Business Tips No.2 - New LinkedIn and Twitter Banners 2014

blog 2014
Written By Andrew Ford

Social Media banners are a vital ingredient in your creating your Powerful Personal Brand.  It's the best real estate you can get on social media to instantly communicate your business and values in one second; as they say a picture tells a thousand words. So why doesn't everyone have an effective social media banner? One reason is they change often so you have to keep getting them made or changed. Twitter recently changed their banner from strips down the side to the more common across the top format and today I was showing a client LinkedIn and suddenly my profile changed! Now you can have a large banner on your profile as seen in the picture below, but only if your a premium member. 

The second is that people don't know how to construct them, so I have assembled my top tips for Powerful Social Media Banners. Powerful Social Media Banner is the third part of the five step Social Star Powerful Branding solution and my recommendations are as follows:

  1. A simple construction of a banner is a background image you like in your company colours, with your tagline or quote then either your photo or logo on the right hand side. But how you use it depends on what profile you are working as, personal or business.

  2. For personal profiles, have a headshot of yourself in the photo section. Then have a meaningful personal photo and your personal tag line in the background image and your company logo if appropriate for the tone of the site.

  3. For business profiles, have your company logo in the photo section. Then have a a business photo such as your building or product plus your business tag line and a photo of yourself in the background section.  

  4. Be consistent. Have the same style banner across all your social media accounts and should match your website and business card.

  5. Ensure you get the right size of the banner and take account of the sections that are intruding on the image by the photo box. The new dimensions for LinkedIn and Twitter are as follows: LinkedIn 1400 x 425 pixels, Twitter is 1500 x 400 pixels and both maximum 4MB and JPG, PNG or GIF formats.

Social media banners correctly constructed are a great addition to your social media presence and investment in your brand. It will set you apart from the rest so if you require help creating your banners please email my team and we can help you with the process. Best of luck!

 

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(the link is http://www.andrewford.com.au/book/)

Andrew Ford
Marketing expert Andrew Ford, the founder of Social Star, has discovered the secret of ‘Powerful Branding’. With a fire for unleashing people’s inner brand and developing business models to generate profit from an individual’s passions, Andrew leverages ground-breaking digital and social media marketing techniques to create digital strategies for clients to attract maximum opportunities. Having established a strong name for himself in the field, Andrew blends traditional business techniques with now-necessary tools for entrepreneurs to achieve scale, quality, and influence in their niche. Andrew’s comprehensive business background and qualifications consist of a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) (RMIT 2003), a Graduate Certificate in Management (MBA Executive Program, University of Sydney 2005), and a Masters of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Swinburne University 2011). Continually on the cutting edge of his own education, Andrew has tested his marketing theories in forums such as the BCG Business Strategy Competition, which he won in 2005 against all Victorian MBA schools, and the Venture Cup Business Plan Competition (Swinburne University 2003), which he won in the Masters category. With experience working at Hewlett-Packard, Sensis (Telstra) and IBM, Andrew also has mentored dozens of junior staffs to help them achieve their professional goals. Meeting and influencing high-profile public figures helped Andrew to realise just how many professionals require more understanding and control of their public brands or appearance, and need help with the skills to use the many amazing free tools at their disposal to generate success. At Social Star, Andrew consults with clients to uncover their personal brand – both where it is today and where it can be tomorrow – and refine and define how that should be displayed in social media in order to attract their perfect target audience. Andrew mentors his clients to rapidly grow their business’ audiences, resulting in larger potential client bases and higher revenue. Applying formulas that integrate over twenty years of Andrew’s business experience and fifteen years of formal business education, Social Star specialises in building clarity and velocity for clients’ brands using the ‘Understand, Build and Leverage’ methodology. ‘Having a Personal Business enables people to have an authentic, congruent connection with their valued clients and partners, using their brand as the bridge,’ says Andrew. ‘I’m highly driven to work with the new breed of entrepreneurs and small business owners – people who have a passion for making the world a better place. Traditional business models are stepping aside as people follow their innermost dreams and my role is to see them operate within their values while creating wealth. Some people think you have to sacrifice what you love to be successful in your business, yet it is actually the opposite. Follow your passion and success will come.’ Lecturing at Swinburne University from 2009 to 2011 on brand dynamics and digital marketing, presenting at numerous conferences, and consulting to hundreds of clients, Andrew has seen his philosophy work that if you follow your unique path, based on your skills, experience, values and goals, you will automatically attract the opportunities you desire and achieve the success you deserve. Living his mantra, Andrew has created a successful business and attracts high-profile clients including musicians, athletes, authors, models, entrepreneurs, professionals and small business owners, helping them find their ‘why’ in their business and fulfilment in their lives. Business for Andrew is more than work, it’s personal. Running a personal business means that he is able to fulfil all of his values rather than separating his life from work. It supports his two boys while providing social opportunities, educational development, fitness opportunities, spiritual fulfilment and many valuable friendships. Social Star has now become the vehicle for Andrew to crystallise his mission in the world, to help people love what they do, supporting his ‘why’, that if more people loved what they did, the world would be a better place.
http://www.andrewford.com.au/
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