This week has already been amazing because I’ve finally gotten to posts that were in the queue for months. My last few posts have helped you understand the importance of reputation management to secure your brand and how to leverage various media types to get your message across. Today, I want to talk about how to craft a consistent brand image across all social networks. This is timely because I switched my profile picture and avatar across all my networks within the past 24 hours, which you’ve probably already noticed.
You need 2 types of pictures
1) Avatar: An avatar is possibly the most accepted image on the internet right now. It is specifically geared towards social networks, such as Flickr, Technorati, friendfeed, LinkedIn, upcoming, and Twitter. If you view the above image you will see that it is an accepted format and if you use the same avatar for each, it will resonate with others and people will start to identify you as brand you. An avatar is 128×128 pixels if you want to create one. I use Adobe Photoshop to edit the pictures down to this size, but you can use other program such as Microsoft Paint or the Apple equivalent.
2) Profile or Headshot: Facebook and MySpace don’t promote avatars. They emphasize full pictures of people, which means you might not have to trim or edit your photograph to be included. If you have a photographer take your shots like I did, then you will be able to submit them to the media upon request. The media looks for shots of 300 dpi quality. If you are building a press kit or package, you can include these pictures, or you can place them in your blog profile page. The full image is important for giving your audience a better idea of what you look like.
Updates and consistency
As you grow, your eBrand must grow at the same rate, which means, you need to get newer pictures to include. My last picture made me look like I was 18 again, which I’m not. I’m 24 right now and I wanted to get an updated picture for my book and materials. The second I received the pictures, I updated all many sources as possible, so that people understood the picture was changed and weren’t confused by different pictures that represented me differently.
The key here is consistency and honestly, it’s very hard online, especially with press articles, contributed articles and blog posts that have my old picture. You do your best and you update what you have control of, which is typically your own websites.
Are you in need of a personal brand makeover? What is your strategy?
