Social media profiles (Part two): Firm profiles and the relationship between them and your professional space
Previously, I discussed your social media profiles online – both personal and professional – in the context of your current firm. Now, in Part Two of this blog series, I’ll discuss creating and maintaining a firm’s social media profile and the relationship between this profile and your own.
Setting up your firm’s social media profiles
It’s important to understand that your firm is the sum of all of its parts – and this applies to both its social media presence and its entity as a whole. Just like a machine is nothing without all the moving parts that make it up, your firm isn’t your firm without all of those professionals who run it.
In the context of social media, this same rationale can apply. Remember, in Part One, how I discussed you should consider what is best for your firm when establishing your own social media presence? What’s best for your firm should be decided by those who direct and drive your firm, then shared and embraced across all of those who exist within your firm.
Those who have the authority to manage the firm’s social media should do so within the context of your brand and tone of voice. A careful eye on the direction of the brand and the choices made in professional social media spaces is needed. A firm isn’t a living thing that decides what’s best for it independently- this is done within an umbrella of strategic direction that’s set and agreed upon by your leaders and, often, due to the feedback and ideas from all those within your firm.
That means rules about social media management, marketing and profile creation should all be channelled through each of your professionals, with appropriate guidance provided and authority allocated to enable social media interaction to be undertaken confidently.
Setting up the social media profile for your firm shouldn’t be complicated, and there are a few tips to consider heavily:
- Consider your brand and brand voice. Your firm’s presence online should be an extension of how you appear and are perceived in the real world, where face-to-face interaction is commonplace.
- Think about your audience. Your choice of social media channel should consider where your market is, what channels they use and how they interact. There is no point creating a profile and backing it with the resources to run it, if you have no one of value to your firm listening to, or responding to, your messages
- Focus on aesthetics. A professional-looking firm social media profile has a profile photo that showcases its logo, and its cover photography should be high-quality and relevant. These images should also be sized appropriately to those specifications of the social site in question.
- Profile SEO is critical for your social profiles. This typically means adding in keywords relevant to your firm, your expertise and your market sectors. Potential clients can more easily find social profiles with SEO keywords, making it easier to connect with them.
- Fill out your contact details and relevant information. The setup forms are there to help you. You should follow them consistently across different social sites, so that your firm is also represented consistently. Include your contact information, as well as promoting other social profiles that exist for the firm.
- Follow all firm members and affiliates. This gives the firm’s social page more validity, extends your reach and boosts brand value.
This last bullet point brings us into the final topics in this series…
Your firm and you
The relationship between your own social media profiles and your firm’s is, ideally, mutually beneficial: you help your firm’s social media presence and the same happens in return.
How? Your firm’s social media presence gives your own social credibility a boost. You can easily follow and link to your firm’s social media post, showing off your main business hub. You can share your firm’s updates, comment and like them, which profiles the knowledge of your fellow colleagues as well as reflecting on your own skills set. Similarly, the credibility you build on your professional social media account can provide credibility to your firm. When you personally connect with a potential client, it’s easy to direct them to the firm – your hub.
Above all, this relationship should always be symbiotic – not parasitic. If you’re solely powering your firm’s social media profile or vice versa, there’s not a balanced relationship in existence. These accounts and identities should leverage each other, not one taking advantage of the other.
Part Three is the final installation of this blog series. This last blog will cover basic resources for four popular social media sites, as well as leveraging your social presence in a valuable way. See you soon!