In this video, I want to take a look at writing your own online social media-friendly profile or bio.
Your profile is very important but, unless you’re a professional writer, author or professor of English it doesn’t need to be perfect. Having a profile is more important than perfection.
Your online bio, often called a user profile, is very much like the old networking tool of an elevator speech – it needs to be quick, concise, and to the point.
A WordPress user profile is just one example and sometimes shows up on posts and comments you make on other WordPress-powered sites. It’s another great way to build your online persona. Facebook’s “About” is another example.
Writing a great online bio doesn’t need to be complicated but it is worth taking the time to create a well-crafted personal social media biography.
There are two main aims to creating your own online user profile. The first is to connect to your audience, clients, potential clients, and influencers. The second stage is to get people to react positively to your profile so that they get to know you better, contact you, and ultimately trust you.
It’s a two-step process and you must always be working to complete the second stage.
Online bio basics
Always write in the third person – so it’s going to be “Robert is” not “I am”.
Examples of third-person singular pronouns are – he, she, it, his, hers, him, and her.
Third-person plural pronouns are – they, them, there.
Also, you can use your name – so “Mike” or “Mike Ball” are acceptable options and I using a name is more personal.
Writing in the 3rd person is a little different than the I and we that you are likely to use in a how-to or training video and sales material.
What’s the aim of an online user profile.
Let’s take a quick look at the aims of an online user profile.
The point of the profile is to introduce yourself
Try to include some relevant keywords. What we’re looking for here is something that is relevant to what you do. An example of this might be “small business websites”.
What you mustn’t do is use irrelevant keywords just to get people’s interest. If you’re promoting an online website creation skill set then the fact that you might like the Kardashians may get you more views but it’s not relevant is deceptive and will likely do more harm than good.
Experience versus education.
Don’t fall into the trap of loading your profile with an endless string of degrees and certificates. Harvard Business School is an experience a degree is a piece of paper. Once again do make sure what you include is relevant.
Credentials versus achievements.
Recent training and certification is good but achievements are always better as they offer a story that people can relate to.
Look to include relevant notable achievements. So unless you’re writing a science fair blog no one cares [ except maybe your mom] about the sixth grade best in science fair award. But presentations at key conferences or examples of projects are good.
Closing Statement
Always wrap it up with a closing statement and that statement should always be a call to action. You want people to contact you, check out your website or LinkedIn user profile. If you can, and not all user profiles allow you to do this, try to include an active link to your website or social media presence.
User profile layout
I can’t stress enough that bios should be short and to the point. Despite this they should have a beginning, middle and end.
Also, think of them as that classic of networking the “elevator speech”. The good news is, especially for introverts, you only need to type your user profile once and your website or social media delivers it for you.
Start with a header that’s not all about you. If you can make the text bold or slightly larger so that you can grab someone’s attention so much the better. “Creating successful small business website” will probably work better than “Professional Webmaster”.
Tell them what you do at the beginning and what you can do for them. This selects for relevant contacts and tells them they are in the right place. You’d be amazed how often people wait until the end to tell everyone what they have on offer. You’d be even more amazed to realize how many people never even get around to saying precisely what they do. Do not be that person.
An interesting relevant back story can generate a strong emotional connection. Think about how you got to where you are, what difficulties you had to overcome even that magic moment when you realized that you know what you’re talking about.
Not enough room or you want a short snappy bio? Some user profiles restrict the number of characters or words that you can use. This can be a good thing. Attention span on the Internet is not long so you really do need to get your message across quickly. However, you might want to offer more detail to people who show an interest. Think about a “read more” about me link to your website or LinkedIn profile. Not every bio or user profile allows you to do this but if it’s available you should be using it. It’s one more way of getting someone to check out your website, social media presence or LinkedIn profile.
Always sign off with a clear call to action. Always find a way to ask them to make contact. If it’s possible include an active link just to make it easy for them.
Final user profile reminders.
- Keep it conversational and definitely ditch the professional jargon.
- Short is sweet.
- Keep it friendly, polite and professional but not too formal. This is a conversation starter not a job application.
- Always think about your audience and be willing to experiment.
- Treat humour with great care. In person it might be a great ice breaker but very few of us possess the talents to be a humorous writer and the opportunity to offend is very real.
- Always remember that your aim is to build trust and motivate people to make contact directly or through your website.
I just want to close off reiterating something I said right at the beginning. It doesn’t need to be perfect but it does need to be out there. Do try your best to produce relatively good grammar and aim for correct spelling but don’t waste too much time prevaricating and titillating the product. If you never publish your user profile or bio it doesn’t matter how great it is or how much time you put into creating it. Failure to launch is an absolute waste of time. Once you’ve published it it will work for you and you can always spend time testing and improving the profile later.
Good luck and thanks for taking the time to watch this video. You can visit my website retirement50plus.com to access resources and I’d really appreciate it if you subscribe to my YouTube channel to get notification of future videos.