Social media has officially become an essential component of any company’s marketing mix. Whether or not your company has fully incorporated the medium into your marketing strategy, a certain baseline level of expectations has quickly been established. While this may sound intimidating, there’s no need to fret; we’ve got you covered. J&R Marketing put together a list of some quick and simple steps toward improvements that will help clean up your image, optimize your performance, and attract visitors to your newly refreshed social media sites.

1. Keep Your Profile Images Consistent

First and foremost, your social media pages need to clearly identify your business. Find a simple, high-resolution file of your logo and upload it onto every one of your profiles. It should take no longer than 5 minutes, but will provide a necessary level of consistency and recognizability to your brand.

2. Keep Usernames Consistent, Too

The same principle applies as our #1 rule; consistency builds recognizability. Find a username that, ideally, matches your company name and apply it to every platform. In addition to building consistency, this helps users search and find your pages more easily.

For example, a customer who came across @jandrmarketing on Instagram won’t run into any confusion when they search for @jandrmarketing on Twitter, as they belong to the same company… Us!

3. Use Optimal Image Sizes

Once again referring to rule #1, it’s vital to ensure that your images appear properly across all platforms, browsers, and devices. Ensuring proper sizing is as easy as a quick crop. Not sure of the suggested pixel dimensions? We’ve got you covered, again:

Facebook:

Profile picture: 180 x 180
Cover photo: 820 x 312

Twitter:

Profile photo: 400 x 400
Header image: 1,500 x 500
Tweeted Image: 440 x 220

LinkedIn:

Profile photo (Personal): 400 x 400 (min.)
Background (Personal): 1584 x 396
Profile photo/Logo (Business): 300 x 300
Hero Image (Business): 1128 x 376
Cover photo (Business): 1536 x 768
Banner image (Business): 646 x 220

Instagram:

Profile picture: 110 x 110
Photos: 1080 x 1080
IG Stories: 1080 x 1920

Pinterest:

Profile picture: 150 x 150

YouTube:

Profile picture: 800 x 800
Cover photo: 2,560 x 1,440 (Desktop)

4. Fill Out ALL Description Fields

When creating your profile, you’ll be asked a list of questions. From contact information to company mission statement, you’ll want to make sure that every possible field is filled out to the best of your ability. Not only will these fields preemptively answer some of your visitors questions, but it will add a level of professionalism to your appearance. More importantly, it will keep you from appearing lazy.

Take MotherWorks, a client of J&R Marketing, as a perfect example. They spent the time thoroughly completing each field, and have reaped the benefits of it.

5. Showcase Your Best Content

Social media pages—specifically Facebook and Twitter—allow you to ‘Pin’ your favorite post to the top of the page. These exceptional posts will be the first thing your visitors see when they scroll through your page, pushing the content that your future customers will find most valuable.

The most arduous component of this task will be deciding which of your posts you like the most – which should take all of 3 minutes.

6. Use SEO to Boost Social (And Vice Versa)

This is the first task on the list that should take more than 5 minutes. It will involve a little more effort, but offers a higher reward. Applying the principles of search engine optimization primarily involves optimizing keyword efforts. First, you’ll want to determine the most popular industry keywords used by competitors. Next, incorporate these keywords across your social profiles.

Incorporating keywords doesn’t mean overloading said keywords into every field possible. Instead, mix them in naturally across various fields; biography, post captions, company description, etc. Google’s algorithms are tough to fool, so don’t bother artificially stuffing keywords or you’ll be punished with lower ranking results. If done properly, you and your customers will find your sites sitting atop the results page.

7. Cross-Promote Your Own Pages

Within the description fields, social media pages often give the option to add links to your company pages. What you may not have known, however, is that you can use those fields to promote your other social media accounts as well. Add your Twitter handle to your LinkedIn profile. Link your Instagram to your Facebook page. Create a network that allows visitors to seemly transition from one account to the next.

Additionally, always feel free to direct your followers to your other pages right from your feed. Tweet links leading to new Instagram posts, or promote a company blog post through Facebook. They are called ‘Social Networks’ for a reason. Take full advantage of the exponential powers of these networks.

8. Maintain Regularly

This task is easy, but you’ll need to keep at it for as long as your social media accounts are active. Maintaining your pages involves an array of duties. Interact with your followers, un-tag yourself from inappropriate posts, address customer complaints, and keep your page up-to-date with relevant, valuable information that will keep your followers coming back for more.

Altogether, these 8 steps shouldn’t take you longer than an hour – maybe even 30 minutes. The benefits, however, will continue to present themselves to your business. Keeping your pages clean, fresh, and informative is a simple way to meet the baseline expectations for a business social media account.

J&R Marketing is a marketing company located in Smithfield, Rhode Island that specializes in branding, development, and custom products. For more advanced tips on how to fully leverage the growing impact of social media, or for professional assistance with social media marketing visit the J&R Marketing website.