The Importance Of A Good Social Media Bio (& How To Create One)

22 Aug The Importance Of A Good Social Media Bio (& How To Create One)

With all the talk about social media algorithms, and figuring out how to grow your account we haven’t chatted about some “back to basics” topics like the importance of a good social media bio and profile picture. In this post we’ll go over what key elements you need for a bio that attracts followers and stand out from your competition.

Why Is A Good Social Media Bio (and Profile Image) Important?

It may seem overly simple to concentrate on a social media bio right? But a strong social media presence starts with a good foundation. There are several reasons why a good biography is important. The first being that  people have short attention spans. You only have a few seconds to capture a person’s attention AND make the choice to follow you. When people land on your account they want to know what you’re about and why they should follow you – a great bio is a good way to do all that. [bctt tweet=”A good social media bio will highlight your personality, let your potential followers know what to expect from you and what you’re all about. ” username=”dharilo”]

Toot your own horn! Show off your achievements, give them a little personality, tell them what problem you’ll solve. Your bio helps you build a connection right from the start.

Another reason to have a good social media bio is search results. The more optimized your bio is the more traffic and potential followers you’ll attract.

The 6 Elements Of A Good Social Media Bio

1. Fill in all sections.

Make sure you fill out all the information in your social media bio. Filling in all sections ensures your profile visitors get all the details they need from you. Depending on the network you’ll be able to highlight achievements and link to other social media channels, landing pages, etc.

2. Use a clear profile image.

I cannot stress the importance of a good profile image. Yes, I know on some networks it’s tiny, but thats all the more reason to have a great photo for your profile image. Make sure the image is clear and keep it consistent across your active networks.

3. Take advantage of your header image.

The header image portion of your social media bio or profile is HUGE real estate – use it to your advantage! Get creative, show off your brand’s personality or tell us about your newest product or service – just don’t miss out on the visibility of this often overlooked part of your profile.

Some cover image ideas

• Highlight a new product – whether this is a close up of one or compilation of products, show them off!
• Highlight a contest/event/awards or achievements
• Create a seasonal greeting
• Thank fans – “Thanks for 1 Million Likes”
• Praise customers or employees- Feature some testimonials, or images of customers enjoying your product, or some of the people you work with.
• Point to tabs or buttons on the page
• Tell us what your brand is about – include a sentence about a brand or product attribute, a sale, or if you give a percentage of proceeds to charity- but remember to keep the text to a minimum and concentrate on getting your point across visually.

4. Use keywords.

Using keywords in your social media bio is important for search results. Don’t make your social media bio so keyword filled that it sounds like a robot or too technical – stick to the top 1 or 2 for your industry. As an example think “social media consultant” vs “New York City based social media consultant”. The second has a location which helps to associate it with a local fan base.

5. Links to website/landing pages.

To use your social media bio and profile to your best advantage and get a little more exposure for your website or landing page be sure to use any area provided for links.

6. Adjust for each social media network

Each social media network will have different requirements or restrictions for your social media bio. You’ll have to adjust it by adding more, or taking things away accordingly. With that said there is a little social media bio formula you can follow which outlines a few elements you can build up or down around.

7. Show off achievements and personality

I mentioned this before but here it is again – do not be afraid to shine. Your bio is a quick opportunity to captivate and draw in followers. Sure, your content is important, and what will keep your audience around – but your bio is the bow on the present. It ties everything together.

My Social Media Bio Formula

Here’s a really simple formula for crafting your biography. Here are the bare bones to which you can add you keywords, hashtags ect.

• Who you are: Mine is “I’m Dhariana Lozano, and NYC based social media consultant and speaker”
• Who you help & your solution: Mine is “I help brands and businesses create custom social media strategies that work”
• Add a splash of personality and mention something you love: I add that I’m a food lover
• If you need to expand your bio you can add your biggest accomplishments
• Always include a link to your website or offer

Feel free to change to the order in which you mention each point so that it makes sense to your personality. After you’re done putting the bio formula elements together check back on this list and make sure you can check everything else off. I’ve included screen shots of my social media bio as it appears on Facebook, Facebook’s My Story section Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn so you can see my formula in action.

My Facebook Social Media Bio

My Twitter Bio

My Social Media Bio On Instagram

My Social Media Bio On LinkedIn

Take a look at how I used my formula to build a basic social media bio which I adjusted for each network. I sprinkled in keywords related to what I do (social media consultant) and where I’m located. The biography on Twitter had to be down a little but I still kept the main points in the formula. I’ve also hashtagged “social media” and “social media consultant”. I use my love of food as a conversation starter (without mentioning it) by stating that social media is my second love. I get many tweets or messages with people asking what my first love is – it’s a little bit of an ice breaker. On LinkedIn and in the longer space on Facebook biography section I speak a little more about my full experience and highlight achievements such as being a Social Media Today Influencer.

See? Writing a social media bio that helps you stand out from the crowd doesn’t have to be so hard. With my simple social media bio formula you’ll be up and running in no time. After you have the basic structure you can play around with the order and make it your own. I’ve also added a social media bio writing checklist and workbook to the resource library if you need more help figuring it all out.

<3 DhariLo