Transcripts
1. Introduction: Most people write their bio once and never look at it again. But that snippet
of text is working harder than almost anything
else you've written, so it deserves a
little attention. I'll show you how to
use AI properly to get a bio that stands out and
drives meaningful engagement. Hello, I'm Ruth. I'm a
professional copywriter and copywriting trainer. I write engaging online
content for big businesses, helping them boost engagement, grow followers, and strengthen
their online presence. In this class, I
draw on my decades of professional
copywriting experience to show you how to write social media bio using AI
that still sounds like you. By the end, you'll
have a finished bio ready to paste into Instagram, LinkedIn or wherever
you need it. And you don't need
a paid account. The free version of Chat GPT, Claude, or Gemini
will all do the job. Whether you write
for your business, personal brand, product, service or charity,
this class will help you tell your story
and inspire action. For your project, write a bio for one platform
and upload it. Adapting for other
platforms takes minutes, and I'll show you
how to do that, too. Download the prompt
template from the class resources
before you start. To show the process in
action, in real time, I'll be writing a
bio alongside you for my fictional clients
Bramble and Bloom, a small batch jammer. Ready to elevate your
social media game? Let's get started.
2. Build Your Prompt: Most people who ask AI for a bio type something like write me an Instagram bio for my jam business and take
whatever comes back. That's why so many
bios sound the same. We're going to do
it differently. Here's the prompt
template you'll be using. Download it from
the class resources and we'll work
through it together. I'll be filling one in for my fictional client,
Bramble and Blue. Your answers can be rough. Notes, fragments,
half sentences. You're not writing
your bio here, you're collecting the raw
material and polishing it now is wasted effort because something else is about
to do the drafting. We'll start with the platform
and character limit. If you only use one platform,
that's your answer. If you're on several, start with the one with the
tightest word count. For most people, that's Instagram at around
150 characters. 150 forces you to work out
what genuinely matters. Once you've won that fight, every longer version is
just putting room back in. Do it the other way
around and you'll write a comfortable linked in bio
and have to hack it down. So Instagram at 150
for Bramble and Bloom, do check the current limit for whichever platform you've
picked because they change. Next, who I help and how. Notice that it starts with
your customer, not you. Most bios open with a
business name and a product. Yours will open with the person reading it and what
they get out of you. That single switch does more for a bio than
anything else. Bramble and blooms
target customers are people who've given
up on supermarket jam. They make small batch preserves that taste of the
fruit they're made from. Next, what makes me different? Be specific here. Quality ingredients
and passion for what we do are things
everybody says, which means they say nothing. You're looking for the fact a competitor couldn't
paste into their own bio. My clients answer
is that their fruit is picked within 20
miles and cooked in six pound batches with
flavors that change with whatever's ripe. Next, my proof. Anything that shows you
the real thing, an award, a professional membership,
years in business, customer numbers,
a stockist list. Pick whichever a stranger
would find most convincing, not the one you're proudest of. Bramble and Bloom has
two great taste awards and sells through 30
independent delis. Last gap, what I want people to do and why they'd
want to do it. Every bio needs an action. Follow, shop, book, subscribe. But an instruction on its
own is easy to scroll past. Attach a reason,
something to motivate the person reading to take
the action you're proposing. My client wants followers. The reason motivating people to follow them is that
batches are small and they sell out and
followers hear about fresh batches first so
they don't miss them. That's the top half done. Now let's take a quick
look at the bottom half. There's nothing for
you to write here, but it's important to understand what this section is doing. We're asking for
four versions of the bio and specifically
for four different ones. Leave that out and you get near identical bios with a
couple of words swapped, which gives you nothing
to choose between. Format sets the running
order, reader first, then the proof, then the action
with the reason attached. That's the shape of every
good bio I've ever written. Style and avoid prevent some
of the more obvious AI tells and gets you something
that sounds a little more natural and less like a
brochure from the get go. Have a read through your prompt and make sure you're
happy with it. In the next lesson, we'll run it through AI and see
what we get back.
3. Generate and Choose: C. There we go. Four bios, about 6 seconds work. Now, the temptation
here is to skin them, decide none of them
are quite right, and start rewriting the prompt. Resist that. You're not
looking for a finished bio. You're looking for the
one that's closest to right because you'll be
editing whichever you pick. And yours won't match
mine, by the way. Run the same prompt twice, and you'll get different
results both times. So don't worry if
what's on your screen looks nothing like
what's on mine. Let's look at what came
back for Bramble and Bloom. Artisan, crafted with passion. I asked it to avoid hype words, and it gave me two
in the first six. Everything specific has
been sanded off, too. For example, 20 miles, the specific fact I added to
the prompt means something. Locally sourced,
could mean anything. Version two is much better. It opens with the reader. The detail is specific. The proof is in there
without any fanfare. It's a long way from finished,
but the bones are right. Version three contains all the right information,
but read the order. Award, Award stockistPcess. It's three sentences
about my client before it gets anywhere
near the person reading. That's the most common
fault in bios and it's because it's so widespread
that AI reproduces it, even though I asked it not to. This last version has character, and that last line is the best call to
action of the four. It gives you a reason to follow
rather than just asking. But the rumors joke has eaten the proof and no shortcuts
is doing nothing. So how do you choose?
