Give Your Bio an Update
Give your audience all they need to know with one quick look
👀 Do your social media bios need a refresh? 👀 If you haven’t revisited them since you created your account, it’s time to check in.
The social media bio has an important job: to pull the right audience in and invite them to engage with your content and learn more about you or your department.
In the digital world, a powerful bio is like a powerful handshake — a simple gesture that can leave a lasting impression. When a user comes across your account, they’ll look to your bio to see what you’re all about. Often times, it’s your bio that can determine whether or not someone chooses to follow you.
Social media bios are also SEO-optimized on most platforms. Adding specific keywords related to your account can help the account get discovered more easily when users search in an app.
What to Include in Your Social Media Bio
Platforms don’t offer much room to share what your account is all about, so it’s important to include a few key pieces that tell people who you are, what you do, and how they can either learn more, contact you, or sign up for something.
Here’s a quick checklist of items to consider in your social media bio:
- Who you are (department name, club name, role at NAU, etc.)
- What you do (a short and sweet mission statement — see President Cruz Rivera’s Instagram bio for a good example)
- Where you’re located
- Contact information
- Website URL
- Call to action (learn more, sign up, tag us, etc.)
It’s a good rule of thumb to include as many of these as you can. We also like emojis 💙💛 for helping draw attention and excitement to bios.
Refresh Your Instagram Bio: Templates and Examples
On Instagram, you’re allotted 150 characters in your bio. Use this space to encourage users to take a specific action — whether that’s to drive them to a website, complete a form, or simply follow your account.
If you have specific information to include — like meeting times or operating hours — your Instagram bio is a good place to share that.
Whether you’re looking to refresh your personal account as a faculty member or an account for an organization or department, these templates and examples will help guide you.
Personal Account
Template 1: Your role at NAU
[your position]
[your mission in your role]
[link to your work/publications if applicable]
[affiliated accounts: @nauflagstaff @naualumni]
Example: President Cruz Rivera @naupresident
Template 2: Representing a building on campus
[category]
[mission, services, what people come here to do, how this building serves NAU]
[website, contact info, etc]
Example: Cline Library @nauclinelibrary
Template 3: Organizations
[mission, services]
[link for user to learn more or get involved, where to find more info, etc]
Example: NAU Admissions @visitnau
Example: NAU Student Organizations @naustudentorgs (we love the use of emojis 😁)
Example: NAU Alumni Association @naualumni (Their bio is specific on what they do, and it requests a specific action 👏)
Take inspiration from some of our student-run clubs. Many of the clubs on campus use social media to reach interested students, and they’ve got their bios dialed in.
Example: PRSSA @prssanau
Example: Storytelling in the Pines NAU @storytellinginthepines
Refresh Your TikTok Bio
TikTok is even less generous with bio space, limiting accounts to only 80 characters. Every word counts on TikTok. You can also make use of apps like Linktree to give you more options to include what you need to.
Since you have less room here, you’ll need to get creative and selective with your bio. Bare down your bio to the essentials with a quick description, a declarative call to action, and a link to more information.
Here are a few templates and examples to make your TikTok bio effective.
Template 1: To the point
[Name of department, organization, club, etc.]
[Mission, what you offer]
[Link to more info or contact info]
Example: NAU Campus Recreation @naucampusrec
Template 2: All the details
[Who you are]
[Where you meet]
[When you meet]
[Link to more info]
Example: Catholic Jacks @catholic.jacks
Template 3: The Call to Action
[A brief statement that sums up your account or content themes]
[CTA — sign up, learn more, visit us, etc.]
Example: NAU Flagstaff @nausocial (we had to toot our own horn at some point!)
With these templates and examples, your bio should be able to cover all the important details and attract the right audience to your content. Have a question about bios or anything else related to your social media strategy? Email NAU Social!
