What better time to freshen up your online "look" than at the start of a new year! As you make your lists of ways to improve yourself, why not take some time and go through each of your social media profiles as well as any business pages you have, and make sure that they're current and optimized!

Facebook Pages:

• If you don't regularly change your cover image, definitely do that right now. This is almost always the first thing people see when they come to your page. If you need some inspiration, check out these fun covers and think outside the box.
• How up-to-date is your business' "about" section? Been a while? Get in there and change it up! Add some search terms that will help people find your page. Make it sizzle!
• Make sure your website/url is in the short "about" section and can be seen without users clicking "more."
• If you haven't run ads before, put it in your budget for 2014. Trust me, it will help your page get seen.
• Look to see which posts did the best over the past year and commit to doing more like that this year.
• Along those lines, make a resolution to have fun and stop talking about your company so much this year. I'm willing to bet that once you evaluate the posts that did do the best in the past, you'll find most of them had nothing to do with your company, but rather, were seemingly random.

Twitter:

• Same as Facebook - update your profile to reflect you or your company's latest happenings. You do NOT have to put your web address in your bio - it will be there from its own entry.
• If you don't have a header image, add one. The size should be 520x260, and remember to make it simple, as your profile image/logo will be right in the middle of it.
• Update your profile picture if you haven't done it in a while. The rule of thumb on Twitter is that you should NOT change your profile image very often, but if you're using a headshot from 5 years ago, why not give it an update?
• When was the last time you did some housecleaning? Use a site like SocialBro or ManageFlitter, and see if you can lighten your load a little bit. Use these tools sparingly though - Twitter doesn't like mass following and unfollowing.
• Make this the year that you start using lists. I recommend setting them up from the beginning so that when you do get to a level where you have a lot of followers/following, it's not as overwhelming. But if you didn't, start now and chip away a little bit at a time. It will make your Twitter experience so much better.

Pinterest:

• Update your profile, and if you've never verified your website, do it now.
• Clean up your boards and your pins. Spot check to make sure the links that are "under" the pins actually work. There is nothing more frustrating than clicking thru a pin only to see a larger version of the image that was already there.
• Streamline your boards. Do you really need 3 different boards for the same thing?

Google+:

• Repeat after me: This is THE year that I, (state your name), will commit to Google+.
• You should have your own G+ profile as well as one for your company. Make  sure you have a profile shot for your page and that all of your info is filled out completely. There is so much good Google juice in G+; it's amazing.
• Optimize your company's profile with keywords and search terms.
• Post on your profile page daily and at least 3 times a week on your business page.
• Find new people to circle daily. One of the beautiful things about G+ is that you can circle people, and they don't have to approve you.

LinkedIn:

• Did you change companies or positions this year? Update your profile to reflect this and any other changes that have happened lately.
• Update your profile shot if you haven't lately. This should be a professional headshot, not a candid, if at all possible.
• Is your company set up with a company page? This must be done using a company email address associated with it.
• Optimize your profile and your company page with keywords and search terms.
• Clean out your groups. If you no longer participate in them, consider removing yourself.
• Find new groups to participate in and actually do that.