Are You Using Your Avatar Correctly to Promote Your Business?

Unless you are a neophyte to Social Media, you already have an avatar for your business. An avatar is the alter-ego of you, the writer; some representation of yourself when you are on the computer and the image that you want to project to the internet world. However, people do not seem to be aware that avatars can be very important and form a first impression of you by your readers. Whatever avatar you put up as your representation is going to define you and your business, so it is extremely important that you carefully choose what you want people to see. If you are not using an appropriate avatar for the correct situation, you could lose your potential reader and ultimately, business from that potential client.

For example, see what you think of these avatars. On Facebook and more so on MySpace, many people seem to have what you would consider "fun" pictures as their avatars. This seems especially prevalent with the younger generation where avatars are often times groups of seemingly very drunk people all holding glasses of alcohol. Definitely a "fun" avatar of a great party person, but would that be the image of what you want to portray to the world in order to get business?

Or, you may have a dynamite business. You want to connect to as many people as you can, but could anyone really take you seriously as a potential business partner if your avatar is that of you with your shirt off (male) or with your boobs hanging out of a low cut shirt (female)? While you may feel an avatar such as that may show off your best features, you may find that the business you are looking for just does not happen. Those avatars may attract lots of people. However, most likely those people you attract would not be the type of customers you would want for your business (unless, of course, that is what you are trying to sell!).

What then would be a good avatar for your business? Here are some suggestions:

• Your Head Shot

Obviously, a head shot of you is the simplest and safest avatar you can have. But it doesn’t have to be a boring shot of you just staring into the camera. Have some fun with it. Use a prop. Smile or laugh. Remember, your avatar is going to define your personality and make people remember you. Bring your personality into your avatar so that your readers want to get to know you better.

• A Body Shot

While a body shot may be more interesting than just a head shot, you have to watch out that you are not too far away so that there is no definition of you. In that case, you may as well not have an avatar! Remember, these pictures are tiny little squares, so if you use a body shot, make sure you can be clearly seen. Again, do something exciting. Use a prop. Dress in what your business does, or be doing something so interesting that your reader has to say, “Oh cool. That person is someone I want to get to know better”.

• An Illustration/Item or Object

Remember, people want to connect to you, the writer, not with your favorite pair of shoes. If you have an object or illustration as an avatar, people can not see your personality. They will not be able to get a feeling of who you are. Many times, people will remember your avatar but not your name. Therefore, you want that avatar to be you when you start to build your relationship with your reader.

• A Logo

There are times when a logo can be perfectly acceptable as an avatar. The key is whether you are your business or whether your business is independent of you. For example, Coca-cola’s avatar is not a picture of Coke’s CEO, but rather a picture of their well recognized logo. In that case, the business is Coke, not the CEO. But using a logo for a one person law office would not be effective. In that case, the lawyer IS the business. A head or body shot would be much more appropriate an avatar in that situation.

Obviously, these rules would not apply if you are just using Social Media to have fun and maybe just blog about yourself. Then your avatar can be as fun as you want it to be. In that case, you are not trying to build any relationships but rather just sharing. But remember, for business purposes, Social Media is all about building relationships. Your avatar is the very first step in building those relationships, so choose wisely. Your business could depend upon your choice!

Why did you choose the avatar you have?

Your Twitter Avatar. How Important Is It?

 What is the first thing you see when you start tweeting? That little square that has some picture, logo, or tweety bird in it. The tweety bird has no attraction because they all look alike and certainly do not define the tweeter. A logo is a bit more exciting, however again, you can not really get a feeling of who is tweeting. A picture however, if it is fun and appropriate, can make you immediately want to know more about who is tweeting, and that is where it all starts.

Twitter is all about building relationships. That little square with the picture, logo or tweey bird in it is your avatar. Your avatar is the very first step in building that relationship because it is the first thing someone sees as you tweet. That is why it is so important to have an avatar which correctly projects who you are.

An avatar is a person's alter ego. You could have an avatar of a very sexy woman and actually be an 80 year old man. Or your avatar could reflect a very muscular and handsome man and the person behind the picture could be a 100 pound weakling. But if you want to be successful in building relationships and getting business through twitter, you want to have your avatar truthfully start your conversation and be a picture of you.

How about a business logo as an avatar on twitter? While in some instances this may be appropriate, generally people do not want to do business with a logo. They want to do business with a real person. Business logos may define what your business is but not who you are. People ultimately do business with you because they trust and respect you. They do not do business with your business.

Some sort of full body or head shot picture of you is ultimately the best avatar. It should be professional yet fun and reflect who you are as a person and as a business person. It should attract a reader's eye and make someone say, "hey, I want to know more about that person"

And that is the beginning of building a twitter relationship! Because they want to know more about you, a dialog will start. The dialog then will turn into a conversation. The conversation will ultimately turn into business. But it all started with the avatar which got their attention.