Optimize Your Twitter Profile To Improve Visibility

In this blog post, I’ll dissect different parts of the Twitter profile and give you a rundown on how to optimize your Twitter profile to boost exposure.  What you’ll learn: 

1. How to craft your Twitter handle to appear more frequently in relevant Twitter searches
2. How to use your Twitter Bio to communicate your Brand’s message
3. Choose a Twitter Banner that creates a great first impression
4. How to use Pinned tweets to drive traffic to your Website

There are 5 aspects of Twitter you must pay attention to:

1. Profile Photo

Whether you are a business or a person, make sure your profile photo has the correct dimensions. As of 2015, it should be 400×400 – don’t skip on this because it will affect your loading time. To increase relevance in Twitter’s search engine, check to make sure the filename reflects your brand and main keywords properly. Google will use your filename to index.  Tip: Use the same photo for all your social media accounts to ensure consistency and ease of being found. It’s great for brand recognition. Great tips from Social Media Examiner

Make sure your logo fits into the square size. Cropped-off logos look unprofessional and give the impression that your business doesn’t care about the details. Make sure your logo is readable. If your logo contains words that cannot be read, you are wasting the space. Create an image without the words that captures the essence of your logo. Consider switching to a headshot. People connect with faces, not logos. If you are the driving force of your business, why not use your face to make your business seem more human and approachable?

2. Profile Information

Name & Handle: Keep your name and Twitter handle as logical and easy as possible. Instead of going for crazy creative names, keep it simple so people can find you easily. Your twitter handle can be up to 15 characters long, so make it count! The key takeaway here is that being found and recognized triumphs over creativity for Twitter names and handles. If you want to be recognized with a particular keyword – for instance, “Marketing” – you can include it to increase exposure on Twitter.

Twitter Bio:

• Keep it concise, memorable, easy to understand, and informative – capped at 160 characters.
• Your twitter bio will be read by Google as a Meta-Description, so make sure it includes your brand’s main keywords.
• Including hashtags will make it easier for users to find you on Twitter.
• Update your Twitter bio every time there’s a change in what you want to focus on.
• Insert a URL to your latest product, blog, or whatever it is you’re trying to promote at the moment.
• Inform users if you’re using a different handle for customer service. E.g. “for support, tweet @Helpxx.”

Location: Make sure your location is accurate. If there isn’t an actual location or if the location isn’t vital, be creative. Virgin’s Airline’s  location field says “23 US and Mexico destinations”. Website: Make sure to check your URL after publishing. Some companies build custom URLs to track how many people are coming to their main website via twitter profiles. Common parameters are: Source =  Twitter, Medium = Profile, Campaign = General. You’re free to change this depending on your tracking methodology. Create these easily with Google’s URL Builder.

Pro Tip: Using UTM parameters can make your links look long and unsightly. Use a url shortener like Bitly or Google’s URL shortener. The parameter data will still pass and your links will look cleaner.

Below are three examples of Businesses that Optimized Twitter Profile Information. Also, take notice of their creative usage of locations.  Social Media Examiner, Google Analytics, and Virgin America optimizes every part of their Twitter Profile – nothing is wasted!

3. Banner

Size, resolution, content, and color scheme all matters. Once a user clicks into the profile, the banner display is going to be the main visual they see –  you have all their attention at this point. Use a high-quality, relevant, and attractive image to communicate your brand’s message.   As Jeff Bullass suggests, Twitter banner is best used to:

• Announce new products
• Highlight a hashtag
• Promote an event

What if you don’t have any high-quality photos? Don’t worry – there are a plethora of amazing stock photo websites that you can dip your hands in! My favorite one is Unsplash. Below is a screenshot of Unsplash’s “New” page. Don’t use the stock photos as it is, but modify to match your needs. Also, always make sure what you’re visually showing is relevant to your brand. 

4. Recent Post

It’s likely that users will evaluate you based on your recent post. Make sure you’re tweeting quality, relevant, and useful tweets. The key is to post valuable tweets that benefit your Demography. When in doubt, ask yourself, “Is this tweet helpful?” Pro Tip: Pin the post related to your latest marketing initiative. This can be a Tweet from your Twitter ads campaign, latest blog post, or simply  a popular post with the highest engagement. How do I know which of your Twitter post is gaining the most engagement?  Step 1.  Go to your Twitter analytics dashboard. It’s usually https://analytics.twitter.com/user/[YOUR HANDLE]/home Step 2.  Choose one of the Top Media Tweet or Top Card Tweet – whichever is more relevant to your current marketing goal. 

4 Stellar Examples:

1. Burberry @Burberry 

2. Jay Baer @jaybaer 

3. Kraft @kraftfoods

4. Melinda Emerson @SmallBizLady

A secret trick I  use when planning for an optimized Twitter Profile is research what leaders in my field are doing with their Twitter profiles and model after them. So how do you find the industry leaders on Twitter? Step 1. Search the industry of your choice in Keyhole. I did a search for “Social Media Marketing” which led me to the following page. Step 2. Click on “Highest Impact.” Now I have the top Twitter users in my field. Here I have optimized profiles I can analyze to model. Do your own industry search and find high-impact Twitter users in your field to learn from their Twitter Profile Optimization. Below is the full infographic that summarizes how to Optimize a Twitter Profile: For more posts like this, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed and follow us on Instagram and Twitter for best Twitter practices! Keyhole is a real-time conversation tracker that provides keyword and hashtag analytics for Twitter and Instagram. Get started for free and search your brand now!