Rhea Asks...
HOW DO YOU ENSURE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA BIO IS WORKING FOR YOU?
IT’S ALL IN THE BIO...
W
hatever platform you use, your bio plays a key role in helping people understand what you’re about and what type of content they’re likely to find on your account. Many don’t fully utilise the bio area… but I’m here to help. The first thing to remember is that whatever platform you’re using, bios are tight on character count. On Instagram, you have just 150 characters, Twitter has 160 characters, and TikTok has 80 characters to ‘sell’ yourself. And it should be viewed in that way. We all know social media is a busy place, so you need to make it very clear why people should follow you in a short space of time. So, how do you do it? Think about the key information you need to get across, why
people should follow you, and what you’ll be sharing. Be specific too, for example ‘love riding horses’ is fine, but it’s not really adding any value, yet something like ‘taking my exracehorse to Elementary dressage’ sends out clear signals that will encourage people to follow you. That is, if they’re keen on racehorses, thoroughbreds, re training exracehorses, ex-racehorses in general and dressage. See the difference? Of course, you might not have an ex-racehorse you’re training for dressage, but you can use the same idea! You might opt for a list instead of a ‘long’ paragraph, and this isn’t a bad idea as it’s likely to save your characters. When you do this, think about the order most important key points at the top going down to less relevant/more amusing. Why? Because a) people do have a limited attention span and social media is busy and b) depending on how many points you have to list, some of your info
might be hidden until ‘more’ is tapped. And it’s not the most obvious thing to tap! If you’re going for a list, consider using bullet points to break it up - you could even use emojis if you like. Make sure these add to the story and are relevant to each point, or you could even use a star or another symbol. These can make it easier to separate the list visually and can also add a little bit of personality too. Depending on the type of account you have, and which platform you’re on, you might get the opportunity to add your website address and email address. With bios, you can usually add one website address, which most would point to their homepage. On Instagram, adding a URL to the caption does nothing - it isn’t a hyperlink so if you’re adding information about your latest blog, for example, that person needs to work to get there by going via the link in our bio, then home page, then find it. Now, another option is to have your one link going to either a links page on your website, or something like Linktree. Both of these let you put together a list of specific links that allow people to easily navigate to where you want
I’M RHEA FREEMAN. I’M A PR, MARKETING AND SOCIAL MEDIA CONSULTANT AND COACH WITH A SPECIALISM IN EQUESTRIAN AND RURAL BUSINESS. I WORK WITH A NUMBER OF THE BEST BRANDS IN THE INDUSTRY AND MANY THAT YOU’LL SEE IN THESE PAGES... them to go. You might have a link for your overall blog, or your latest blog, or your podcast, or your newsletter sign up, the choice is yours! I think that this space is particularly important on Instagram. In short, do everything you can to make it easy for people to take the action that you want! And last but not least - review your bio regularly. Is it all still as relevant now as it was the day you wrote it? Make sure it is! www.rheafreemanpr.co.uk Twitter (@rheafreeman) Instagram (@rheafreemanpr) Facebook (/RheaFreemanPR)
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