Posted by As a professional content creator, you already know all about the importance of having a great work portfolio, resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile. However, there’s something more that you need to grow your career and your business effectively.
One of the most important tools you can use to achieve these goals — and often one of the most overlooked — is a professional biography or ‘bio’ for short.
A well-written and captivating bio is a flexible tool that you should always have present as part of your overall marketing strategy.
In this post, we delve deeper into what a bio is, why you need it, and how you can craft one that truly reflects your personal talents and brand.
Let’s dive in!
What is a professional Bio?
A professional biography is a short, interesting, and concise introduction to who you are and what you do well. It provides a summary of your professional skills and achievements, your education, your credentials, and any other essential information that makes you who you are.
Content creators and other professionals often use bios when seeking employment or new projects to work on. They provide clients and hiring managers with a perfect synopsis of who each candidate is and what makes them suitable for the job. You can also use your bio on professional websites, social media platforms, and networking hubs to help get you in touch with all the right connections.
Why a Bio is marketing gold?
1. Your Bio gets extra attention
There are over 4.66 billion active internet users globally. This means that a huge number of people will potentially come across your bio. There’s also no way to tell exactly who will be reading your professional bio at any given time. So, this makes it especially important for it to be ready and eye-catching when the right people come across it online.
Your professional resume will only be seen by the hiring managers. Or, may be clients when you’re applying for specific positions, which limits its visibility significantly.
A professional bio, on the other hand, is far more visible and can be viewed on your website, guest post blogs, LinkedIn profile, social media platforms, speaker profiles, and many other important platforms. The more memorable your bio is, the more likely the people who see it will take an interest in you and what you do.
2. Bios are flexible
Traditional resumes are formal by nature and may highlight gaps in your professional skill-set or draw unwanted attention to unrelated work experience from your past.
Branded bios are different, and much more flexible. They leave room for creativity, personality, and the portrayal of your own uniqueness as a professional. Plus, they make it easy for you to omit unrelated work experience or qualifications.
3. Important personalities use Bios
Some of the most respected, successful, and educated people in the world (think Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos) rely on personal bios to introduce themselves to the world. Of course, this doesn’t mean that only VIPs can use bios.
Anyone can craft a personal biography. But the fact that very important people use bios to communicate their value and messages shows how powerful these brief descriptions can be.
4. Bios communicate your personality and style
A bio gives you the opportunity to infuse your unique style into your description of yourself and your skills. Some content creators stick to a strictly professional biography format, but there’s no obligation for you to do so.
You can use your bio to share your leadership attributes, soft skills, interests, and passions with the world. Feel free to add life philosophies, quotes that resonate with you, and memorable business mottos to your bio for added effect.
5. Bios are fantastic professional ice breakers
Your branded bio can be a powerful addition to your personal marketing strategy and industry meet-up attendances and materials. Many professionals hand out their bios along with their business cards to network at large events without having to explain their skills and abilities to every person in attendance.
Using a branded bio online also breaks the ice with anyone viewing one of your profiles or platforms. If you have a bio, you don’t have to message potential clients directly or target them with specialized marketing campaigns and messages.
The information you add to your bio will immediately tell its readers what you’re good at, what you care about, and how you can assist them in achieving their goals. If they resonate with your message and your personality, they’ll be significantly more likely to contact you personally.
The perks of a strong social media Bio
A good social media presence starts with a strong foundation, and a bio can certainly help in that regard.
Internet users tend to have short attention spans, and they’re getting shorter all the time. Studies show that between 2017–2019 there’s been a drop of 11 seconds in the average time spent on a website. This means that you only have a few seconds to grab someone’s attention. And then, convince them to follow you or message you directly.
When people discover your account, they want to know what you’re about. They want to know why they should take an interest in you. Your bio is a fantastic way to communicate that information quickly.
Take this opportunity to show off all of your achievements and your personality, while telling people which problems of theirs your skills can solve. This will help you to foster immediate connections and create leads.
Additionally, having a strong bio is important for enhancing your search results rankings. The more optimized your biography is for your industry or platform, the more traffic and potential followers you will be able to attract.
The basics of writing a professional Bio
Every professional’s branded bio is subtly different, but they usually follow the same basic structure. To begin, you’ll introduce yourself in a single sentence. A good example of a writers bio would be “I’m Jason Jones, a Boston-based content and copywriter.”
Next, you’ll specify the solutions you offer and who you’re aiming to help. “I assist brands and businesses of all sizes by creating captivating content that fuels their growth.”
After these introductory sentences, go into more detail about your skills, what you bring to the table, and what you have studied and mastered.
- What are your best attributes that make you good at what you do?
- What are your values and what brought you to your current line of work?
- And what are your long-term professional goals and values?
Add some personality to your bio too. You could specify that you’re a dog lover, an avid Taekwondo student, a passionate author of science fiction novels, a public speaker, an abstract artist inspired by Pablo Picasso, or a part-time charitable volunteer. Whatever else adds interest and highlights your personality — include it!
If you need to expand your bio further, add some of your most notable professional achievements. Remember to include a link to your website and your contact information.
Most personal bios are short, comprising just 300 to 500 words on average. Shorter bios effectively capture your readers’ attention and are brief enough to be memorable. Keep your bio simple, engaging and unique. The majority of personal bios are written in the third person, as this tone is optimized for search engines.
Professional Bios wrapped up
A professional bio is a must-have tool for any content creator. Especially the ones looking for new connections and leads. Or, building rapport with audiences, and improving search engine rankings and website traffic.
A well-written bio will communicate your skills, personality, and goals to everyone who reads it. It’ll put you in touch with potential clients. They could be partners or even employers who’ll help you to grow your business and personal brand.