The Twitter bio is one of the most important parts of the account. A lot of thought needs to be put in while writing it. It needs to be well written, with an aim and it needs to reflect your brand. But along with all this the bio should not contain certain details. I have already covered the basics for writing a good bio in my infographic How to Create Outstanding Social Media Pages. So I decided to offer a few more advanced tips in this post by guiding you on three things you should not include in your twitter bio. Learn about all three of them below…
1. Hashtags:
Hashtags are great when you include them in your tweets as they boost engagement, but you need to avoid using them in your Twitter bio. Some people like using them in their Twitter bios to optimize their accounts so that they will be easily located through search engines, including Twitter’s. But rather than helping it, they provide a distraction to the reader. You want your account’s visitors to read your bio and then follow you, but adding a hashtag to it will just distract them as they can click on it and check out tweets made with that hashtag and the chances of them visiting your account again will be low. This is a follower or customer lost. So avoid adding hashtags to your Twitter bio.
Only use hashtags in your bio if it’s the hashtag for a Twitter chat you run.
2. Too many links and handles:
Adding one link and/or one handle to your Twitter bio might be fine. As unlike the hashtag the website and the handle can be yours and a visit from your account can actually result in something positive.
People might leave your account without following you, but they might visit your website and use your services or buy something or they might visit your other account and follow you there so a distraction away from your account could result in something positive.
Here again, adding one link and/or one handle is the key as when you add too many, it leads to more distractions. There will be too many things to click on and this will lead to confusion and the websites and account handles added will get very few visits. Also when you add too many handles and links it leaves little space for some of the other important details and this will reduce the effectiveness of the entire account.
So if you would like to add links and handles, add one or the other or just one of each, you could also shorten the link to help you accommodate other details. Using a link shortening tool like Bitly can help you track how many clicks your link is getting and from which locations. I have written how you can use bitly to track clicks on Twitter in my post 3 Easy Ways to Track Clicks on the Links in Your Tweets. Though the technique mentioned here is for links in tweets, the same technique can be used to track clicks on links in your bio.
Denise Wakeman has added only one link to her Twitter bio. This has given her ample space to write a good bio and fit in other important details. She has also added a call to action that encourages people to click the link and visit the page.
3. Too many keywords:
Optimizing your bio with keywords can make it easy for people to find your account, but it can also have a negative effect. Social media is about being social. It’s about communicating with people in a friendly welcoming way and when you stuff a bio up with keywords and make it hard to read, it can lead to your account becoming anti-social and in the process affect your brand and cost you followers and leads. So instead of focusing on keywords, write a bio that is more social and easy to read. If you write a relevant bio, the keywords will automatically add themselves and you will be able to attract a bigger audience as your account will have a warm friendly effect.
Carol Lynn Rivera has a well written Twitter bio. You will notice that it has a few keywords like search, social, marketing and business, but they are written in an engaging and social manner. This makes it pleasant to read.
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What other details should people avoid adding to their Twitter bios? And which details should they add? I would like to hear your thoughts. Please leave your comments below.
Read more: Ready, Set, Tweet! Twitter Basics for B2B Marketers