or, if that doesn’t apply to you, how often do you change the oil in your car?

If you want to look sharp and well-groomed, you may get your hair cut every 5 or 6 weeks like I do (I have short, fine, straight hair that looks sloppy if I don’t get it cut every month). If you want your car to run smoothly you probably get the oil changed every 3,000 to 6,000 miles (depending on who you listen to).

via GIPHY

Well, it’s the same with your social profiles. I recommend you do a review or “social profile audit” every 3 months or so to make sure your business is represented exactly as it is right now. You could call it a social tune-up if you wish.

Today, you’re going to review, update, and optimize your Facebook Page profile. If you haven’t updated your Facebook Page in the last 3 months or so, it’s time to take a hard look at it and make sure all key information is up to date. You want to make sure your Page reflects your current business and direction for the coming year.

NOTE: If you don’t have a Facebook Page set up, you can do a similar review on your Facebook profile. If you have a business or you’re an author, I recommend you set up a Facebook page ASAP. Here’s a thorough guide from the folks at Buffer.

This audit is focused on information that doesn’t change very often. It’s not about the status updates you’re posting every day or the ads you’re running. It’s about the info people see and seek when they land on your page and want to find out more about you.

Let’s get started.

First, you need to know that Facebook recently changed how Pages are displayed to your followers. You now have the ability to arrange how the content is displayed on your page by changing templates under Settings > Edit Page. The templates you can choose from depends on the Business Category you’ve chosen for your business. For example, for my page, Adventures in Visibility, I’ve chosen Consulting Agency and the template for Professional Services.

Depending on what you choose, you may or may not see the same options for optimizing your page, as I’m talking about here.

Tell Your Story in the About Section

Click on About (#1 in the left sidebar under your profile image)

• Review each field on the Page Info (#2) [hover over the right side to each field to see the Edit link #3]
• Is every field completed with the relevant information? You have a lot of room to tell your story.
• Is the information up-to-date? Has anything changed in the last few months? 
• Do you have a call to action and link in the descriptions? You can include links to your lead magnets in the short and long descriptions and general information
• Do you have contact info?
• Is there a link to your website?

Optimize Your Visual Branding

There are two important images you want to give thought and care to:

• Your profile image. Is it a recent headshot or business logo? If the headshot is ancient (more than a couple of years old), I strongly urge you to get professional headshots done and update your profile image on all your networks.
• The cover image. If it’s been more than a few months, create a new cover image (I use the templates on Canva). Remember to add a call to action on the image and link it to the Call to Action button. Consider rotating cover images every couple of months or when you’re promoting a new program or lead magnet.

For examples of cover images with calls to action look at The Blog Squad, BizEase Support Solutions, and Wellness Warrior.

Remember, every Facebook page will be different. When you edit the About section, you may not see exactly what I’ve described. 

If you have questions about optimizing your Facebook page, please post them in the comments below. Be as SPECIFIC as possible and include a link to your Facebook page so I can take a look at it. If you prefer, we can also work on it one-on-one privately.

The post How to Optimize Your Facebook Page Profile So It Makes a Strong Impression appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

The limitation of these profiles is that they are inextricably linked to the specific social networking site. That has given rise to numerous sites that will aggregate your social info and create a unique social profile page for you. A few of them include (these are links to my bios so you can see how they look):

• Flavors.me
• About.me
• Itsmyurls.com
• Socialbios.com

As you know, I'm an active experimenter so I try most that cross my virtual path.

When you click on each of the links above, you'll see you have the option to post your bio, a photo and various links to your social networking profiles. All offer a free version and most offer an upgrade for a small fee.

You can customize the colors, the fonts and often add a custom background.

What's cool about these sites is that you can use them as a one stop shop to send people to get all your contact info. I'm currently using Itsmyurls.com and have a unique domain redirecting to the page: http://denisewakeman.info. I've put that URL on my business cards and on my Twitter profile which solves the problem of listing every site where you would like folks to connect with you.

I also like Itsmyurls.com because a QR code is included so people with a bar code reader on their smart phone can easily get all my contact info as well (go ahead and try it!).

A recent addtion to the scene is Socialbios.com. What caught my eye with this site is that they make it super easy to embed your bio on your Facebook page with an app as well as on your blog. They take your bio a step further by giving visitors the option to find out out mutual connections on the popular social networking sites.

That brings me back to the initial question: how many social profiles do you need?

One could say that you should set up a profile on every site that comes along (I generally do) because it protects your name, makes you findable on that specific site and adds to your online visibility with links back to your home base (blog) and key outposts. Remember, your ideal client hangs out where they are most comfortable and it may not be on the one site you decided to post your bio.

Having a template that you can use to quickly copy and paste your bio info into each site helps projects like this be more efficient.

Then, decide on the format you prefer and choose one to promote, like I've done with my profile on Itsmyurls.com.

What do you think? How many social profiles do you have set up? Do you promote a social profile so prospects can get all your contact info in one place?

Update: A few minutes after this post was published I was contacted by the folks over at Itsmyurls.com and they kindly offered to customize my QR Code (that's not why I said nice things about them, but it's a nice way for them to acknowledge that they appreciated it – take note how you treat your customers!) Isn't this QR code cool with my name and picture?

The post How Many Social Profiles Do You Need? appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.