IMG_5529

My Twitter Bio

Are your social media bios up to date and thoroughly filled out? If not, then you need to stop what you are doing right now and get to it!

A couple of years ago I was in one of Crystal Washington‘s social media presentations and I think she said it best: “If your doorbell rang and you went to the door but could not see anyone through the peep hole, would you still answer the door?”  I think most everyone would say no they would not answer the door.  Crystal says this is what it’s like not having a photo or any information about you in your bio.  (for Pete’s sake, please don’t use the Twitter egg for your bio picture!)

Your bio should be…wait for it…about you! Simple but detailed and to the point.  I like bios that say what the person does but also what the person is passion about as well.  For Twitter, its great to use a few hashtags like #marketing professional or #edtech designer…this will help people find you on Twitter based on those hashtags.   Remember, you only get 160 characters for your Twitter bio so you might have to be clever if you need to say a lot in your bio.

A great photo is important to make a social media bio really stand out.  Try your very best not to take a selfie in the car or from your computer camera…you can find a friend to help you get a great head shot, trust me! Once you have the photo you want, use the same head shot in all your bios to show consistency with your personal brand.  Also, don’t forget the heading photo as well.  This is a great place to either showcase your business or use a photo of your favorite city but don’t leave it blank! It’s another opportunity to tell people about you.  I used to have the skyline of NYC in my header (because I love NYC and hope to move there someday) but now I have a header of my business logo.

Finally, if you change jobs be sure and immediately go update all your social bios.  I think it’s so strange when I see that someone has a new job but their LinkedIn profile still says the old job.  Your social media bios are your social resume, be sure people know what you do and where they can find you.

So to recap:

  1. Fill out your social media bio completely including information about you, add your website or blog and your location…if you feel this is a privacy issue, just say USA or Earth!
  2. Use a great head shot for your bio pic and be sure and add a photo to the header when appropriate, like on Twitter and Facebook.
  3. Make sure your bios and photos are consistent on all your platforms.
  4. Have fun with your bio, don’t make it too buttoned up…even if you are a CFO you probably still do something for fun!

Still need more help with your bios, this article is great at providing guidance, love that Buffer blog!