The words you have in your Social Media BIO are one of the most important parts of your profile.
Yet, it is something many people overlook when using Social Media for Business. Most BIO areas are fairly short – on average you are looking at 160 characters to use – so it has to be used wisely.
What is a good BIO and what is not?
Well, a lot will depend on whether you are using that social media channel for business or personal reasons, so it’s hard to say you cannot do this or this. There are no hard and fast rules, but there are some good tips to follow, especially when using these channels for business. So, for the purposes of this advice, assume you are a business using it as part of your marketing plan. (And primarily a business that offers a service as opposed to selling ‘widgets’.)
Top 5 things to Include in your Social Media BIO:
- Make it clear to readers. People need to understand what you ‘do’ for a living or what type of business you have.
- Use some top keywords in there that people use when searching for your type of business and help online.
- Use your real name. This is very important for Solopreneurs and service-based businesses. People buy from YOU – they need to know your name.
- Be creative and put your personality into it (more so for a solopreneur type of business as opposed to a brick and mortar store), if space permits.
- Include, somehow, the benefits people see from working with you or doing business with you.
BONUS: Your website domain should be there somewhere – make certain to include it and I suggest sending them to a stand-alone page where they can sign up for your freebie and get on your email list. Change things up a bit and don’t always use the home page – get some traffic to your other pages too.
Here are a few examples to consider when looking at your BIO:
I think Calvin has the best one… you can see he directs people to his blog and has a little personality in there. Sandy needs a little pop of ‘fun’ in hers, and to remove the | lines – these can make it hard to flow when reading. Melissa offers up a little of everything but is very serious too.
What does mine look like? It’s here too… hopefully these 4 samples and the tips will give you ideas on how to update your own BIOs.
Stop Struggling and Start Thriving! My passion is helping to guide people just like you, private practice and service-based business owners, who are often frustrated with all their wasted time spent on marketing that gets you nowhere. You can learn strategies to attract a steady flow of clients and build a thriving and profitable practice. Get started with some of the free resources on my Pepper It Marketing website, especially this Guide to Streamline your Marketing. I also offer several self-study training programs to help you attract more clients so you can Build a rewarding and profitable private practice and still have time to LIVE your LIFE!