Twitter users spend a lot of time making sure that they construct the correct tweets, but how much time is spent constructing bios? Take a look at some of the bios out there, so many of them are awfully written and to top it all off, they don’t tell you anything about the person who wrote it. A badly written bio is even worse than no bio at all. 




It often happens that I scan a follower’s lists to see who he or she is following and to do the same. So many profiles don’t include bios and if they do, they say something like “A bicycle riding, music loving, old school hippy, photographer who loves to cook and girlwatch”. Is this really someone I want to follow? Maybe if the whole “girlwatch” thing was excluded, but even then, this bio doesn’t tell me how this person’s tweets are going to enrich my newsfeed. 

A Twitter bio is ultimately what causes you to follow a person you don’t know. A well-structured, informative and interesting bio will lead to, not only more followers, but more targeted followers. 

Twitter Bio Do’s

Include the following in your bio:

Profile Picture
Corporate profiles can have a logo as a profile picture but individuals should have real photos. People will feel more comfortable interacting with the real you than a created avatar. Description: Be descriptive, interesting and informative. Your bio should tell people why they should follow you. 

Real Name
Just as with the profile picture; people will connect with you or your company on a more personal level if they have a personal name to work with.

Location
This is important because it can lead to networking outside the Twittersphere. Location is important because different locations have different developments and technologies. 

URL
Include a URL to your website or blog. If you’re interesting enough followers might actually go further than social media and take a look at your work or projects. Don’t make this difficult for them. 

Hashtag
Using hashtags in your bio will allow people to find you easier when they search a specific topic. Don’t flood your bio with hashtags, just use one or two. 

Twitter Bio Don’ts

Don’t Leave it Blank
No bio is no good. You might as well not have a Twitter profile – unless you’re a celebrity or someone who doesn’t need an introduction. 

Be Monolingual
Write in a single language, unless you know for a fact that your target audience understands both. 

No Jargon or Clichés
When you use clichés you seem like a spammer and a fake. After all, no one believes you when you refer to yourself as a “marketing guru/ninja”.

Keep it Short
Don’t copy and paste a bio that is longer than 160 characters. A cut off bio looks unprofessional and a copied one is unoriginal. 

No Quotes
Your bio shouldn’t be a quote from someone else. This isn’t genuine and doesn’t really say much about you as a person. Be original and tell people what YOU do and what YOU think. Also, using quotes is really tacky.

Don’t be Challenging
Don’t challenge your potential followers. I’ve seen so many bios that say something similar to “follow me if you’re brave enough”. Um, nah, why take the risk? 

Don’t Type Like an Idiot
By this I mean “TYpinG LiKe An IDioT”. There is absolutely no point in doing this, be a grown-up. Need I say more?

People want to follow those who they share interests with and who won’t irritate them by tweeting things that are completely irrelevant to them. Your tweets are important but your target followers won’t be able to see them unless they actually follow you. They won’t follow you if your bio is badly written and uninformative. 

Have any more tips about writing Twitter bios? Share them with me here or on Twitter @SoundIdea.


Sound Idea Digital is a full service digital marketing agency that specialises in content marketing.
For more information, contact 012 66 44 227 or email to info@soundidea.co.za

Carina Claassens is a Writer for Sound Idea Digital l carina@soundidea.co.za | Sound Idea Digital l www.soundidea.co.za