The 160-character Twitter bio has been called a “postmodern art form” by The New York Times; that’s because the bio is your introduction to the social media world. It’s a digital calling card that tells people why they might want to follow you. If you think it’s not important, think back to a time when you read someone’s social media bio and thought that it made no sense, or worse, there was no bio, so you decided not to follow them.
Unfortunately, many people simply fill in the main ‘about’ information when they first sign up on a social media network and rarely make any changes to it. This is a big mistake. Your bio needs to convey both your professional and personal interests in one or two sentences. It’s your opportunity to show the world the kind of person you are, so be creative!
4 Tips to a Memorable Bio on Social Networking Sites
Your bio needs to convey both your professional and personal interests in one or two sentences.
1. Show Your Interests – Think about why you are on that social networking site. Is it for professional reasons, personal or both? Try to answer this question in your bio. You don’t have to explain why you’re on the social media network, but you should convey what you are doing there. For example, if you say you’re a social media expert and all you do is share cat photos, videos of funny fails or talk about yourself, you’re not conveying that you’re a social media expert. Instead you’re telling your audience you’re a self-obsessed cat lover, who likes to watch people fail in funny ways. So before you write out your bio really think about what you’ll be posting and what that message will convey to your audience.
2. Be Consistent – Personal branding has become a key component of social media success, and being consistent with your image on social networking sites is an important factor. When you’re writing out your bio, think of your presence on that social media network and how it’s portrayed on other platforms. Make sure that people will recognize you on all of the social networking sites you participate on. You don’t have to keep the wording of your bios exactly the same on all platforms, but you should include the same tone for consistency on all social media networks.
3. Keywords and Buzzwords – Remember social networking sites are tools that people use to search for certain keywords, phrases and buzzwords. If you want to be found more easily in searches, consider using a few keywords in your bio. This will help people not only find you, but it will also help you get more followers who will stick with you because they found you based on keywords that are relevant.
However, make sure you’re not over doing it and placing every keyword or buzzword you can find in your bio. A study found that 181,000 people on Twitter refer to themselves in their bios as social media “gurus,” “mavens,” or “ninjas.” While these titles sound cool, they frequently come across as vague attempts to claim expertise in the still developing world of social media. Instead, think about listing your professional title.
4. Proofread – Finally and most importantly, make sure to proofread your bios on each social media network before posting it. It sounds like a no brainer, but you’d be surprised how many people spend a lot of time thinking about what to say in their bio and then they forget to proofread it for spelling, grammar and accurate links. It’s a real shame when you see a clever, witty bio plagued by spelling mistakes and broken links. So make sure to read it over carefully, and if you’re still a hesitant about posting it, have a friend read it over to make sure it’s been double-checked and reads well.
Do you have a social media bio that you think is great? Share a link to it in the comments below!
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