How’s your Twitter bio?

Good? Bad? You don’t know because who cares?

If you’re trying to create a successful social media strategy, and attracting Twitter followers is part of that strategy, you need to make sure your bio is on point.

But what makes a Twitter bio good or bad?

 

Need help writing an effective Twitter bio? Follow this guide to good and bad Twitter bio practices and you'll be golden.

Good: Words are spelled correctly

I mean, this is true for everything you write. Typos are amateur hour.

 

Bad: Text speak

Yes, you are only allowed 160 characters in your bio. But abbreviating in order 2 save space in ur bio makes u look like a teenager. Srsly.

 

Bad: Symbols

~~OMG this is $o cutesy ~~

Like text speak, symbols make you look like a teen, and that doesn’t inspire confidence in followers/potential customers/business associates.

 

Good: Short descriptors

You want to get across what you do and what will be the focus of your Tweets, but again, you only have 160 characters. Complete sentences are not mandatory here.

If you take a look at my bio, you’ll see the three main focuses of my tweets separated by vertical bars:

 

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With four words and some strategic punctuation, I’ve created a clear picture of what my tweets will mainly be about.

 

Bad: Third-person speak

“Heather McLane is content marketer for Buildicus. In her spare time, she builds suspension bridges and hand feeds orphaned birds.”

This is your bio, and a Twitter bio at that. Why pretend it’s been written by someone else? Doesn’t make sense, and you’re not fooling anybody.

 

Good: Keeping it real

Want to be funny in your bio? Or talk about your dogs? Go for it. Letting folks know a little about you makes you relatable, which is a good thing.

I follow a guy whose bio claims that, among other things, he lives in haunted house. That piece of information right there is what made me follow him.

My bio includes the line, “Sometimes there are swear words.” I feel like that gets across the point that I like to have fun with my Tweets, and I don’t take things too seriously.

 

Bad: "Tweets are my own"

No doy.

Some people put this claim in their bios to protect the company they work for. If your Tweets are that offensive, don’t mention your company in your bio at all. Or maybe just delete your account entirely because yikes.

 

Bad: Hashtag shrapnel

When your #Twitterbio is #unreadable due to #hashtags, you’re #doingitwrong. #blessed #marketing #LOL #why

 

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Good: Talking yourself up

The point of the bio is to make yourself look attract enough so that people will be compelled to follow you. So, is bragging okay? Sure.

Letting people know you’re a superstar (without actually using the word “superstar,” thank you) isn’t easy, but it can be done.

 

 

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The worst: No bio at all

If you can’t sum up in 160 characters what you’re about, I’m going to assume you have nothing of worth to say at all, and I won’t follow you. Simple as that.

 

Don’t forget, you can change up your bio at any time. Write out a couple different versions and test out which work the best. And feel free to have fun with it — you might even get a follow from me.