When someone stumbles upon your company’s Facebook page or Twitter account, what will they immediately learn about you? Take a moment to look. What do you see on your profile? Do they see an egg instead of your face or logo on Twitter?

I recently scrolled through the list of recent followers on my Twitter account and noticed that some of the business accounts following me had no information about their companies in their Twitter profile. None. Not even a link to the business website.

The company name was sort of nondescript, and the header image was a big cloud with the words “Expand Your Business, Call Today” across it. Well, at least there was a phone number listed for people to call. So, it was no surprise to see that, while they followed more than 2000 other Twitter accounts, they had only a little more than 500 followers themselves.

It is not enough to simply set up a social media account and imagine people will start following you, or that they will automatically like your Facebook page. They first need to know a little about your company.

To make sure you are not wasting your social media profile space, here are four things every social media profile must have:

Company name – You may think this goes without saying, but I see a lot of profiles that have a business logo, but no mention of the actual name of the company. Many logos offer an acronym, but that’s not very useful to most first-time visitors to your profile.

Brief description of what you do – Here you will need to be clear and succinct. A description on your Twitter profile must be under 160 characters. Facebook page profiles have two description sections. The ‘Short Description’ has a 155-character limit, while the ‘Long Description’ seems to have no limit. You should use your best judgment about how long of a ‘Long Description’ you need for your company. The important thing is that visitors to your profile understand what services or products you offer through your business. 

Link to website – It’s crucial to include a link to your website so that potential customers and clients can learn more about your company, or buy your products. 

Relevant image – Social media account profiles always offer a space for images. Here is where you can put your company logo, a photo of yourself (if you are a coach or consultant), a photo of your shop or products, or just a ‘hero image’ type graphic with a quote that is related to your business. You can read more about hero images in my previous blog post on the topic. Images are also a great way to catch a visitor’s eye and keep them looking around. 

After reading this list of “must have” details, look at your own profiles again. What are you missing that you can fill in today, to make it easier for customers to get to know you? 

Bernadette Geyer provides writing, copy editing, and translation services for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and writers. She also leads online workshops on a variety of topics for small businesses and writers. Geyer likes being a small fish in a big pond, and enjoys helping others move to bigger ponds themselves. Subscribe to her monthly news from the big pond if you’re interested in professional growth.

Geyer’s No Time Guide series of online guides for small businesses offers simple, jargon-free guides to small business owners and nonprofits who want to grow, but don’t have a lot of time.