I was in San Francisco last week at Real Estate Connect, which is a conference for the real estate industry that is focused on technology. Of course Social Media was a major discussion.
There was a panel on Brand Building and Social Media that my friend Stacey Harmon was on. I found it refreshing when she addressed a point that many never do in Social Media, your visual brand. She highlighted that you need to be making the most out of your avatar.
Stacey pointed out the fact that your twitter avatar is a tiny square, which many logos do not clearly translate into. Yes on your profile page you can see a larger image but all of your followers are seeing your updates in their Twitter stream, and they are only seeing that 48×48 pixel square of you.
Why do you need to make sure your logo or face fits into that 48×48 square? Instant Brand Recognition! You want to make sure that when your followers see that avatar they immediately know who you are. You do not want to force them to read the twitter handle next to the picture in order to be reminded of who you are. Brand Recognition is also the big selling point of using the same avatar across multiple networks. Of course the sizing and positioning will be different on each but using the same photo will let your followers be able to identify you immediately, anywhere they find you.
One more aspect to consider when designing your avatar is to make sure your logo or image is fitted to that exact size, as in it is cropped or scaled down. Do not increase the original image to fit the size and make your avatar look pixelated and blurry.
What other guidelines do you follow to maintain a visually appealing brand socially?
Top photo courtesy of InmanNext on Facebook, bottom photo courtesy of #icsf
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