Four quick tests. Does it start with
the reader or you? Could you say it out
loud without wincing? Is the proof in there without
sounding like a boast? And does the call to
action give a reason? Ocean two is the only one
with the bones right. It leads with the reader and the proof sits there
without any fuss. It doesn't pass the
read aloud test mind, we'll come to that, and its ending gives nobody
a reason to follow. But these things are fixable, so that's my starting point. And you don't have to
take a whole version. That ending is one
of the weak spots. Follow for seasonal updates is an instruction
with no pull in it. Version four's ending
has a reason attached, so I'll take that instead. That's 138 characters, and
it's structurally sound. It still doesn't
sound like anybody, but we'll fix that next. And if nothing
you've got is close, don't start from scratch. Tell the AI what was wrong. Something like too formal and it's leading
with the awards. Try again and open
with the reader. Two rounds is usually plenty. Don't just sit there
generating for 20 minutes hoping
for a perfect bio. It won't arrive and
you don't need it to. Something close is all
you're after because the next lesson is where
you make it sound like you.
4. Humanise and Fit: You've got a bio that's close. This lesson is where
it stops being AI output and starts
being yours. Two jobs. First, we make it sound
like a person wrote it. Then we make it fit the
platform it's going on. Here's where my
client's bio got to. Start by reading it out loud, not in your head,
actually out loud. Anything you stumble over, anything that makes
you feel slightly silly saying it gets changed. For me, it's the opening, tired and mass produced jam. Nobody says mass
produced out loud. It's a phrase off the
back of a packet. When I filled in the prompt
template in Lesson two, I wrote, Even up on
supermarket jam. That's the phrase a person uses. The AI took it and tide it
into something flatter. So I'm putting mine back. That read out loud
test is so reliable when it comes to spotting
generic AI language. And as in this case, the way you phrase things
in your own rough notes is often more characterful and accurate than the
polished AI draft. Next, add a word that's yours. The AI only knows what you
put in the prompt and you know far more about
your business than fitted into four boxes. Somewhere in what you left out is the detail that
makes the bio yours. The Bramble and
bloom, it's the pan. The jams cooked in a copper pan, which is a real thing
you could photograph, and no competitor is going
to bother mentioning it. Then the number,
that too sitting on its own mid sentence reads
like a text message, so it becomes the word two. The other examples stay as they are 20 miles and six pounds of measurements where
numerals are quicker to scan and nobody thinks
twice about them. A lone digit standing in
for a word is different. It cost me two characters,
but it's worth it. Now the swap test, which is the one that finds
the lazy bits. Take your bio, put a competitor's name on it
and see if it still works. Try it on the ending. Follow
before each batch sells out. Any small producer in the
country could use that line. It's a good structure with
nothing of my client in it, so it needs replacing with something only Bramble
and Bloom could say. Same job, same reason to follow, but now it's tied
to something real. Here's where we're up to
now and it's much better. It sounds like
someone saying it. It's also 172 characters, and Instagram gives me 150, which brings us to
the second job. When you're over the
limit, cut in this order. Description first, proof second, and leave the call
to action alone. The action is the only part doing a job beyond information, so it's the last
thing you sacrifice. In this case, the
copper pan is in there twice and it works better in the ending than
in the middle. The first one goes
along with this week. 146 characters. Still every fact there,
the action untouched. The last step takes 10 seconds, paste it in and look
at it on a phone. Bios break across lines in
places you don't expect, and some platforms cut them off part way with a more link. If your call to action has landed below that
cut, move it up. Now let's amend our bio
for a second platform. LinkedIn gives you
far more room, but don't go back
to the AI for it. You don't need to, and
doing it yourself gets a better result because you already have
everything you need. Look at your four answers again. Your Instagram bio is those answers squeezed
into 150 characters, which means things got left out. Expanding is just
putting them back. Here's Bramble and
Bloom on LinkedIn. Three things went back in the
copper pan in the middle, which I cook for
space, the delis, which never made the
Instagram version at all, and the seasonal flavors
from question two. Then I let the
fragments turn into proper sentences because
there's room to breathe now. Notice the order hasn't changed. Reader difference proof action, length decides how much
of each you can fit. It doesn't change
what comes first, that's your bio finish.
5. Next Steps: Thank you for choosing this
class, and congratulations. You've learned practical
techniques you can use straightaway to craft compelling social media
bios that are concise, engaging and on brand. Now it's time to put what
you've learned into action by completing and sharing
your class project. Upload the bio you've written. And I especially love seeing
your work out in the wild, so do share screenshots or
links to your social accounts. For inspiration, check
out my example project. And if you need
feedback on something specific or have any questions,
please do reach out. I love reading your projects, and I can't wait to see how
you use your new skills. Keep hold of the prompt
template as well. When what you're saying changes a new product or
a new direction, you can fill it in again
in a couple of minutes. With a few tweaks, the same
prompt can be adapted to work for a website a page
or an elevator pitch too. Please take the time to leave
a review for this class. Your review will help me improve future classes and help other students find classes
that will suit them. Now, what would you
like to learn next? If Instagram is where
your bio lives, my class writing for
Instagram takes you further. Bios posts, stories and
reels in 45 minutes. And if you want
more on making AI generated copy sound
like a person wrote it, that's exactly what my class write with personality covers. Visit my profile page to
see my full collection of Skillshare copywriting
classes and hit follow for updates
on new classes. Thank you again for
joining me today. It really is a
privilege to be able to support you on your professional
journey in this way. Enjoy the rest of your
day and enjoy using your new social media
copywriting skills.
Ruth Clowes, Professional Copywriter
