A great social media bio makes a great first impression. It kick starts your online relationships with potential customers and makes it easier to sell. So why are we so lazy creating them?
When we introduce ourselves to people in real life we work at it. So why is it we neglect our online profiles? We rush them or cobble something together? Why don’t we make as much effort online as off? Click To TweetBefore we meet someone for the first time we check ourselves. We check we will make the impression we want to.
We check the way we look and we may even have a conversation with ourselves about what we will say and won’t say.
When we meet them we give our best smiles and our firmest handshakes.
All of this because we know first impressions matter.
As Olivia Fox Cabane says:
You never get a second chance to make a great first impression. Within a few seconds, with just a glance, people have judged your social and economic level, your level of education, and even your level of success. Within minutes, they’ve also decided your levels of intelligence, trustworthiness, competence, friendliness and confidence. Although these evaluations happen in an instant, they can last for years: first impressions are often indelible.
When we introduce ourselves to people in real life we work at it.
So why is it we neglect our online profiles? We rush them or cobble something together? Why don’t we make as much effort online as off?
Creating a follow-worthy digital first impression
Your digital first impression comes in two parts. Profile photo and bio.
We will look at your bio, those few words you get to make you look follow-worthy and interesting to your potential customers.
I have a formula for writing a great social media bio. Use it and you’ll be making a better first impression that will attract the right people.
But first…
Before you write your bio how long should it be? Here are the character lengths for the most popular social networks.
160 Characters
LinkedIn professional headline
120 Characters
150 Characters
160 characters
Use Letter Count to check the length of your bio before you post it to your social network.
The WWHPP formula
The WWHPP formula is the formula I use when creating social media bios. As a business owner there is important information you need to squeeze into your bio.
Who?
Who do you help? Is it small business owners? People in Ireland? Consumers? Cat owners?
What?
What do you do for them? Do you save them time? Help them overcome a problem? Help them stay on trend? Keep their cats happy?
How?
How do you do it? Do you have a system? A service that helps them? A blog that keeps them up to date? A personal shopping experience? Are you a well stocked shop? Do you sell cat related products?
So far so boring right? That’s where the PP comes in.
Personality Punch
Your profile is functional. It’s time to brand it, to make it unmistakably yours. Hit it with a personality punch.
Here are some examples from Twitter that include a personality punch.
Avoca Ireland
A sneak peek behind Ireland’s most interesting retail, food markets & cafés. And weaving hugs since 1723.
The Legal Eagle
A (very)proper Irish pub serving grown-up pub food, nose-to-tail delights, a roast in a roll each day and 20 craft beers.Chateaubriand & haggis and the rest….
Jack Cody’s
Join the Beer Revolution and rid Ireland of boring, bland and tasteless beers! Puckin’ great craft beers brewed in Drawda Co. Louth.
How?
These 3 words
I get the delegates on my strategy workshops to do an exercise where they identify three words that describe their brands.
It’s often easier to do this in a group and discuss each business. An outsider can identify your brand better than you.
The three words you use will define your brand personality.
I did this exercise with my blog buddy last year and we identified 3 words to define my brand:
- Knowledgeable
- Helpful
- Quirky
Once you‘ve got your 3 words, you can apply them to everything you write but most importantly your bios.
Look for analogies and phrases that describe what you do. Catchphrases are memorable and if you use them consistently people will associate them with your business.Click To TweetCatchphrases
Look for analogies and phrases that describe what you do. Catchphrases are memorable and if you use them consistently people will associate them with your business.
For example I talk about ‘Content Gremlins’ the guys who sit on your shoulder and tell you that you are wasting your time.
Read it out loud
Another exercise I get students to do is to read their bios out loud. It’s always interesting to hear people struggle to say the words they have written.
I blame school. It teaches us to write in a different way to we speak. This isn’t always bad. If you’ve had to transcribe yourself talking, you’ll know there’s plenty of um’s and turns of phrase that need to be cut out. But it drains your words of personality.
To knock the boring out of your social media bio, read it out loud, with enthusiasm. If you can’t, if you find yourself stumble you’ll be able to spot where it needs improvement.
Humour
It’s hard to be funny but it will add punch to your bio. If you can make people smile (or cringe depending on your style) you’ve just provoked an emotion that will make you memorable.
Depending on your brand personality your humour could be:
- Cheeky
- Edgy
- Cringey
- Chuckleworthy
- Laugh out loud
Checking yourself
If you’ve followed my formula you should have more interesting, perhaps even great social media bios, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t look again.
Tomorrow it might not look so good so do a quick review.
And then review it regularly. Do a check, the same way you would before you’d meet someone in person. Is your bio making the first impression you want it to?
If you create a social media bio after reading this post share it below in the comments. I’d love to see what you come up with.
Get a headstart on Google Analytics 4 & understand the lingo with the GA4 phrase book
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