Signed up on Twitter? Struggling to get interest from recruiters, headhunters, HR and hiring managers? I’ve got the answer for you, fact is that your bio on Twitter will be critical to attracting new followers, it’s even been said that you will get up to eight times more followers with a good bio. Get it wrong and people will run to the hills, get it right and you will build up a loyal fan base. It’s worth investing some time in a good bio as it could potentially attract your dream job.
Staying congruent:
One of the most sacred laws of personal branding is consistency. In an ideal world, you’d have the exact same bio across your website, blog, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and so forth. Due to space constraints this isn’t really possible on Twitter and you have to be more concise. What you can do is taking inspiration from your LinkedIn or blog bio when you construct your Twitter bio.
Twitter bio guidelines:
Any great bio should be based around your personal branding statement. This consists of one or two sentences describing who you are and what your unique promise of value is (what you offer that is unique in other words). Have a think about what problem you solve for others, what solution you provide to your customers for instance.
What content should go in:
As you only have a tiny space for your Twitter bio, you have to get to the point straight away. Be specific and start with something like “I provide banks with insurance solutions” or “I help people achieve fitness through Pilates”. Make sure you get your relevant keywords in there so that you will appear in search results. List any product or service names that you can expect potential customers to enter in search boxes.
Second, list a few specialties that sets your personal brand apart from the pack, such as “first certified scuba instructor in Greenland” or “passionate about your customer experience”. You can also drop any notable achievements or people you are associated with, such as “author of the best selling book Twitterati”, “previous owner of the Springfield Isotopes” or “special advisor to Henry Kissinger”.
End it with a call to action, statement or question. You can go with “contact me today for further information” or “satisfaction guaranteed” or simply ask “how may I be of service to you?”. It’s optional to list further ways to contact you, some Tweeters will add a URL at the end, you can do this but be aware it won’t turn into a hyperlink.
What to avoid:
If you are looking to attract business from your Twitter bio, please omit any references to your political, religious or any other potentially emotive bits. Stay within the realms of political correctness and you’ll be fine. If you want to express your non-PC side, consider setting up another account for that purpose (and keep this away from your customers!).
Conclusion:
Your bio is short, it’s likely to be scanned in a matter of seconds by any recruiter or HR person. Make sure you have stuffed it with the correct and relevant information about who you are and what you do. Failure to do this will result in an uphill struggle to gain followers and you won’t do your personal brand any favors. Set some time aside to really give your Twitter bio the makeover it deserves today.
