It’s a Sunday afternoon and you are walking through town on a beautiful summer day. It is warm but not hot. Walking through a neighborhood, you see colorful flowers planted everywhere. Each flowerbox hanging from a deck railing is unique and specific to each business and organization. You can smell the fragrant roses in front of the grocery store on the right, and the daisies from the barbershop on the left make you feel warm and comfortable. There are so many stunning flower boxes hanging in each business, you do not have time to stop and admire each one for its uniqueness. You realize these flowers represent each business in a unique way – just like social media profiles do.
Flowerboxes and gardens are like social profiles. Just like flowerboxes, some social profiles are so stunning and aesthetically pleasing to look at they automatically draw you in. They are clean, organized and relevant. And just like neglected flowerboxes, other social media sites are dated, missing information, and dead. A flowerbox full of dead flowers and a garden full of weeds looks worse than no flowerbox or garden at all, so it is important to tend to your flowerbox on a regular basis.
This realization prompts you to make a decision. Today is the day you help your organization bloom by updating your social profile. After going through all the time and effort to make your profile look great, you need to take care of them, just like flowers.
Why is it important?
Having an attractive and well-planned social media profile for your organization makes it more inviting and easier for customers to engage with you. This is important to learn what your customers like about your organization and what they want to see more of. They are able to learn about your business, location, and services that you offer, and in general, get a feeling for your brand and culture.
It is important to keep your social profiles up to date. If old information is posted on your page, do some “deadheading” and clip off irrelevant or dated information about your organization. Planting up-to-date and fresh profile content keeps your organization top of mind and at the top of customers’ timelines.
Just as summer in the upper Midwest is a good time to enhance your flowerboxes, it is also a great time to fix your “social flowerbox.” The following three steps can help make your organizations social profile a stunning part of the online community.
- Don’t hide behind the weeds. Use a clear, appropriate, and recent profile picture, typically a logo. If people can’t tell who you are, they won’t connect with you. Make sure the photo is in line with your brand or personality.
- Have a flowerbox that catches eyes! To do this, use high-quality and authentic photos. When thinking about what to post about, consider using your current work, events, blogs based on your organization’s work. Remember social media is public, so do not put out items that are not appropriate for everyone to know.
- Water regularly or be active! If you never post or are not active on your profile, people tend to question if it is really you.
Doing these three simple things will give you a beautiful, well-cared-for profile.
And remember, a flowerbox is not a cornfield. You do not need to create a profile on every site or spend six hours a day updating each one. If you only want to use one platform, make sure you choose one that connects with your target audience. Maintaining many profiles on multiple pages or different profiles on the same website can be tiring and overwhelming.
Your profile is waiting. Go master your social media flowerbox!