Social Media Marketing: Strategies for Engaging in Facebook, Twitter & Other Social Media

24. Audiences Trust Icons and Avatars

In Chapter 23, “Be Transparent: Trust and Readership Must Be Earned,” I mentioned that branding with your avatars and messaging builds trust in social media communities. In this chapter, we look at this a little more deeply.

Icons and avatars (the terms are basically synonymous within social media communities) are images that help portray who you are. They provide a simple but effective way for people to visually identify with you beyond the text information in your profile. People eventually trust them as a symbol of an established relationship. Community members will also quickly note changes in avatars, especially if you frequently converse with them.

If your avatar is the same across all your social ...