Avoid these ‘graphic’ mistakes on your social media pages
Even fairly good social media marketers often make some very basic mistakes on their social media pages, especially with their cover art.
Let’s take a quick tour of some of the most common social media account artistic blunders.
Bad photos
For many businesses and individuals, using a headshot is a natural strategy on your “home page” on most of the major social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and even Periscope. Doing a headshot session with a professional photographer is a small expense that will upgrade your presence tremendously.
Don’t settle for images like those below recently grabbed from the social media world. (By the way, the one with the words “Social Media” in it, is part of the name of the person’s company; it got clipped when forced into the little square.)
Tip: Whenever you use a headshot that is a profile or partial profile, you want the person to be looking into the page, not away from the center of the page. When the subject is looking into the page you want the visitor to see, the visitor’s eye is naturally drawn in that direction.
Bad placement
With Twitter, you’re given a large, rectangular cover photo as well as a smaller, square inset that can is most often used for a head shot or personal portrait of some kind. Be sure that each piece of art is tailored specifically to meet the requirements of Twitter – or any other social media platform you’re using.
With Twitter, problems arise because the two images overlap. Many small businesses take a piece of existing art and use it as the bigger image and then put in something else in the small inset square. Often the small square blocks out important type on the bigger image, as I’ve illustrated below.
Lazy image choices
If you’re going to use social media for marketing or customer service, do it right or don’t do it at all. I’ve seen many business sites on Facebook where the second small image is the same or similar to the larger cover art. That looks bad and shows that you didn’t really think about or plan what you wanted to do, and that’s not the impression you want to make on visitors.
I know it’s a cliché, but it’s true that you only get one chance to make a first impression, and in the social media, your first impression is often visual.
Take the time to create graphics and take photos that will wow visitors with your style and professionalism.