Refining Your Personal Profile 🧑‍🎨 | PBM Series Part 3

Part 3 of an in-depth Personal Branding Mastery newsletter series.

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here so you don’t miss the rest of the Personal Branding Mastery Series: 

This is Part 3 of a multi-part, in-depth newsletter series on personal branding. To view previous parts, click here.

---

Refining Your Personal Profile 🧑‍🎨

Your FB Profile says a lot about you, so you want to be intentional about how it’s set up. The goal is to design your profile’s look and feel so that it authentically communicates who you are and what you’re about.

Refining your profile is a simple step, but one that many skip. Don’t be that person.

Let’s dive into each part of your FB profile:

Profile Picture:

Your profile picture is the centerpiece of your profile. It’s what everyone sees first when you connect with them and it’s the picture people see when you leave a comment on their post. You want to make sure that it is a picture of you (or you and your spouse if you’re regularly connecting with members of the opposite sex) and preferably from your chest up so your face can be seen clearly.

Anything other than that is not a good choice.

Cover Photo

Your cover photo says a lot about you. For instance, my friend Sarah’s cover photo shows something that matters a lot to her: her family. You want to select a cover photo that communicates who you are and what you’re about.

Here are various examples of excellent cover photos. These are all very different, but are each appropriate for the individual’s brand.

Bio, History & Links

Your FB bio is one of the first things people read about you. It should quickly and clearly summarize what you’re about and your brand. There are two great ways you can structure your bio.

The first is a short statement that begins with “I help...” or “On a mission to...”

The second way is to list out in a bullet list a few traits that define you and your brand.

Here are some excellent examples of each:

Take some time to fill out your About Me section (history and links) with relevant info that will support your brand. Things like your education background, where you live, and applicable links. Don’t go overboard here. No one needs to know every place you’ve ever worked. Pick one important link to share; perhaps your personal website.

Featured Photos

Featured photos are the top 1-9 pictures that show immediately below a person’s bio and details/history. Sarah’s profile at the beginning of this module is a perfect example of featured photos done well. Choose photos that communicate your brand and values. You don’t have to do the checkered grid with words. In fact, sometimes a single photo/graphic is a good choice. Do what fits you.

Post Privacy Settings

If you intend to build a brand on FB, you’ll need to live out loud. This means that the majority of your posts will be posted publicly (everyone can see them, even people that are not your friends). If you still wish to post things to just your friends or a specific, segmented friends list, you definitely can. But for any content related to your brand, you’re going to want to post it publicly.

When you’re drafting your post, you can change your privacy settings here:

Additionally, you’ll want to allow “Followers” on your profile. To do that go to Settings -> Public Posts -> Who Can Follow Me -> Set To “Public”.

Profile Posting Privileges

By default, FB typically lets others post to your wall or tag you in posts that show up on your profile. We want to make sure that you have Timeline Review turned ON so that there’s no content showing on your personal profile wall without your prior review. To change this setting go to Settings & Privacy -> Settings -> Timeline and Tagging (under the Privacy section) -> Review and make sure to toggle the Review tags and Review posts to “On”.

Profile Cleanup

When it comes to setting up your FB, you also need to be cognizant of the image you’ve been portraying up to this point. Take some time to go through old posts and pictures and make sure any inappropriate/embarrassing posts and photos are hidden or deleted.

---

Part 4 is coming next Tuesday — Creating Content That Drives Engagement

Share this series with your teammates, friends, and colleagues that you think would benefit by learning personal branding!