How to use social media to advertise your business and brand effectively?

It's important to make a good first impression in every situation, but especially when introducing yourself to a new and important customer.

When you graduate from college, you're up against your peers in a race to get available jobs in your field. It's up to you to set yourself apart from them.

The digital marketplace is image-centric, which means images can help you increase conversion rates if you use them correctly.

By changing a few things about your company every few years, you can stay up-to-date and a step ahead of the competition.

Your professional headshots are often your clients' very first impression of you. It's important those headshots say the right thing.

What’s the difference between a formal headshot, creative headshot, and a business portrait?

When you’re deciding whether or not to get a professional headshot , you’ll probably come across discussions of formal headshots, creative headshots, and business portraits. At first glance, these three might seem similar, but it’s important for you to understand their differences before you choose which one is the best fit for you. And since most companies only refresh their online images once every 18 months, it pays to get it right the first time.

 

What are the main differences?

These three types of images vary in style, formality, and context.

 

Formal headshots are the type most commonly seen on LinkedIn. They tend to be shot against a plain or slightly blurry backdrop are ideal for professionals working in corporate or large businesses. They help generate trust and authority while firmly planting you as a professional in your industry. They’ll help you stand out from the pack while still affirming your fit within your field.
Creative headshots are for people who want to take their image online to the next level. These images are more expressive and individualized than a standard headshot. They usually don’t have solid backdrops and instead place you in context, for example, seated behind a desk or in action speaking, working at a computer, or doing whatever you do best. These headshots focus on your personality so that your customer will get a feel for who you are and begin to bond with you. These headshots create more authority and expert status in field than a corporate headshot.

What’s a business portrait?

A business portraitis more formal and more professional looking than either a formal or a creative headshot. Usually, you are photographed wearing a full suit, nice dress, or whatever would be the formal uniform of your work, like a doctor, judge, police officer. And instead of a plain background, you’ll be photographed in context, helping to place you as a professional in your field. Think of an oil painting of a famous banker or president, only less stuffy.

In contrast to this, a headshot is taken as a formal representation of a person, generally in a professional or business setting. They tend to be straightforward and take a less time to plan in terms of composition and style.

If you work for a corporation and are thinking of having headshots taken, you may want to consider business portraits instead. They help build respect and an online brand that commands attention. And they will help your website or LinkedIn profile really stand out from your colleagues or competitors.

 

Why you need a great headshot or portrait

If you’re considering getting headshots taken, it’s important to learn about them and why they are so important to your business. Firstly, headshots can speak volumes about your brand and give prospective clients an insight into the way that your company works.

If you operate in a corporate way, you can present that by your choice of clothing and where it is that you have the headshot taken, such as against a plain backdrop, in your office or in a meeting room.  If your company is more relaxed, a creative headshot can be a great way to display your individual personality.

To ensure you get your money’s worth, it pays to know about the different uses for headshots. When used on your website, they can help to enhance the feel of your pages and also give visitors a clearer understanding about the best point of contact for them.

Do you want to find the best corporate headshot? We offer a bespoke service and will go out of our way to ensure that we meet you and your company’s individual needs.

No matter what industry your business is operating in, social media is an invaluable tool that can help you to increase engagement with your customers and drive traffic to your website.

There are a number of different platforms that you can use including LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, just to name a few. All social media platforms serve different purposes and can help you to achieve different things. Read on for our top tips on how to use social media well in order to advertise your business and brand.

Provide Value

This is the number one rule of using social media for your business. Remember, your goal is not to advertise but rather to engage. And how do you get consistent engagement with your followers? By providing them something of value. And value takes a lot of forms. It could be making them laugh, provoking a thought, or an insight that helps them related to your industry. Think outside of the box when it comes to value and you’ll see the results.

Post curated articles

When it comes to using websites like Twitter effectively, you need to be engaging and show your audience that you’re about more than just trying to secure sales. This can easily be demonstrated by posting curated articles (that you wrote yourself or found online) that are relevant to the industry or sector that you’re operating in. Twitter is a great source of news and the use of Hashtags can help you become more searchable and will increase the number of people visiting your company’s profile.

Draw your customers in with competitions

If you pride yourself on being a fun brand keen to connect with its audience, competitions are a great way to enhance this. Put out a post on Facebook and ask people to share it to be in with a chance of winning one of your products (be sure to act in accordance with any laws governing giveaways and sweepstakes in your area). Not only is this great, free advertisement for your brand, it also makes you seem like a more desirable company to invest in. Everybody loves a freebie, so you’re likely to gain a friend or two by using social media in this way.

Include great headshots

It’s true what they say, people work with people and not businesses. To support this ethos, you need to make your company seem as personable as possible, and what better way than with a great set of headshots? It gives customers an idea of who they’re going to be working with and also makes your brand seem much more approachable. Find out more about getting professional headshots.

Think about when you are posting

Have you ever heard your daughter talking about how she absolutely has to post her selfie at 6 pm on Sunday evening? This isn’t just because she’s gone cuckoo thanks to overexposure to technology, there is actually a method to her madness. Depending on what channel you are using, there will be times when activity is most frequent and your engagement rates are likely to be higher, so be sure to do your research instead of just sporadically posting. And be consistent! Yours follows want to know they can rely on you to regularly post content that is valuable and on-brand. To deliver what they are asking for and you’ll be on your way to social media success.