First impressions are everything!
The bio on your social media profile is like your personal elevator pitch. Spending the time to craft a well-written and punchy social media bio is well worth the effort.
This blog is meant to be your step-by-step playbook for writing a solid bio for each of your social media profiles, for both personal and professional brands.
How to Write Your Brand “One-Liner”
Before you get too far, take a step back and identify your “One-Liner.” This is a concept from Donald Miller’s StoryBrand method that has transformed the way I clarify messaging for my clients. Figuring out your One-Liner will make writing your social media bios a breeze – I promise!
Step 1: The Problem
What’s the pain point you help your customer resolve?
In this step, identify your customer and the major problem you help them eliminate. Where is life painful or uncomfortable? You can get specific, but keep it concise.
Step 2: The Solution
What’s your unique solution to that pain point?
In this step, show how you take that pain away. What’s your solution? The key here is to show how your solution is different than other stuff they’ve tried before.
Step 3: The Reward
How does your customer’s life look after their pain is resolved?
Finally, your one-liner needs to describe how someone’s life changes as a result. This is where you get to describe the transformation of what’s possible when that pain goes away.
Got your One-Liner? Great! Let’s dig into how to write your social media bios.
Three Best Practices for Your Social Media Bio
- Be consistent across all your digital platforms. – This includes your website and other social media sites. Each platform will have its own character limit (see below) but be as consistent as possible!
- Be clear and concise. – You have very little space to work with on platforms like Instagram and Twitter. And some platforms, like LinkedIn and Clubhouse, are very generous with their allowed character count. But just because you have a lot of space doesn’t mean you need to use it. Always start with your most impactful information, first, to pack a punch.
- Include keywords that make your profile search-friendly. – Make sure your primary skillsets, services, and/or products are mentioned in your bio, so you come up when people search for them. If you need help identifying keywords, revisit your One-Liner.
Another way to think about this is by asking the question, “What would people type into Google to find me?” (Other than your name, of course!)
Three Objectives of a Successful Social Media Bio
- Create a memorable first impression. What sets you apart from others who do what you do? Can you sprinkle in some emojis to add personality? Can you describe yourself using words that will make people stop and pay attention?
- Instantly convey what you do, who you serve, and how you help them. Your One-Liner is going to be your new secret weapon. It cleverly helps you summarize these three key points.
- Drive readers to a primary call to action. A beautifully written bio becomes weak if it doesn’t compel the reader to action. What do you want someone to do after reading your bio? Do you want them to visit your website? Get a freebie? Schedule a call? Shop your product line? Call you? Email you? Text you?
You really don’t have to overthink this! Pick one easy, simple desired action and run with it.
Writing Your Bio for Each Social Media Platform
I recommend starting with a blank document (Google Docs or Word) to start this brainstorming process. You are going to go through several drafts before you land on the perfect bio for each social media site! And the “character count” feature in a word processing program is going to be your best friend for making sure each social media bio is the correct length.
By the way… If the thought of a blank page and a challenging writing assignment terrifies you, get in touch with me. I love one-time projects like this and could take some of the pressure off your plate.
Here are your character limits for each bio. Keep in mind that “characters” include every letter, space, and emoji. You do not need to maximize the count for each section.
Personal profile headline: 220 characters
Personal profile summary: 2,600 characters
Business page slogan: 120 characters
Business page “about us”: 2,000 characters
Account bio: 150 characters
Business page “about”: 250 characters
Business page “additional information: 50,000 characters
Account bio: 160 characters
TIKTOK
Account bio: 80 characters
YOUTUBE
Channel description: 5,000 characters
Account bio: 160 characters
CLUBHOUSE
No limit
One final last tip: Are you a DIY-er but not a writer? Hootsuite has an excellent resource for writing your social media bios – this article even includes templates! Check it out, right here.