Having a social and digital presence has become a huge part of creating and running a successful business. When you’re out networking, your new contacts will want to check out your social accounts. You can save them the hassle of searching by giving them the essential info they need right on your business card. Here are three elements a socially savvy card needs.
Highlight the top social links for your brand.
Obviously, the whole point of this business card makeover is giving your social sites some much-deserved love. If you’ve only got accounts on Twitter and Facebook, you’re all set. If, however, you have accounts on multiple sites, you’ll want to pick and choose the sites you highlight carefully. Including Facebook and Twitter is mandatory, but after that, choose only accounts that you’re proud of or that showcase something special that your brand offers. If you have a great YouTube channel with lots of great videos, highlight it.
You’ll also want to differentiate your accounts with the site’s icon and make it as easy as possible for new followers and fans to find you. In the case of your Twitter account, simply mentioning your handle should be enough. For Facebook, you’ll probably need to include your entire vanity url. (If you haven’t already created a vanity url, now is the time!) Check out Mara Glazer’s business card above for inspiration.
Include your email address.
Make sure your email address is on the card. I repeat: Make sure your email address is on the card. Although that rule should go without saying, there are still lots of people who don’t include their email. People are more likely to contact you via email than phone, so make it easier for them. The owner of Five Technology has his email address listed as the second way to find/contact him — put yours in a similar place of importance.
If you include a QR code, make sure you have a short url listed, too.
QR codes keep trying to have their day in the sun, but they still haven’t completely caught on. If you’re tech savvy, feel free to include a QR code, but make sure that a short url of the page/site you’re linking to is present somewhere else on the card. Not only will this help people without smartphones or QR code apps find your site, it’ll also come in handy should someone’s QR code app, or your code itself, fail. Remember, the url (and the code) should be as simple as possible to make navigation as easy as possible.
Not ready to brag about your Facebook page? Get it card-ready with our social media marketing guides.
