Social Media

5 (More) Examples of Absurdly Well-Written Twitter Bios

by Marian Schembari on January 16, 2012

It’s shocking how rarely I come across a Twitter bio that inspires me. Most are blank, bland, irrelevant or say almost verbatim what I’ve seen a million other times on the interwebs. But sometimes I come across bios that are snappy, witty, laugh out loud funny and make me immediately want to follow said tweeter (and be their Bestie 4 Life).

Like these five…

I clearly have a thing for writers, but they obviously know how to clearly and cleverly talk about themselves. The bio of @akharlamova just so perfectly describes the life of an author in so few words. And it also does a great job showing that she’s dedicated, consumed and in love with what she does. Nicely done, Arina.

It would have been so easy for @showmethesun to have written, “Book lover. Works in Publishing. From Melbourne.” Instead, she eats books for breakfast! She’s a curator instead of just a blogger. She doesn’t just work in publishing, she loves it. She doesn’t just live in Melbourne, she’s happy there. I feel like I know her already.

I love it when a major corporation isn’t afraid to add a little humor in their bio. What @Staples does is genius in that they quickly sum up what they do, then tap into the joys of every office worker on the planet. Like starch.

@KatjaPresnal clearly has a lot going for her. She tells us why she’s great, what she’s up to, what she does for living, then throws her personality at us in full force. This is a girl I could be friends with. And “carpe the shit out of diem” obviously needs to be my life motto. (Thanks to @aodt for sending this bio my way!)

I’m in love with @IsaChandra and think her loud and clear voice on this bio coupled with such simplicity is pretty unique. Sometimes (aka “all the time”) you just don’t need to over-explain. For Isa, four words is all she needs. I like her style and for those of you who eat more than just meat and potatoes can also appreciate her location quip.

Takeaways

1. A few choice words can make all the difference. Take a page out of Steph’s half-eaten book (see what I did there? I crack myself up) and stay away from over-used descriptions when talking about yourself.

2. What’s a really obvious stereotype about your industry/job/passion? Are you an accountant? Poke fun at the fact that you’re not absurdly boring. Social media strategist? Mention you’re sure as hell not a guru/ninja. Make like Staples and stand out from the crowd by being good-natured about the judgments surrounding what you do.

3. Do you have a specific writing style? Do you swear a lot? Have a rad vocabulary skills? Write poetry? Translate that strong style à la Isa Chandra so that voice shines in your bio!

Want more Twitter love? Read parts 1 and 2 here. And if you’ve seen any great bios lately, please share them in the comments!

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LinkedIn: You Can Do Better

by Marian Schembari on January 12, 2012

This is a brilliant guest post from my friend David. It’s the email he wish he’d sent to a to a generic LinkedIn connection request. Hope this guy learns his lesson.

Dear Guy-who-sent-me-a-generic=LinkedIn-request,

You sent me an invitation to connect on LinkedIn, even though you don’t really know me. Of course, I know you, or at least know who you are. With about 7,000 Twitter followers, blog, Facebook profile and fan page, YouTube channel and Flickr account, you’re kind of a big deal in the Chicago social media scene. People I interact with regularly know you or have heard of you. You come up in conversations. I’ve run into you at networking events and even tried to introduce myself. You were too busy being social with friends instead to talk to me (instead of actually, you know, networking).

Your LinkedIn invitation consisted of the generic text provided by the network: “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.” How lazy and impersonal. Why don’t you send me an auto DM on Twitter while you’re at it? I thought everyone who knows anything about LinkedIn knows this is the ultimate faux pas. Perhaps I’m wrong though. You list “Social Media” among your specialties.

The invitation also says you’ve indicated I am “a Friend.” I recognize “Friend” is a relatively loose term when it comes to social media. People who have never met in person are Facebook friends. If you have no other connection and want to get around having to look up an email address, “Friend” is the viable only option on LinkedIn. But aside from knowing the same people, we aren’t really that chummy. Perhaps you’re using the term “Friend” just a bit too loosely in this case.

