How to Write a Magnetic Social Media Profile
Do your social media profiles create impact with your target market the first time they read it?
First impressions are everything in this world, especially online. You have seconds to make a connection with a brand new prospect before they size you up and move on. When I work with my personal clients one-on-one, the first thing we work on is their social media profiles because I’ve noticed that when they are done well, every activity has a stronger impact.
If someone does the Google test on you, they’re going to check out your social media presence pretty quickly and make a decision if you’re worth having further discussions with. Sound harsh? The world is a cruel and unusual place, my friends.
Consider this as a general guide to what information should be inside any social media profile and exactly which questions you should be answering for your potential prospects inside its copy.
1. What’s Your WHY Message?
When someone asks you why you do what you do, the answer should never be money. When people hire an expert, they need to know that person lives and breathes their subject with the kind of fluency that can’t be faked by one driven solely by monetary gain.
I had a client that I was working recently who is a financial advisor based out of Collingwood (near Toronto). When I first assessed his website and social media profiles, I didn’t see anything that stood out from your average financial advisor so I asked him a tough question, “Why did you become a financial advisor in the first place?” The answer I got was powerful.
He told me a story about how his parents struggled when he was growing up. His dad lost his job and then they lost their home. That struggle affected him very deeply to the point that he was determined to secure his own financial future and inspired to help others do the same because he knew and understood the pain his family went through.
2. Identify Your Ideal Clients
How are your perfect prospects supposed to know you are right for them? By telling them! It’s incredible to me how many people want a specific type of client yet never mention it in the copy that is most often seen by potential prospects.
Here’s an example of what I do on my LinkedIn profile to speak directly to my target audience: 
3. Address Their Pain Points
What major problem do you solve for your clients that creates a lot of stress in their lives? Your prospects need to know that you intimately understand them AND their problems.
Identify their struggles in your social media profile and they’ll be much more likely to identify you as a solution.
4. Build Your Credibility
The first question your social media profiles need to answer is: how are you qualified to help me with this service? You must quickly demonstrate your authority on the subject you claim to be an expert in.
You can do this by mentioning client results you’ve driven, press quotes and any major awards or accolades. Make sure you tastefully toe the line of self-promotion so that it doesn’t crossover into Brag City.
Here’s an example of how I incorporate this on my Twitter and LinkedIn profiles:
I believe the headline section on your LinkedIn profile is a critical area to build credibility. Your Twitter bio essentially is a headline due to the limited amount of characters so it has to be punchy!
5. Should You Write Your Profiles in 1st Person or 3rd Person?
My philosophy is simple. If you’re optimizing for a personal social media profile, always write in the first person. If you’re optimizing for a business or company page, write in the third person.
I believe that it makes the most sense to write your personal profiles in the 1st person because I feel it’s most effective when written to speak directly to your ideal target market.
6. Consider Your Keywords
Another thing I always recommend is optimizing for the keywords you want to be found for. This is especially important on LinkedIn and Google+.
In my case, I frequently optimize my LinkedIn profile for keywords like “LinkedIn Expert” and “Social Selling Speaker” because I want to be found by the people that search for those terms.
Not sure what I mean by optimizing your LinkedIn profile? Check out this guide on The Secret To Getting Found On Page 1 of LinkedIn Search Result.
7. Inspire Them To Take ACTION
It’s great to establish credibility, optimize for keywords and do other tweaks that keep your profile attractive to prospects, but does it inspire them to take an action? There should be some form of call to action in every social media profile that encourages the right people to take the next step.
That next step could be reaching out to you to start a dialogue or driving them to a free resource that gets them into your email list. Think about the action you want your prospects to take next and tell them what to do.
Ask Yourself These Questions
Think about the best clients you’ve had in the past couple years and ask yourself the following questions:
- What issues did they have when they approached you?
- What was the specific problem that they hired you to solve?
- What specific language did they use to describe that problem when they initially approached you?
- What were the solutions you came up with that were successful?
You need to answer these questions to the absolute best of your ability and incorporate the answers into all of your social media profiles, website and any other marketing materials you create. Your income for the next several years depends on your ability to execute this task.
Above All Else…
Always come straight from the heart and don’t try to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes. People can sniff out a fraud instantly and you can do some serious damage to your credibility before you’ve even realized it if you come from a place that’s not genuine or lacking in authenticity.
What factors do you think are most important when crafting the perfect social media profile? Let’s discuss it in the comments below.
