Twitter 101: Maximizing your Profile

Describe yourself.

 

When you create your Twitter profile and need to write your bio, that’s the prompt. But how are you supposed to do that in 160 characters? Your bio, including your photo and your header image, is the first thing someone encounters when they click on or hover over your handle, so you want to make sure you’re putting your best self first. The information that appears at the top of your profile sets a person up for the Tweets that follow, so you want it to reflect who you are and what you offer to the Twitter community.

 

Twitter has always been a platform of brevity and maximizing the space with which you have to work. Your profile and bio are no exception to this rule, and there are a number of strategies to get the most real estate out of your bio. 

Description

Your description can be anything, which is what makes that first prompt a bit daunting. If the blank space is intimidating, start thinking about how you want to come across to your audience or what you will be (largely) Tweeting about. 

 

Are you going to be promoting your fitness business? Then maybe you want to include your credentials. Or perhaps you’re super into K-pop, and you’re going to be Retweeting your favorite stars, then you’ll want to reference that in your bio. 

More bells and whistles

You can add extras to your bio to help you connect to other accounts and make it easy to find if someone is interested in the type of content you’re Tweeting.

 

Hashtags

Hashtags link your account to others talking about similar topics, and they can be great to include in your bio. These can be hashtags you’ve developed and regularly use yourself, or they can be popular hashtags that are often searched, and you’d like your profile to potentially come up in that search.

 

@ Accounts

Similarly, if you have other accounts, personal, business, or organizations that you’re associated with, you can include those handles in your bio. This could help your followers find more of your content or follow similar accounts that you’re involved in, increasing your engagement on both handles. 

 

Link

There is also space in your profile for a link to your personal website, blog, or Linktree. When you include a link, your followers can easily find more of your online info. You can also easily change this link if you have something timely going on, like an event or a product for sale. 

 

Pronouns

Including your personal pronouns, either in your name or in your bio, is becoming a best practice all over the internet. It gives your followers a concrete place to check that they are referring to you according to your own preferences. It makes the possibility of engaging with you and your content more comfortable, which is the ultimate goal. 

Add on

Just under the bio section, you might also see a Pinned Tweet on someone's profile. This is a Tweet that the person has decided they want to stay at the top of their timeline. Typically, they are either their most popular Tweet or related to something timely (like an article, book release, album release) that they want people to see immediately and engage with. 

 

If you have something like that that you want to be included on your profile, create a Tweet as you regularly would, click on the three dots in the top right corner of the Tweet on your timeline, and then select Pin to your profile. This will ensure that this Tweet is the first one people see when they come to your profile. 

Choosing the right image

You have two opportunities to select images in order to give your profile depth and legitimacy. Most people opt for a portrait of their face or an avatar that resembles them for their profile photo. Giving your followers a face to associate with your Tweets can make their experience with your content feel more personal, and it assures your followers there is a real person behind the handle. If you’re creating a profile for a business, publication, or organization, you will want to upload your logo or another brand identifier. 

 

You can also choose to upload a header image, which will act like a banner on top of your profile. This can be any landscape-style .jpg — and often people will use this space to promote their content or create an overall mood/tone for their profile. It can be a photo, graphic, logo, or any other branding.

 

Your profile and bio are a window into the rest of your timeline, and while setting it up, you want to keep asking yourself: Why would someone want to follow me? Then answer that question in your description, so the people you connect with are genuinely interested in what you’re Tweeting. It’s also worth noting that your bio should change as often as you do. Remember to update it regularly with your new projects, interests, and affiliations. Your followers will love seeing what’s new with you.

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