Your LinkedIn invite would have been more effective if you had said something like this:

Hi David,

We seem to operate in similar circles.  Why don’t we connect?  Perhaps we’ll meet in person sometime soon.

Regards,
________

That probably would have resulted an acceptance of your invitation. For the time being, though, my response is, “You can do better.”

David Salkover works in the Meeting and Events industry. He’s passionate about tradeshows and conventions, and is never without a good book to read.  Far from being a social media guru/ninja/expert, he’s more of a social media nerd. David tweets about whatever happens to be on his mind at twitter.com/dbsalk. 

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More Twitter bios to inspire you…

by Marian Schembari on December 6, 2011

Welcome to part 2 of Twitter Bios That Will Rock Your Socks.

After publishing last month’s post I realized the majority of the people featured were writers. Apparently writers can write well. Go figure.

While authors may have the upper hand in crafting short, sweet and memorable bios, I did try to avoid that “mistake” this go around. I even feature a company or two!

Alright, so maybe @joelharperfit was a client of mine back in the day, but his bio is still a work of genius. It establishes him as an expert (re: impressive clients) while also showing he’s not snobby about it (re: 10 year old kids). It subtly hints at a product you can buy without shoving it down your throat (re: FIT PACK) and then makes him relatable and easygoing with the dessert comment. Pretty much the perfect bio.

I featured @AuckTransport recently and for good reason. Every Aucklander without a car (and sometimes with) can relate to the ridiculous inefficiencies of Auckland’s public transport system. What I love about this bio in particular is that it starts off almost like it’s an official account, then throws you the “shit” curveball. (And I’m nothing if not a girl who loves her potty language.) Finally, they round it out with an extremely identifiable quip about transport delays. Genius, I tell you!

@RedheadWriting (aka Erika Napolentano) makes me think, cry, laugh out loud and is one of my favorite bloggers of all time. So it comes as no surprise that her bio is both impressive and self-deprecating. She makes other Twitter-lovers feel some sort of connection AND it says what she does while giving us an idea of the kind of writer she is. She’s a digital girl without looking like every other digital girl.

Food blogger (and another personal favorite of mine), @joythebaker has such a simple and perfect bio there’s not a lot else I can say. This fits her online personality and makes me want to immediately make a batch of her cookies (a recipe I most likely found on her blog).

Yeah, it shocked me too when I found myself screenshotting the profile of @BNZBank. But come on, how great is this bio? Very simple, to the point and clear they understand how Twitter works. They’ve managed to combine their long history (150 years of banking) with new digital technology (140 characters). Plus, when a bank give us a glimpse of humor they become a-okay in my book.

Another company profile I just had to include. @threadhelp is so great because they walk the walk. I had a question the other day and they responded within the hour. They’re true to their word and while this profile is nowhere near as fun as the official Threadless account, it serves such a great service and you can feel the smile coming right out of your screen.

Takeaways:

1. Relatability is huge. Make people feel like they know you and have had similar experiences.

2. Be impressive. Highlight your mad skills, but don’t get cocky. Feel free to list a snazzy award, column or hot client, but don’t forget to round it out to point #1.

3. Sometimes you don’t need to list all your hobbies, job titles, URLs, etc. Sometimes a simple sentance that sums up your Great Passion is enough to grab our interest.

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How I Use HootSuite: An Organizational Tutorial

by Marian Schembari on November 21, 2011

A few months ago I made a video tutorial for the subscribers of my newsletter. To be honest, I never really liked making “exclusive” content so the newsletter is now defunct and I’m re-purposing some of the good ones that went out last year.

As you’ll see below, this tutorial is a demonstration of how I use HootSuite and keep it organized. While I’m a big proponent of “different strokes for different folks”, I personally love taking a peek into the quirky ways people use things. While my setup below is by no means unique or all that creative, it does work hugely well for me in terms of keeping up with searches, conversations and not losing my life entirely when I sign in.

Enjoy!

