18 September 2008 One Comment

One of the questions I get asked a lot by new clients seeking to get started with social marketing and networking is what to include in their profile. More specifically, the most asked question of them all is what to put on their Twitter profile.

I have to admit…

One of the things that scared me the most about social media is filling out my profile. I would sit there frozen. Not able to quite bring myself to write anything that sounded, well… cool. I just sounded like a complete dork. And at the very least, definitely not someone anyone would want to include in their friends or work with.

For a long time I didn’t enter a whole lot of info in social media biographies. In fact, most of the time I didn’t write anything. Then along came Twitter.

I have to say that I like the way that Twitter handles the whole profile thing. It’s really quite painless. Up in the upper right hand corner is your profile information. There is a place for your name, your location, your web address, and a very short bio.

A Twitter Profile is Painless

The first time I was ever really happy with any of my social media profiles was with my Twitter profile .

I don’t know about you, and maybe I’m the only one who feels this way, but I feel like people can see right through my profile. Maybe not so much "see through" it, but be skeptical of it. They automatically think that whatever is written in the little bio box of any social media website is basically embellished or completely untrue.

Anyway, the Twitter profile doesn’t leave room for any type of over the top hype as you only have 160 characters to work with. That means you must get to the point of who/what you are. I can deal with that.

Five Twitter Profile Tips

Twitter Tip #1 Your profile is the first thing a prospective follower will look at. With that in mind you want to keep it easy to read. That means use one word descriptions. For example, I use several one word descriptions which show who I am. Mine reads;

I’m a Husband, Father, Pastor, Youth Pastor, Coach, Advertising Strategist, Blogger, and Ghostwriter… phew!

At first glance you will see that I am married, have children, have invested my life into helping people grow spiritually, am a coach, and help people make money on the internet by advertising and copywriting. But, I didn’t have to write all that. I just used one word for each to describe who I am.

Twitter Tip #2 Give a broad overview of who you are. I don’t fall into the category of those who think you need a different Twitter profile for each different “personality”. As you can see by my profile bio I have several different “personalities”. I am a family person, pastor, coach, blogger, and copywriter. If I were to have a different account for each I’d have five accounts.

Anyway, what you’re aiming for is to give people a snapshot of who you are. This will help them decide whether or not to follow you. Hopefully they will.

Twitter Tip #3 Let your hair down a little. One of the things that drives me nuts is they way people still hold on to their stuffed shirt attitude while on social websites. Everything does not have to be about you making more money. (Yes, I know… that is the bottom line, but you don’t have to be that obvious about it.)

Your Twitter bio is a great place to inject a little bit of you into the mix. If you look at my bio, after I list the things I am involved in I put a little “… phew!” at the end. That’s my way of putting in a little bit of humor. I am, by nature, a person who tries to add humor in most situations. The point of this tip is to be you, not a robot.

Twitter Tip #4 Tell how you can help others. In my bio I have several things listed but only a few are going to actually help people.

I connect with several pastors on Twitter and hope that those looking to follow me will see that I am a pastor and perhaps gain something, or have a place to go when asking a question. I also have my online work. I am a blogger, ghostwriter, and advertising strategist. When someone is looking at my profile they will see that and know instantly how I can help them.

This step does take a little bit of work. It’s easy, but you need to think for a few minutes on how you can sum up who you are but also how you can help others.

Twitter Tip #5 Do it.

I have come across a lot of Twitter bio’s that are empty. For whatever reason, the person decided they weren’t going to put anything there. That stops people from following you. If you’re wondering why you follow so many, but nobody is following you back… that’s probably it.

There is so much Twitter spam right now that people are being very picky in who they follow back. One of the things that keeps followers down is no bio. People can’t see who you are, what you do, and that you’re even real.

Twitter Bio Means More Followers

If you haven’t taken the few minutes to write down a few things about yourself in your Twitter profile, I would encourage you to do so now. It’s quite painless, but very important.

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