Even if you aren’t running a whole company, social media is still extremely important for your business and livelihood. By using social media, you can easily build up a personal brand and give potential clients extra incentive to employ you.

For example, Instagram is a good way to show off your productivity and creativity, and Twitter can be a good place to post links to blog articles you have written and build a convenient online portfolio. Furthermore, apps like Pinterest are other ways to build super creative portfolios that you can show off to potential employers just by sending a link. Plus, there are even sites like LinkedIn, which are literally made for businesses and freelancers just like you.

In order to have a successful social media portfolio, make sure your profile pic and username are professional, and try to create a consistent brand image across all your profiles. Let’s get into how to do that, for both individuals and companies, below.

Find Your Niche

When I say, ‘find your niche,’ I mean that you have to choose which platforms work the best for you, what your goals are with social media, and what you want your persona to be. For example, if you want to use social media simply for updates and links, use Twitter and Facebook, but if you want to show off visuals, try Instagram or Pinterest.

You have to find a persona that you want to present to the world. Friendly, conversational language can often work for companies who want to shorten the social distance between themselves and customers, whereas freelancers might be better sticking to a slightly more professional tone to attract jobs. Once you have found a persona you feel comfortable with (and one that works) make sure you maintain a high level of consistency over all your profiles.

Humanise Yourself

For both companies and individuals, it is important to connect with a social media audience. People love authenticity and will more likely follow accounts that seem human and personal (and of course, accounts with more followers are much more trustworthy).

To do this, you need to vary your content, encourage feedback and elicit discussions about your posts. Additionally, it never hurts to sprinkle in some humour in here and there to keep things like and entertain your followers.

Don’t Overlook the Visuals

Aesthetics are very important in branding. Once again, consistency is key. Taking hints from the big brands, you should find a similar color palette to appeal to the key when visitors first click on your profile, and you should use the same logo or avatar too. When it comes to the color palette, experiment with photo filters and edits to make all your visuals look appealing and more similar to one another. This is a great way to give off a professional, modern vibe on your profiles.

Final Thoughts

Branding is absolutely essential in this day and age, for individuals and companies alike. If you are running any social media channels for work (which you should be if you aren’t already), then take heed of the above advice to get started on your social media persona.