Twitter is a microblogging and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as “tweets”, created in March of 2006, according to Wikipedia. Since then it grew into one of the most popular social networks, in the world.
There are around 330 million monthly users on Twitter. This is quite a high number and it can be pretty hard to stand out. That is why we decided to make a small manual on how to create an attractive profile on Twitter.
Your profile image
Your profile image is something that people will recognize you by. After you spend some time on Twitter you’ll notice that you “know” people by images not by names. People are bad at remembering names, especially foreign names. So you have to make sure you have an awesome profile picture.
There are only two ways you can do this. For a personal account, you should use your own picture, not your avatar. People like to see other people. They like to know who they’re talking to. They love to see the face behind the name. So use that to your advantage. Make an interesting picture that will stand out. It doesn’t matter how it looks, it doesn’t matter if it’s a selfie or not, what matters is that this profile picture represents you.
There are also some online tools that can help you to make a beautiful and unique profile picture. PFPMaker, Canva, Adobe, ProfilePictureMaker, just to name a few.
The other way you can go is if you’re representing a brand. Then, all you have to do is put your logo as your profile picture. Either way, to create an attractive profile on Twitter you have to use an original image, something that represents you well.
Profile header/banner
Once people click on your profile the first thing, probably, they’re gonna notice is your profile header or banner. It serves as your business card. Twitter header, as any cover image for any social media, should be really your unique expression.
You can use:
- A slogan that will attract people from your niche
- Image(s) or visual that will best represent you and what you do
- You can use a call-to-action header
- You can use automated widgets, like last followers, that some tools offer
- You can create a mosaic of your portfolio
Whatever you choose, and you can choose multiple things at once, the most important thing you have to have in your mind is that it’s really authentic. It has to be something that describes you and your brand. Something that will “speak” to your target audience, as soon as they see it. If you want to create an attractive profile on Twitter, you have to nail the header.
A great Twitter banner can bring you a lot of followers. People love to see creative and unique things because of the noise everyone creates.
Mustafa Khundmiri is using three dots on the blue background which makes his profile banner intriguing and interesting. In order to learn more about him you have to read his bio.
Pratham is using three simple words in bold that describe in short what he is tweeting about. Plus a little subheading under them. He became popular because of the CSS tips and tricks, so he used subheading to emphasize that you can still expect the same content from him.
Dagobert Renouf is known as “Meme King” among the technical, startup, and indie makers community. He often publishes different kinds of memes, every day, that satirically describe founders’ journey. His header is a great representation of what you can expect on his profile. A lot of awesome humor!
Victor is a really talented visual storyteller. He describes different topics, problems, and other things using custom-made visuals. He is also known for great threads and great thread hooks. “Connect with my brain” says it all.
Ryan Hoover is the founder of Product Hunt. His header is a little bit intriguing, and funny, but also a genius when you realize what he does.
Dakota Robertson is one of the most gifted copywriters on Twitter. He simplifies complex topics, but he also shares a lot of interesting and quite valuable information. His banner is 100% aligned with his Twitter username.
Each and every one of those headers tells the story of the person that made it. Here are some tips on how to make your header stand out:
- Make it funny
- Make it simple
- Use interesting visuals
- Create some custom and unique photo
- Make your header intriguing
- Showcase something you’re proud of
- Use clear CTAs
If you have a problem with creating good-looking and interesting headers, there are a lot of tools online that can help you with that. One of the most popular, at the moment, is headers.me.
Your Bio
In order to create an attractive profile on Twitter and to grow an audience on Twitter, you have to have good looking, informative, and interesting bio. This is, probably, the third thing that people notice after they visit your Twitter profile.
There is no exact formula on how to write a perfect bio, but the same as with a profile banner, you have to make something that will speak to your target audience.
Creating an attractive Twitter profile, or any other social media profile is more about knowing what your audience likes. Also, an important point is that you have to iterate your profile with subtle or complete changes once you see that it is not working.
Let’s take a look at some of the examples:
“I’m bad for the economy.” – Daniel Vassallo, @dvassallo
“I deconstruct how the top 1% crush the game of business and life. Helping founders build and leverage their audience:https://maven.com/brandonaadit/makersmark” – Aadit Sheth, @aaditsh
“Founder Contrarian Thinking | Former Wall Street | Own x26 Bizs | Mission to create 1 million owners | Investing in Boring Biz Tech Cos I Newsletter to 110K” – Codie Sanchez, @Codie_Sanchez
“Tweeting spiky POVs on education, community, marketing | Co-founder @MavenHQ. Previously co-founder of altMBA”, Wes Kao, @wes_kao
If we stop a little bit and analyze these four bios we will see that they’re funny and intriguing, simple and to the point, achievements and goals, simple and vague.
The best advice is to copy Aadith Sheth in the beginning. You want to have a simple bio with clear gains for those who follow you.
Let’s make a few examples:
“JavaScript programmer that helps others learn JS 80% faster”
“Economy graduate curating you towards earning first million in 1 year”
“Marketing guru that uncovers the tactics behind successful campaigns”
“I will help you start drawing in less than a month”
These are all examples, but you can use them as boilerplate for your bio, or just as an idea. Take them, improve them and then do it again.
Pinned tweet
A pinned tweet is a great way to promote your best content. This can be anything from your most successful tweet, the tweet you wanna promote the most, a thread of your best tweets, a thread of your threads, the latest article you have published, etc.
It’s really up to you. As with previous cases you have the freedom to choose what you want your visitors to see.
We would suggest you use either your most popular tweet, a tweet where you describe why people should follow you, or a thread of your most popular tweets and threads.
For example Nat Miletic, a very popular guy on Twitter especially on the subjects of SEO and WordPress, decided to make a thread of his most successful tweets.
Marko Denic is one of the most popular guys on the subject of web development. His main content is sharing educational materials for web developers. He decided to pin the free resources for web developers. He wants his followers to find useful content as soon as possible, but also to show, in detail, what followers can expect from him.
Some of the users decide to promote their own work, or product in their pinned tweet. The best example of this is Nathan Holloway. He created an awesome SaaS template called DAS PRO.
What to tweet?
Once you create your profile it’s time to start tweeting. In the beginning general advice is to stick to one theme, one niche. Don’t be too broad. People will find it hard what are you talking about and they won’t know what niche are you covering.
Once you have enough followers or feel the need to change then do it, slowly. Also if you see that some topic is not working for you try changing it to something else you know or love.
For example, you may love talking about code, but you get zero traction. And then you see that your comments on marketing stuff get more traction than your actual tweets. This is a sign that you need to change your niche.
Don’t over-retweet other people. This means if you have 5 of your tweets and 5 retweets, it’s just too much. 80:20 may be the best ratio for this. You need to support others. People will see it and start supporting you.
In the beginning try not to write too many tweets, especially threads. In the beginning, it’s crucial to engage more than you write. For every tweet, you need to write at least 20 comments on other tweets.
Summary
So far you have learned how to make an attractive Twitter profile.
- You should have a photo of yourself as your profile picture
- Your header should be visually attractive and appealing to your audience.
- Your bio should clearly state what people can expect from you and your profile
- Your pinned tweet can be anything that will help your audience connect with you more easily
The next articles are about how to write engaging tweets, when to write tweets, how to engage, how to use DMs, and many more.
Stay tuned!