Hello everyone! I’ve always wanted to start a blog, create a platform that I can use to express parts of my existence. Currently in my life at the moment, I am taking a social media marketing class that has given me the opportunity to actually make a profile. Our first assignment is to summarize how you would optimize a social media profile (hence the title).

Ive researched a little bit on the topic and what I’ve found is quite interesting. Social media profiles are extremely important when it comes to marketing due to the fact that it presents something to a customer or user who is looking to be educated or influenced by whatever it is you’re promoting. Social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram are many of the most popular that many people are using these days. One thing that is important to include on your profile is a short detailed bio about who you are and what it is that you represent as an individual or company. It is also important to constantly be posting so that your user base is always updated. This would include posting real statistics, links, photos, and instructions. Have an extremely interesting headline so that you really catch the user’s attention. Editing your posts to make sure they are completely correct is one of the final steps in making sure you optimize your social media profile!

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.