Perfecting Your Social Network Profile

I had the opportunity to interview publicity expert Nancy Juetten of Main Street Media Savvy about her Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide.  I wanted to find out how solopreneur's can improve their social network profiles, so I asked Nancy for a few tips.

If you had to name the most important element or ingredient to a successful social network profile, what would it be?

Authenticity.

What about the profile picture?  Any thoughts there?

Put your best face forward.  Don't ever put a picture on a social network that you wouldn't want your mother to see.  When in doubt, leave it out.  Social networks like Facebook and MySpace are considered truly social networks, where you think you're just hanging out with your friends, but my advice is to err on the side of conservative.  This is the filter I would put it through.  If your ideal customer saw that picture, would it change his or her mind about whether or not you were the person to do business with?

Do you recommend a solo picture, or is it okay to have a spouse or anyone else in the photo?

If it's your profile, my bias is for it to be your picture.  When in doubt, leave it out.

Would you recommend using a testimonial or two somewhere in your profile?

I think it's a great idea, and what I think is even better is when people voluntarily post compliments or recommendations.  That happens a lot with LinkedIn and Biznik.  There's another service called Yelp, where you can set up a profile for your product or service and invite your best customers to go to your profile and post a comment about what they think of your company.  That can be pretty powerful, because you cannot doctor up those.  They're authentic comments about your product or service.

What other tips do you have for improving a social network profile?

Information to help people connect with you personally is important.  Find a way to say who you are and what you do and what you love in a way that will be magnetic.  Peter Shankman, the founder of Help a Reporter Out (HARO), is a skydiver and an adventurer and someone who can't wait to take risks, and that speaks volumes for who he is and how he serves and what he's doing in the marketplace.

So, answer the question, "Who are you?"  If you answer that in a way that makes you smile, it's going to make other people smile, too.  You can't be all things to all people.  You want to be the right things to the right people.

Learn more about Nancy Juetten at Main Street Media Savvy and be sure to check out her Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide.

Comments

[Torben Rick]

Thanks for a some good advice.

I use social network profiles to promote my personal website Torben Rick - Business improvement and Change Management

And that works just fine