The Biggest Mistake Twitter Newbies Make

You’re skeptical, but you’ve heard that Twitter can help you with executive job search, so you decide to take the plunge and set up an account, even though you have no idea what to do with Twitter.

You’ve selected @yourname, or a variation, for your username and popped in your email address. Then you moved on to the “Profile” page. You inserted your location and put in your LinkedIn profile URL for “Web”, because you don’t have a personal website. And you added the same photo you use on LinkedIn.

You can’t figure out what to put for your “Bio”, so you skip over that. You decided you’ll slowly feel your way around first, then come back to it, once you’ve got a handle on how to use Twitter.

That’s your biggest mistake as a newbie.

One of the first things you’ll be doing with your Twitter account is finding and following the right people . . . people you can learn from . . . people you can network with . . . people you can help . . . people who can help you achieve your career goals, or connect you to those who can help you.

These are people you want to stay top of mind with. You want these people to follow you back and watch your tweets.

Think about this. Unless these people you follow automatically follow back everyone, they’ll probably take a look at your profile before deciding whether or not to follow you back. I know I do. I’m selective about who I follow.

When I look at the profiles of new people who have followed me, too often all I see is a nice photo (or sometimes no photo at all), their name, and maybe their location. Since they’re newbies, they haven’t tweeted at all, or only a few times. And they’ve skipped over the bio.

How can I determine who they are and what they’re about with so little information? They’re not generating interest. They’re not giving me a reason to follow them.

With a branded keyword-rich Twitter bio – even one that fits into only 160 characters – I can get a feel for whether they’re someone I want to follow.

If you haven’t worked on branding yet, at least get your job title and most important relevant keywords into your bio. You can go back later and get some of your brand messaging in it.

And you can change your bio at any time. In fact, it’s probably not a bad idea to tweak it from time to time.

Increase your credibility and follow-ability by taking a few moments to write your Twitter bio.

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Twitter Executive Branding Strategy: The Beauty of a Retweet

55 Top Job Search Experts To Follow On Twitter

photo by josh semans