What's So Hot About a Pimped Out Social Media Brand Profile

Exactly how pimped out is your social media brand page. Chances are it's getting whipped in the looks and popularity contest, but why does it even matter? You're probably following the trend everyone does.

• Build a profile
• Add a name or simple logo.
• Tell a couple hundred people to like or follow it and hope you're more famous than god tomorrow.

Sadly everything's wrong with that approach. Two weeks ago I was guest speaker at the Miami Cutler Bay Business Association where I showed why and how to build a killer social media brand page to attarct hordes of friends and customers. A survey of the crowd showed most had a Facebook or Twitter page, but only half did any marketing or beautification of their page. I asked why, and the two main reasons were they didn't know how or didn't have time. There's a simple fix for that at the end of this article.

You need to take it to the next level and bring the thunder. So let's buck the boring trend and see why you need a pimped out business profile and how to make one that pulls eyes and ears to your brand. I'm gonna use the big screen movie release template as an example.

When a  hot new flick is set for release. The studio needs buzz and a nice teaser  to wet the moviegoer appetite. They pull all stops with the teaser, then a killer trailer, and follow up with stunning movie poster montages branded with the films attention grabbing images. This style of imagery and buzz works because it gets fast attention. You then the word of mouth, share the trailer and poster on social media, and eventually buy the ticket on show day.

What works is the imagery with the branding attached to it. If the movie poster and trailer sucked you'd bad mouth it, then the movie would most likely tank.

A well pimped out social media brand profile works the same way. Even if you have somewhat of a boring brand, you still have to make it look good. It must also have the same look across every social media site (Consistency).

How to make your brand page look good

• Add your brand name or business logo. Hopefully you have a stunning logo versus a boring one. If you don't have a logo, just use the brand name itself and compliment it with your actual photo. This gives your brand more credibility and quicker trust if an actual person is attached to it. Anonymous and vague profiles are a huge turnoff for customers and users. Try to be as transparent as possible, afterall this is a public brand.
• Create a beautiful header. Social media profiles in general now use a wide header layout. This is where you can add a nice photo or well photoshopped design to really  identify your business. People will stop to look at an eye catching header any day over a dull one just because it's so pretty. Yes I said pretty :-)
• Create an equally stunning background branded with your associated business logo and images. Just like a stunning header, social media sites like Twitter use a background layout for profiles rather than a wide header. This is where you advertise who you are. The more interesting and visually creative the background the more people will follow and pay attention to your brand page. You can also upload other personal or business brand photos to the gallery that comes with your profile. People just love great photos so sell yourself with them.

Don't underestimate your visuals. A picture really is worth a thousand words in social media. It's all about viewing pics and sharing the info attached to them.

Remember I said if you didn't have time or know how to do a pimped out profile I'd tell you here, so here it is. Very simple, if you're always too busy and don't know how to do a hot branded profile page, let someone else be your dog on the internet. Let someone else do it for you. Either you find someone you trust for free like a relative or friend, or hire a professional to do it for you.

Cartoonist Peter Steiner of the New Yorker released this cartoon in 1993 showing this cool dog browsing the internet. The caption reads: "On the internet, Nobody knows you're a dog."

You can always have someones else setup and manage your social media profile. It's better to use somebody you know and trust. They'll add posts and updates as you request. The one drawback is they can't do a video chat or conference for you, that requires your own face and voice. To be honest, most people and brands hardly use their social media profile for a live chat or video conference. They usually preshoot then upload their videos for viewing and sharing.