5 tips for creating a Twitter profile that screams “follow me!”

 Creating a compelling Twitter profile is a subtle art

Making your Twitter profile seems simple enough, considering you don’t have a lot of options to work with. But the little you do have speaks volumes about who you are and whether or not you’re worth following. In fact, it has to tell viewers within a few seconds why they should care about what you have to say. A less-than-stellar profile may actually be why you aren’t amassing all the new followers you think you should be.

Whether you’re just getting started or have a few thousand tweets under your belt, these 5 tips can help you make a better impression with your Twitter profile.

One of the more memorable profiles I've seen
from a graphic designer/robot

Tell us (honestly) what you tweet about
Too many profiles waste their precious few bio characters listing useless information. And others mislead us by talking about their interests, and even professions, that have nothing to do with their Twitter use. Your bio is the first place we look to see what you tweet about, so do us a favor and tell us what we can expect from following you. This doesn’t mean you have to be plain and boring, e.g. if you use a lot of humor, write a funny bio, but being direct and honest is much appreciated. Just avoid calling yourself an expert or guru, we’re all tired of hearing it.

Create a custom background
This takes the most effort, but also has the most impact. Your background will make the first and biggest impression on visitors to your page. It’s a great way to express your personality and give a better sense of what you do. If you didn’t have enough space to say everything you wanted about yourself in the bio, you can also include text in your background pic, for example a url or witty quote. To learn how to make your own background and see some great examples, check out Mashable’s how-to guide and the Twitter Backgrounds Gallery.  

Use the one link wisely
This is your chance to tell visitors more about yourself. If you have a website or blog, link it here so anyone who thinks you’re interesting can find out more about what you do. If not, link to a profile page you have on another site. Really, you can link to whatever you feel helps establish your personality and interests, whether it be a presence of your own, or a favorite quirky site. So don’t leave it blank.

Create a universal avatar
Having the same avatar across all social media sites, whether it be Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or any other, will help establish you as a personality in social media. It lets others recognize you at a glance when they see you getting involved elsewhere online. Your avatar doesn’t necessarily have to be a picture of you, but it makes for better engagement and intimacy if people can see the face of the person they’re talking to. If you insist on not using your own face, make sure your avatar is instantly recognizable and distinct so people still know it’s you at a glance.

Be mindful of your profile while you tweet
The biggest influencer of whether or not someone will follow you are those few most recent tweets they see in your stream. If people see an endless stream of @ messages, RTs or posted links, they’ll probably give you a pass, regardless of what the rest of your profile looks like. Stay as consistent as you can in posting interesting, unique content on Twitter. The other stuff is important too, especially talking with other tweeple, but if people see that you aren’t adding your own thoughts and ideas, they won’t see much reason to follow you.

Given how small a window you have to hook your viewers, don’t waste any of the tools you have by leaving things blank or going with default images. The small details make a big difference in your success on Twitter, so take 20 minutes and go through them again. The tweeple of the world will thank you for it.

Jason Ross is a copywriter for The Duffy Agency. He loves working on both traditional and social media projects and speculating on the future of the ad industry.

Comments

[Chad Egeland]

One of the things my Twitter profile is really missing is the custom background. Thanks for the links to the how-to guide and the gallery. Hopefully I am inspired by those links to create something for my profile.

[The Duffy Agency]

My pleasure. There's some really creative stuff in there, hope you find your muse.

[Jon]

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