Your Twitter Bio is Not Enough: Here's What to Do

"Finally, this guy is often having casual conversations with others publicly. He is also showing appreciation to other people's work. He gets involved and I think he is not just about himself."

These are the basic ways of how people view your Twitter wall as well.

Okay, you want people to notice you on the Internet. You get obsessed over crafting (and tweaking) a nice profile and a personal website to tell the world who you are.

But what if I tell you this is useless? You're wasting your time!

Yes, I'm seriously. While a well put together profile is key for 1st impression, what I'm about share is far more important!

But before I do that, I think it is the right time I tell you something about myself.

I met my beautiful wife in 2016, we got married in 2019, and our first child was born in 2021. We're a happy little family.

"How did you two meet?"

We met on a dating app. I still remember we met up at a Chinese restaurant for Sunday lunch (quirky for a 1st date, I know!)

Through the years, we would talk about how we felt when we first saw each other. We both agreed we were attracted to each other based on 1st impression, but it was the tiny interactions in daily life that brought us together to build a family.

Like what? Care for family, think in the other person's shoe, being honest & logical etc.

And we only learned all these when we were dating each other. We observed each other's actions carefully. Our profiles on the dating app weren't an important factor at this point.

If you think about it, your Twitter bio works the same way. Its job is to give people a great 1st impression, but what's next is your behavior, action, and contribution.

Don't get overly obsessed about your bio, and let's focus on leveling up your action. I'll show you here how people generally read a Twitter profile so that you can work on the right things.

Stop 1: Your Following & Follower count tell us how you approach your online relationships

When someone looks at a Twitter profile, the 1st place the eyes land on is always the metrics we all obsess over: Following & Follower

Monica (320 & 21.3k) immediately comes across as credible and influential in her space. She only follows 320 people, meaning she is highly selective.

Brian here (562 & 462) is likely a new Twitter user but that means he can be very active and engaging on the platform.

Then sometimes we see someone like this:

An instant turn off

We start to think this person is an attention seeker and only follow so many people in hopes that some will follow them back. A ratio this tilted doesn't work in your advantage.

What did we learn here regarding these 2 numbers?

1. It is good to keep your "Following" count low as it implies you actually use Twitter like a normal person, not an attention seeker. No one can possibly have time to interact with >1000 people in my opinion.
2. When your follower count goes up, you give off a different impression: new on Twitter vs active user vs micro influencer vs big influencer. You should have a different Twitter strategy as you grow, but let's leave it for now, that's what I cover in my courses

Stop 2: Your profile pic & banner tell us your personality

Your picture choice gives off a lot of cues about who you are.

I love this one from Leif.

‍

He instantly tells me he is casual, fun, and friendly. He doesn't take Twitter that seriously and he is open to chat!

Someone who uses a cartoon is the opposite: unapproachable, hiding behind the computer, and uncomfortable.

I always suggest people to use a real photo because that's how human connects with one another. And if you want to become a successful entrepreneur or creator online, eventually you'll have to put yourself out there. Why not do it now & get used to the feeling?

(Of course, there are legit reasons why people don't want to do it: have a full-time job, culture limitations etc. My suggestion here is based on the best scenario.)

"What about the banner??"

‍

The banner is a big piece of real estate on Twitter, so you better utilize it well. A beach photo signals that you're a relaxed person who approach Twitter or branding subtly.

A photo or illustration with some sort of slogans tell us that this person is starting to craft his/her personal brand. They want to be perceived as a leader in this space, but it is totally fine. They're not pushing too hard.

Lastly, you'll find banner that has a clear call-to-action (CTA) pointing you to Follow.

While it is probably true that by encouraging people to take action, you get a better conversion rate, this implies you're business-driven and result-oriented, you're on Twitter because you want to grow your business or project.

What's the best approach to these 2 photos? It's different for everyone, it comes down to the personality you want to be perceived as.

Final stop: Your wall tells us all about you

If you think people check out your bio and that's it, let me remind you how I met my wife. Even if we were attracted to each other on the 1st date, if our actions fell outside of expectations, we would have split and moved on with our lives.

People quickly scan your Twitter wall looking for signals about who you are. They're asking questions like:

• "Do you have great knowledge to share?"

Do you share useful content?

• "Are you full of yourself?"

Do you only talk about yourself?

• "Are you a friendly person?"

Do you have convos with people?

• "Are you nice? Is it worth my time knowing you?"

Do you show appreciation?

‍

"Kevon, can you give me some examples???"

Okay my friend, I'm a fan of examples! You're lucky.

Imagine you're scrolling my Twitter wall - this is likely what you're thinking:

"This guy is raising a good point and a lot of people are joining in the conversations! That's a good sign."

"This guy retweets other people's work. He does it often so he is not totally self-centered! He cares about being in the community."

"This guy also runs a course and they look happy. This is a promotional post but at least he is sharing some good tips around his work."

"Okay, another example of this guy supporting other people's tweets. Good!"

"Someone else had something to say about this guy's work. I'm not sure if this is real or fake, but I'll keep watching!"

"Finally, this guy is often having casual conversations with others publicly. He is also showing appreciation to other people's work. He gets involved and I think he is not just about himself."

These are the basic ways of how people view your Twitter wall as well.

As of now, you might be similar to this person above who tweets casually and doesn't get a lot of social proof or conversations going on. It is completely okay as someone new on Twitter, it takes months of practice to grasp it.

But at least by now, you should have a very good idea of how people look at your wall and decide what kind of action you want to start having.