The Art of Writing an Effective Twitter Profile
1 12 2008
I recently helped a new Twitter user write her bio.
It’s only a few words; however, the process gave rise to challenging questions.
For example, do people read a Twitter bio or do they just scan for keywords like: “mom,” “blogger,” “CEO,” “marketing,” “content,” etc.
If they read the bio, will the same process we use to write adwords copy apply, with the most important ideas first followed by a call to action?
And how do you teach style and attitude? Twitter bios can be short and punchy as well as polished and professional.
While it’s hard to make a generalization, I’m in favor of a keyword-rich, compelling bio with at least one useful link that reveals personality.
Here are 21 things to consider when enhancing your twitter bio.
If you’re happy with yours, this can serve as a checklist.
- Add a quote.
- Add a question people should ask you.
- Add something you are looking for.
- Add something you can offer.
- Add your mantra.
- Add an article that rocks your world.
- Add a sentence that describes who you are.
- Add a sentence that describes what you want to do on Twitter.
- Add descriptive tags, see StumbleUpon for ideas
- Add a link to people’s replies to you. @Pistachio does this
- Add your Linkedin account
- Add your Delicious account
- Add a link to FriendFeed
- Add a link to your favorite Flickr photos
- Add a link to your playlist (blip.fm, last.fm, etc.)
- Add a link to a YouTube video of you, or that you enjoy watching
- Add a link another blog, or website you are a part of
- Cut your bio to 50% its current length
- Put the most important terms first
- Decide on your emphasis. If your bio was only one word (and not your name), which word would it be and why?
- If you’ve written in a complete sentence, try writing in short, punchy phrases. If you’ve written in short punchy phrases, try writing in complete sentences. Use what works.
BTW, here is my Twitter profile:
Name: Zach Braiker
Location: Cambridge, MA
Web: http://www.quiverandquill.com
Bio: “to understand one life you must swallow the world.” I run refine+focus: a marketing agency working w/ brands, media and VCs. http://tinyurl.com/63mrn
For related resources see:
Twitter Best Practices So Far, by David Lee King
How to Write a Short Bio on Yourself, by Pete Kistler
William K. Zinzser, author of On Writing Well, offers helpful advice: “My four principles are: Clarity, Simplicity, Brevity and Humanity. If you keep those four principles in mind, there’s almost nothing you can’t do.”
thanks for including my post in your related resources area, and nice post - lots of great tips here!
And an fyi - my name’s David Lee King - not David Leeking (though I have been accused of “leaking” many things over the years
Keep in mind that you aren’t adding links in a bio. You’re adding URLs. And yes, there is a difference, even if it’s cosmetic.
Many people will see that URL and see gobbldygook. Nothing more. If they click it (and why should they, since it doesn’t look like a link?), nothing will happen. “But they’ll just copy the URL” you might say. Right. I’ve set through more than one session with a client and/or friend who painfully retyped something because they didn’t know you even COULD copy.
I’ll keep HTML code out of my bio on twitter, at least until they start reading it and displaying it in it’s final form.
The rest of the ideas are spot on!
I don’t think you can emphasize enough that Twitter is a social media/networking tool. Sure, it can be a component of your marketing, but it must be done in a social way. When I see links in a person’s bio it will immediately turn me off. That person is almost always SELLING something, and I don’t want to be sold. Looking at Twitter specifically, I don’t friend people on Twitter to be sold anything. It’s often the case that people that approach Twitter as a marketing tool are blatantly obvious, and their friend counts verify this.
We all have our businesses. We all want to make money. But Twitter is a social networking platform, it isn’t an advertising platform. Looking at it like an ad word campaign, in my mind, is completely wrong.
Finally, I would NEVER, EVER click a tinyurl from a bio. That seems like an almost sure path to virus infestation…
Thank you for your comment Steve. Let me clarify and address a few points.
I suggested people look at Adwords for guidance on how to write short, compelling copy. I am not recommending, or implying, that anyone should write an ad in their profile. I personally will click on a tinyurl in someone’s bio only if I think they are credible. If I don’t think they are credible, I will not click on any url, be that tiny or regular sized.
The beautiful part of Twitter is how user-driven the experience is. If you don’t want to be sold to, you have the choice as to who you follow and why.
I appreciate your feedback and look forward to more dialogue.
Hey Zach, I lost track of this thread, so sorry for the delay in following up. FYI, you tinyurl in your profile doesn’t work at the moment, so I’m not sure where it leads. Should it lead to a different spot than your web link that’s clickable? If so, where? And if not, why have it?
Given your follower count, I’m sure you get a number of spam followers (probably a couple per day). I think that’s why my initial reaction to URL’s in bios is so strong, because nearly every spam follower has a URL in their bio that they desperately want clicked.
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I love this!! I need to rewrite my twitter bio, to make sure it represents some changes with my business and also to eliminate some words that have become over-used buzzwords (Social media strategist, anyone??? Would love to know how often that appears. LOL!!) I’m going to think about this and come back and check my new wording against this advice. Great post, Zach!
Neat post, Zach! There really is an art and science to writing an effective Twitter bio that makes people go “hm, sounds intriguing… sounds followable…” and also piques their interest about your business too.
Cheers,
@marismith