Rules to Better Social Media for Personal Accounts

In this age of misinformation, it is easy to get swept up in online hype and share stories/posts that everyone else seems to be sharing. This, however, can get us into trouble as it can perpetuate said misinformation and impact how a situation is viewed by the general populace.

It’s important to not only check that what you share on social media is correct, but also, that your opinions are based on fact.

Your employees are the face of the company, so having profile photos that are consistent and high quality will improve your company's profile.

Camera Settings

Profile photos are used to provide a human connection element, so it is best to have a photo that is as close to real life as possible.

1. Focal Length: 35mm – 50mm lens (full frame equivalent) As per The Camera Versus the Human Eye, the closest focal length to a human eye is 43mm, so profile photos in the above range will look the most realistic.
2. Shoot in RAW: Many cameras (and some phones) allow you to shoot in raw mode, which captures all the sensor data, instead of compressing it to a small image file like jpg. This allows more flexibility when editing.
3. ISO: Ideal ISO 100 – 800 (or the camera’s native ISO), Max ISO 6400 The ISO is the sensor input sensitivity levels (or gain). A higher level will capture more light, but will also make the image noisy/grainy:

Figure: Noise/grain levels increasing as the ISO increases

More on Do you know the maximum acceptable ISO value for your camera?

Background

1. Use a plain background (e.g. white or a light neutral colour). This will provide a nice clean aesthetic, and will make it easier to edit out the background for transparent assets (e.g. for creating graphics, presentations, and video thumbnails).
2. Keep the subject a few steps in front of the background to avoid shadows (see lighting plan below)
3. Ensure the subject is surrounded by the background to reduce the load for editing.

Figure: Bad example – Subject’s body goes beyond the edges of the white background.

Figure: Good example – Subject has all sides within the white background & lit with 3-point lighting.

Lighting

1. Use three-point lighting to ensure the subject is dynamic and well-lit:
   • Key light: Primary light source in front of subject that highlights one side.
   • Fill light: Diffused even light source in front of subject to illuminate all dark areas.
   • Back light/ Hair light: Accent light source behind the subject to separate them from the background.

✅ Figure: Good example - 3-point lighting plan

Posing

There are 2 poses suitable for the profile photos:

• Direct to camera
• ¾ angle to camera

Below are instructions to give to your subject to get them in the correct position:

Direct to camera

1. Point your hips towards the camera (this will align them straight to camera)
2. Keep your shoulders back (this will straighten their posture)
3. Point your chin towards the camera (this will elevate their head & reduce neck wrinkles)

✅ Figure: Good example – A direct and professional look.

¾ angle to camera

1. Point your hips a quarter turn towards the fill light/away from the key light (this will give their body a more dynamic posing)
2. Keep your shoulders back (this will straighten their posture)
3. Look towards the camera (this should rotate their head to face into the camera)

✅ Figure: Good example – a more dynamic and friendly (but still professional) look.

If you are wondering how many times you should post on your social media, the answer is: as often as you can post great and relevant content. You don't have to post every hour to be relevant, and in fact, you can be seen as a spammer on socials.

Taking photos can be difficult when you don't have an available photographer urgently.

So, don't discourage your team members that don't have the right skills to keep sharing photos with your Marketing team. Instead, we asked some hot photography tips from the SSW TV team to help you out!

When sharing a post on social media, the ultimate goal is for your planned content to reach more people.

Having said that, the best way to share a post on your socials is by including the original content by resharing it from the source, whether it's a business or personal profile.

You should always publish your blog posts to all social media platforms you use. It helps boost traffic and visibility for your site.

Clients look at LinkedIn to learn about consultants. Since it's often the first impression, a LinkedIn profile should be clean and professional. It's most important to be accurate and clear - it doesn't need to be complicated.

Consider this: You meet a consultant at a conference who seems to be a perfect fit for your big project. You look them up on LinkedIn, but their profile has no job history. Most people would feel skeptical if this happened - and they might not hire that consultant. Here's the quick way to give your profile credibilty:

LinkedIn is the main business and employment-oriented social networking service available. It's important to keep it up-to-date and link it to your company's services.

You've met a potential client and they search you up on LinkedIn. They're interested in what you have to offer but want to learn more about you. They go to your LinkedIn profile only to find that you haven't provided any links to your website or other social platforms. That's not good! So what's the best way to fix it?