Smart Ways To Optimize Your Facebook Profile: What you might be doing wrong and how to make it right

Facebook is one of the biggest social platforms to discover new connections and generate leads for your direct sales business. But, I’ve discovered that many direct sellers are not optimizing their personal profile in smart ways to build the know, like and trust factor (the reason people buy from you) and attract their ideal client.

I see so many missed opportunities to build relationships and attract leads, starting from the first impression which should be: ‘love her profile pic and want to find out more’ to ‘looks like she’s having so much fun, I’d love to book a party with her’, to ‘she’s living the WAHM life that I want. I need to find out what she does!’

Let’s change that today with what you might be doing wrong – and how to fix it:

Facebook Name

Wrong: Including your biz name in your real name. Example: Lynn Totes and Bags Bardowski or Lynn Bardowski Totes and Bags Leader.

Ok, so you’d think that inserting your direct sales biz name in the middle of your real name would help you get tons of new customers, right? Not so much. This practice screams “spammer” and is against Facebook’s policy which states that:

It’s against the Facebook Terms to use your personal account to represent something other than yourself (example: your business), and you could permanently lose access to your account if you don’t convert it to a Page.”

Right: Build the know, like and trust factor by letting people get to know you. Stay with me on this. Imagine if you were introducing yourself to someone you just met in person. Would you say, “Hi! I’m Lynn Totes and Bags!” Um. No. Show up on Facebook just like you do in real life. Be a human, not a person pushing their biz on friends and family.

Facebook Cover Photo

Wrong: Cover photos with products, customer/host specials and/or logos.

Turning your cover photo into a billboard for your direct sales biz could send friends running to click the ‘hide’ button faster than you can say spam alert.

Right: Build the know, like and trust factor with cover photos that tell your story. Examples: family fun time, you and your hubs livin’ the dream on an incentive trip, you and your team making a difference doing charity work, or an inspiring photo with your fave motivational quote.

Facebook Profile Photo

Wrong: Any photo that you’re not in, including photos of your company logo/products, babies, pets, and your entire family. Your profile photo is the most important photo on Facebook because you have one chance to make a great first impression. That tiny thumbnail can help you stand out in the News Feed, Groups, Messages and even Comments. Done well, your profile photo should attract your ideal client and draw people in to want to learn more about you so they click on over to your personal profile. (Which will be optimized after you finish reading this blog. woohoo!)

Right: Remember that most people are seeing your photo super small (in the news feed or via a comment), so make it count. Use a shoulders-up headshot, squinch your eyes and show us your sparkly whites. The squinch is what makes you look confident, likable and attracts people to you.

Here’s an example of my squinch:

Photo Credit: Dana Romano Photography

Learn how to squinch from squinch inventor & photog Peter Hurley:

About Section

Wrong: This is a big one. If I don’t know what you do, it’s because the page linked in your work section is either not public, another consultant’s page, not a real page (Facebook auto-creates a ‘default’ page when you type in a work name), the work section is outdated (or non-existent), or you’re sending me to your corporate Facebook page (meaning you are sending people to go find another consultant). This is why you need a Facebook Business Page, so that when you attract people who want to learn more about you, you can send them somewhere that continues the ‘let’s get to know each other’ convo. That’s called a lead funnel. If you haven’t optimized your work section, your efforts to attract more customers might be ending right there. And did you know that when you request to join a group or send a Facebook message your ‘work’ section is one of the few things people can see about you? Optimizing your work section will make it easy for people to do business with you.

Right: First things first. Hover over the blue highlighted text under your profile photo (next to the briefcase icon) and see where you’re sending people who are curious and want to learn more about you. If you’ve linked to your biz page…well done! If not, you’ll want to change that. From your Facebook profile on desktop, go to About > Work and Education. Delete anything that’s inaccurate or outdated and click on the + sign to add your Page.

Company: Start typing in your page name and Facebook will search for it. Click on your page to add it.

Position: Don’t type in a title. Instead, enter a call-to-action like this: ‘Get tips and how-to’s here.’ See what I did there?

Description: Tell the world what you do and who you serve.

Check the box that you currently work there and select Public (world globe icon). Click SAVE.

You did it! You’ve optimized your cover and profile photo to attract your ideal client and started the process of creating a lead funnel by connecting your page to your profile. No doubt that your new profile pic will be getting likes and comments before you finish reading this blog post. #yousocute

Need more help optimizing your Facebook Profile? Become a member of my mentoring group and get access to my online training vault, including 7 Ways To Optimize Your Personal Profile And Attract Your Ideal Client. You’ll learn how to use your Top 5 Photos and Featured Albums to build your Facebook Group, attract blog readers and more!

Which of these ‘wrong and right’ tips were the biggest eye-opener for you? Comment below and share with your team!

Ready to really rock your direct sales biz?