It’s 2022, so we don’t have to convince you about the importance of a strong social media presence for your business.
But even though most people know how essential it is, many companies are still missing the mark with tacky or disengaging pages.
Your social media presence should build your brand, connect with your ideal customers, and boost sales leads.
Here are 7 simple tips to make your social media look more professional and take it up a notch.
Professional Social Media: Why it Matters
Like it or not, most of us are guilty of judging a book by its cover. And as a result, your social media presence is important because of the way it can either attract or deter potential clients.
A professional social media presence attracts customers because it:
- Provides valuable and interesting content.
- Builds brand recognition.
- Solves a unique problem or challenge.
- Engages the audience and makes them feel valued.
- Has easy-to-navigate contact information.
- Entices people through giveaways, contests, or prizes.
Alternately, an unprofessional social media presence will deter customers because it:
- Has confusing or unclear navigation.
- Is too focused on sales instead of interesting content.
- Seems inauthentic or scattered.
- Isn’t visually appealing or engaging.
- Doesn’t engage with the audience.
- Has typos, errors, or mistakes that make the audience lose confidence in the company.
No company is perfect, so there will be times when something doesn’t quite hit the mark. But if you can work to elevate your online presence and show up with a high level of professionalism, it’ll make all the difference to your potential customer base.
7 Tips to Make Your Social Media More Professional
1. Choose a theme
The biggest sign of professionalism is consistency. It shows effort and intentionality behind your social media strategy, rather than randomly posting whatever you want.
Your theme is the best way to be consistent and can refer to two things:
- Mood or tone: Is your page primarily educational? Entertaining? Is it funny, serious, personal, or edgy? The mood and tone should be consistent from post to post. For example, using fun and trending Instagram reels to promote your business might align with companies that have a playful tone, but won’t work as well for those who are positioned more seriously.
- Visual or aesthetic: The way your social media looks should also be on-theme. Consider using a platform like Canva where you can create a brand kit (pro version) or choose consistent themes for your graphic designs. It’s one of our top business management tools we can’t live without!
2. Choose high-quality stock images
Blurry, uncropped, or irrelevant images just don’t cut it. Not when there are tons of free sites for high-quality stock images! Sites like Pexels, Unsplash, or Pixabay have huge catalogs of professional photos to choose from. Spend some time selecting something that catches the eye and complements your content well.
If you’re taking your own photos, focus on quality, too. Invest in some gear (or at least find someone with the newest iPhone!) and use editing software to make it pop.
You can also think about professional-looking backgrounds. One benefit of joining a coworking space is that you have access to professional workspaces, such as a private meeting room or spacious, clean, and organized common areas.
3. Brand yourself
If someone stumbles across your social media pages, will they know what they’re looking at? People have short attention spans, so it’s important to be obvious about who you are and what you’re about.
Make your business’s brand stand out on social media by:
- Frequently incorporating your brand’s logo and colors into the design.
- Naming your company as well as its products and services in captions and descriptions.
- Representing your brand’s values and goals.
4. Use a consistent color palette and filter
This ties back into tip #1 about having a theme. One of the best ways to present a professional aesthetic is by deliberately choosing a consistent color palette or filter for your images. Canva, for example, lets you build a kit where you can identify brand colors and apply them consistently.
Or you can apply the same filter to all photos, creating a similar look and feel. Maybe you have a minimalist, black and white aesthetic. Or, maybe it’s the opposite, with tons of color!
No matter what direction you go, keep it consistent so that there’s a pleasing visual aesthetic.
5. Zoom out
Each post on your social media account should fit into the context of everything else you’ve posted. So, zoom out and get that flyover view of what you’ve been posting to make sure the next post logically fits.
This can be aesthetically—i.e., how do your posts look next to each other? But it can also be the content. Consider some of your recent posts and make sure it’s not too repetitive. Get into a rhythm of what to post, mixing it up each week. Here are some examples:
- Posts about your products and services.
- “Get to know you” posts that highlight the company or staff members.
- User-generated content (UGC)—what your followers have posted and tagged you in.
- Educational or how-to content.
- Just for fun or entertainment content.
- FAQs or AMA (ask me anything) to engage with the audience.
You might not use all of these, but the point here is to make sure your next post fits into the context of everything else on your feed.
6. Proofread, proofread, proofread
Spelling mistakes and typos don’t come across as professional. Now, we’re all human and make mistakes, but it’s so important to be proofreading your work! Take that extra minute to review the grammar, check that hyperlinks work, or double-check the spelling of someone’s name.
To improve your written copy and avoid errors, try using tools like Grammarly or these 7 tools to help you become a better writer.
7. Offer value
The last way to build a more professional social media presence is to offer real value to your audience.
People know when they’re being sold to, and they don’t usually like it! So make sure that you’re adding value by providing quality content that speaks to their needs and concerns. This establishes trust between you and your potential customers—they’ll know you’re the real deal, there to help and serve.
Too many companies think it’s enough to throw up a few posts and call it a day. But building a professional social media presence takes more time and intentionality than that. For solopreneurs or those without extra staff resources to dedicate to social media, consider hiring a high-quality virtual assistant to support your online presence.
Looking for a workspace where you can grow your business? Then book a tour of The Post and come see what we have to offer.