You have just 160 characters to compel a reader to follow you or to visit your site to find out more about you and possibly do business with you.  Your tweets are sitting in your timeline, there to be read by anyone who lands on your Twitter profile page.  If a person finds your tweets valuable – that is, that they contain information of use to them either personally or in their business – they will consider following you.  Your Twitter bio needs to communicate the essence of your message.  You need to answer the question: “Ok, so what are YOU about? What value will you bring to me?”

Turn your Twitter bio into an inviting, compelling sales message. And by ‘sales’, that doesn’t necessarily mean you want to sell a product or a service. What you want to sell is a reason to be followed.

Does your Twitter bio address the following:

• “What’s in it for me?” (from your potential clients’ perspective)
• The services you offer
• Does it communicate your personality?
• Does it speak to your visitor or does it only deliver a self-centred message?

Scarab Blue

Here’s an example of the latest Twitter bio I’ve transformed.  Tricia Mahoney owns Scarab Blue, a design agency that offers far more than simple logo design and banner ads.  Tricia has been involved in some of Australia’s largest publishing projects, including Centrelink, Ford and Foxtel.  And, she was Art Director on the Official Olympic Sports Programs for SOCOG.  She offers a full service beginning at initial concepts and development right through to finished artwork and print management.

BEFORE:

Scarab Blue Design is a vibrant, Brisbane-based graphic design company. Our boutique studio specialises in creative design, publishing and brand solutions.

Analysis:

Scarab Blue Design – When you only have 160 characters, don’t waste a significant number of them on repeating your business name when it’s already in plain view just a few millimetres above your bio.
Vibrant – What does ‘vibrant’ mean to a potential client? Would it make a difference as to whether a client chooses your company over others?
Brisbane-based – Considering that a graphic design service can be offered entirely online, limiting your potential client base to your immediate locale can minimise it by as much as 99%.  If you offer a worldwide service, don’t alienate distant visitors by making them think you only operate locally.

AFTER:

Passionate, not precious. Creative, but practical. Consistent, yet versatile. Advertising, publishing & design smarts. Way-beyond-average yet you CAN afford me!

Tricia from Scarab Blue was pretty sure of a few things; that people often have a fairly firm view of what a business like hers does.  She wanted to communicate the fact that she’s very easy to get along with, is armed with limitless creativity, listens to clients’ needs and is not unbending to their ideas as some large agencies can be.  Tricia’s Twitter bio now contains all of those messages, and also outlines the essence of the experience she brings: advertising, publishing and design.  She also wanted to communicate that she offers a professional, agency-quality service but with work-at-home pricing.  Tricia’s Twitter user name is @scarabblue.

If you need help with your Twitter bio, contact me.  For just $95, you can have 160 characters of business-pumping goodness too!