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?

Making a splash on LinkedIn when announcing your new job can enhance your professional network and career prospects?

With over 740 million users globally and 55 million registered companies, LinkedIn has become the go-to platform for professional connections and opportunities. In fact, individuals who announce their new positions on LinkedIn can receive an average of 10 times more profile views and higher engagement from recruiters and industry peers.

Outlook (and other Microsoft 365 apps) has a great feature that shows users' LinkedIn profiles - but only if the user has connected their Microsoft account to LinkedIn.

Networking platforms like LinkedIn are essential for connecting with professionals in your industry. As your network grows, recalling the specifics of each interaction becomes increasingly challenging. To foster meaningful relationships, personalize your connection requests!

Finding returning work or even new client work can be difficult at the best of times. But it becomes even worse when you don't know how to maintain your network and give it the care that it deserves.

The tech community thrives on collaboration, communication, and shared learning. Discord has become one of the top platforms for developers, engineers, and open source contributors to connect. Whether you're working in support, marketing, or engineering, joining a tech-focused Discord server can help you stay informed and involved.

Why use Discord for tech community engagement?

Discord is home to thousands of global tech communities. By joining public servers and engaging in open conversations—especially in public channels or GitHub Discussions—you help foster a collaborative environment where everyone can learn and contribute.

✅ Benefits

• Shared knowledge and transparency
• Centralized communication for features, bugs, and issues
• Encouragement of community participation in open source projects
• Easier onboarding and support for new users

Many projects now link GitHub Discussions directly to their Discord channels, making both platforms equally valuable for community interaction.

Here's how you can join Discord:

1. Head to the Discord website, and either download Discord for PC or open in Browser
2. Either sign in or register for a Discord account. If you already have a personal account, and want another account for work, sign up for a new account
3. If you're setting up an account for the first time, set your display name, profile picture, pronouns, avatar, and any other personal preferences. You can do this via Discord | User settings | My Account | Edit User Profile:

Figure: Profile page where you can change your user preferences

1. (optional) Install Discord on your phone via the App Store or Google Play
2. Find your community and join a few servers. Look for Discord invite links on websites, GitHub repos, newsletters, or social media. You will need an invite link to join a server. Some servers will allow a friend to send you an invite, and others you will need an invite directly from the server owner

Figure: Discord with the Tina and YakShaver servers added

1. If you're joining a Discord server for the first time, don't forget to read the rules and announcements before posting in the server. Many Discord communities—like open source communities—have their own rules and guidelines. Just like many open source projects have contribution guidelines, you'll be expected to read the Discord rules and announcements before posting. Failure to do so, could get you banned from a community. Be sure to check channels like #rules, #announcements, or #read-this-first
2. Head to a welcome channel, such as #general, #discussions, or #introductions to say hi and share a bit about yourself

Tips for engaging

By opening conversation in public channels, such as Discord and/or public GitHub Issues, rather than internally opening issues/PBIs, means everyone in the community can benefit and learn together. This also creates a central location for issues/features/bugs, and encourages members of the community to be involved. This is super important for open source projects.

Alternatively, many projects and services link their GitHub Discussions to a channel in their Discords server, and thus posting on GitHub Discussions is equally valued.

If you're working on a project, particularly in support, engineering, or marketing, check to see if your project has a Discord server and join it to help answer questions from the community and engage. If you're using a product or service that you enjoy, check to see if that community has a Discord server and join it.

• Use public threads and channels instead of private messages for transparency
• Stay respectful and always follow the community’s code of conduct
• Offer help when you can. By sharing your knowledge, you'll boosts your own learning and helps others

Your tweets should be interesting to your target audience. People aren't going to follow you for long if you make off topic and low value tweets.

If someone's blog post is interesting or inflammatory enough that you want to comment on it, then it is probably worth a tweet.

#Hashtags are used when talking about something – a topic or keyword. Using a hashtag creates a link that leads to a page displaying an aggregated list of posts about that thing.

When others mention you on their blog or podcast and if they re-tweet you then you should always thank them.

X lets anyone pay for a verified account (the blue tick goes public). This lets other people know that someone is verified as a real person who is paying for their account.