Put Your Best Face Forward
5 tips for creating a visually engaging social media profile

We all know social media is an easy and inexpensive way to promote your business. Setting up a visually appealing profile is the first step for capturing your potential audience’s attention.
To ensure you project a professional look, follow these basic guidelines.
Note that while we’ve used a Facebook profile here as an example, the same rules apply for LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media channels.
As always, we are here for you. If you have any questions, email us at communications@ashi.org.
1. Keep It Simple
Your profile photo should be professional, positive, and clear of background clutter. Most social media profile setups will automatically size your photo, but if you are able to resize your photo yourself, the standard size is 400 by 400 pixels. Make sure your photo is high resolution— not blurry or pixelated.

If you do use your logo instead of a headshot, DO NOT use a vertical logo in the circular/square space. When your logo is automatically sized it will end up distorted and unreadable.
2. Be Color Savvy
Repetition of the same colors strengthens brand recognition and awareness. Stick to a few colors; having too many can get visually confusing.
Try using a darker color for backgrounds and a bright color for highlights. If your logo has more than one color, do not layer it over other similar colors or images, as it will get lost. If you have a white-only version of your logo, it will always look best when layered over a dark color.

3. Your Cover is Your Ad
Your cover banner is the first thing people see when they find you, so it is always your first and best advertisement. Avoid the temptation to cram a ton of information in there. Stick with tip #1 and keep it simple.
If you used your logo in the profile photo space, the cover image is the perfect place to put a candid photo of yourself (see example below). Some ideas: a selfie in front of a beautiful home, you on the roof (have another person take the photo if you can), or you in the crawl space (shows you getting into the dirty details).

If you used your headshot in the profile photo space, the cover image can be used to showcase your specialty or show your logo/tagline overlaying a simple photo background (see example below).

4. More Imagery, Less Copy
The average person scans your content in a few seconds, so having oceans of copy in a small space will lose their interest immediately.
This tip is relevant across the board with all of your social media posts. Keep in mind some people might be viewing you on a cell phone. On a smaller screen, too much copy creates even more visual confusion. Your impact will get lost.

5. Consistency is Essential
Using the same images/color palette/taglines across all of your social media profiles ensures consistency with your brand’s visual identity and provides a sense of trust and credibility.
If you do want to step outside your brand, do it in your individual posts. Itʼs best to keep one consistent element that can pull people back to you visually (i.e. your logo mark used small in the corner of a how-to video or a tagged corner in your signature color).
If you have another marketing topic you would like to see covered in the Reporter, email your ideas to editor@ashi.org.
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