For those of you who aren’t into the whole video thing, here’s a quick summary:

  1. HootSuite is more awesome than TweetDeck because it’s web based and there’s more flexibility in terms of organizing followers, topics and events.
  2. Use the “pending tweets” stream to start scheduling posts to go out so you can reach as many followers as possible.
  3. I organize my main tab with my home feed, @replies, sent tweets and pending. This way I can see everything at a glance and avoid sending a post out more than once.
  4. Go through your home feed every morning and see if there’s any conversations you can jump into.
  5. If you have a blog, organize a separate tab to include people who regularly comment/retweet so you can return the favor and stay in touch!
  6. Use well organized and highly specific lists so you can keep tabs on interesting people in your industry, coworks, real-life friends, etc.
  7. Set up a tab for any Twitter chats you join. Create columns for mentions, the hashtag and the moderator’s username so you don’t miss any questions or important comments in the flurry of the chat.

Any questions, don’t hesitate to ask below in the comments. And if you have any tips for me/us or if you’ve found different aspects of HootSuite useful, please share with the class!

Update: A few of you have asked to embed this video on your own sites and you’re more than welcome! A link back as credit would be a nice, but isn’t required.

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Tips From Bloggers Who Don’t Blog About Blogging

by Marian Schembari on November 16, 2011

I’ve made it pretty clear that one of the best things you can do for your blog is to branch out from reading bloggers who only blog about blogging (I’ll let you decide for yourself if this post is too ironic to read). I learn most from bloggers who talk about food and travel and design more than I’ve ever learned from people who have no experience blogging about other things than blogging.

(Let’s play a drinking game – you drink every time I say “blogging”.)

That said, almost every blogger worth his or her salt will occasionally write about blogging, regardless of niche. This is usually after they’ve become moderately successful and get bored with all the emails from fans saying, “How did you get your blog to be so popular?”

So they write posts. They answer questions, they give you a day in the life and generally impart their wisdom.

This post (about blogging on a blog that posts about blogging quite frequently) is compilation of those posts. The posts by people who don’t blog about blogging regularly but have occasionally posted on the subject.

Blog: Joy the Baker
Niche: Food
Post: 10 Real Talk Blog Tips
Takeaway: “I don’t think this blog would work if you didn’t know how silly bonkers my life is. You know that there’s cat hair everywhere. You know that I burn toast. You know that I date boys and get dumped.”

Blog: Young House Love
Niche: DIY
Post: Time, Money and Pies
Takeaway: “Our philosophy is that if you take the time to read what we write, the least we can do is return the favor.”

Blog: Carrots ‘n’ Cake
Niche: Healthy Living
Post: Blogging Tips for the 9 to 5
Takeaway: “I don’t have much free time, but I love blogging, so I make sure it’s part of my day… If you have a laptop or a mini laptop/notebook, blog on your commute. Use Windows Live Writer or Ecto if you don’t have access to Wi-Fi.”

Blog: The Happiness Project
Niche: Happiness
Post: 13 Tips for Beginning Bloggers (Which I Learned the Hard Way)
Takeaway: “Post every day. It’s counter-intuitive, yes, but strangely it’s easier to post every day than to post three or four times a week. You don’t procrastinate, you loosen up, you stay engaged with your subject, and you’ll be taken more seriously by readers.”

Blog: Design*Sponge
Niche: Design
Post: Online Etiquette and Ethics part 3
Takeaway: “Collaboration, like contributors, can be the key to a blog’s success, growth and pushing past those pesky creative blocks we all run into now and then.”

Blog: The Pioneer Woman
Niche: Family
Post: Ten Important Things I’ve Learned About Blogging
Takeaway: “Be varied. Change things up. Offer a smorgasbord of content. Unless you’re, say, a fashion blog. And in that case, you should probably continue to blog about fashion. But never blog about the same top twice!”

Blog: Penelope Trunk
Niche: Career
Post: Penelope’s Guide to Blogging
Takeaway: “Blogging is a conversation, and it is much more fun if you are part of it, instead of just talking at people. One of the great pleasures of blogging is linking to someone who I don’t think knows that I read their blog. A link to someone is like saying, ‘I really like what you’re writing and in fact, I want to share it with everyone I know.’”

 Any of these posts/takeaways resonate with you? Have I missed anyone?

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