Fyreside Newsletter - 10/6/25

Hey Reader,

I spend a truly heinous amount of time on social media. I'm not proud of it, but it has its benefits. Chief among those benefits is my awareness of the little things. The little things are what most people neglect when it comes to their social profiles. Things like bios, thumbnails, in-profile links, etc.

I mentioned in last week's newsletter that I did a number of TikTok profile audits. I did another round last week and, while I really enjoyed the work, the audits started to get a little samey. (samie? same-y? samee? idk, they were all the same.)

Everyone is making the same mistakes.

The consistency with which I found the same issues across multiple profiles was staggering. I've done 9 audits so far. With each audit, I identified three potential areas of improvement. To be honest with you, I could have done one profile audit and tagged six creators because they were all had the same problems. What really drove me crazy was that all of these problems are BASIC.

Let me be clear, they're not necessarily basic things to identify, but they're basic things to improve. It's frustrating because I constantly encounter people who want to improve their social media presence, but they feel like that's unachievable. Everyone thinks they need to improve their on-camera presence, buy a ring light or a DSLR, post a dozen videos a day, and fondle the balls of the algorithm.

But, what if, and this is a crazy one, YOU JUST FIXED THE LINK IN YOUR BIO?!?!?!

Here are those mistakes.

Look, I'd love it if you watched all 9 of the audit videos I did. I've even put them all in a convenient collection for you HERE. But, I am a reasonable person and I know that you won't watch all 9 of those videos. I don't blame you, that's a lot of TikTok. So, with that in mind, here are the things that everyone (maybe you, too) are doing wrong.

Profile Name - Your profile name should be two things: informative, easy to read.
- On TikTok, it's common to put what you do in your profile name. My profile name on TikTok is "Matt | Bahnfyre PR" which includes both who I am and what I do. You don't always need to include what you do, but you should always include who you are.
- Dontputallthewordsinyourprofilenametogetherwithoutspacesbecauseitmakesitreallyhardtoread. Also, utilize capitalization, special characters (-, ~, |, etc) to make your name easier to read. This is especially important if you go by a pseudonym online.
Add captions to all video posts - this is self explanatory and doesn't need a sub bullet
Use your whole bio
- Your bio should be succinct but fleshed out. It's become common to use emojis to in your bio on TikTok. That's a great way to save characters in the limited space.
- When people come to your profile, the very first thing they'll read is your bio. Write your bio in a way that you would be proud to give as a first impression.
You only need one link in your bio
- Linktree, becaons, and a half dozen other websites allow creators to generate hub landing pages. If you have a clickable link in your profile and more than one place to send people, use one of these services. (They're almost always free.)
- If you don't have a clickable link in your bio and instead have a written text link, it has to be short and simple. Tbh, next to no one is going to manually type your link into their browser. If a unicorn visits your profile and decides to manually type your link, make it as easy for them as possible. Use Bitly or TinyURL if necessary.
- Lastly, spellcheck everything and make sure it's well formatted.
Thumbnails - make them consistent and use them every time
- This advice isn't just for TikTok. If you're posting to Instagram or Facebook, you should put the same consideration into the first image that appears in your post or the thumbnail of your reel. When a person visits your account, they need to be able to sift through your content as quickly and easily as possible. Settle on a thumbnail style and make it a habit.
Pinned or featured posts
- On apps that allow you to pin a post to the top of your profile, you should absolutely have posts pinned to the top of your profile. They should be recent and good examples of your content.
- After your bio, your pinned posts are likely going to be the second thing profile visitors investigate. They're the only content on your page you can guarantee will get continued views.
Editing
- Cut out the blank spaces and dead air. Full stop.