flickr photo by foundphotoslj

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink, he sets forth the premise that first impressions are not only crucial, they’re very, very quick. Like, two seconds quick. Most of us, he argues, will size up a new person or a situation without even being aware of our own thought processes. Furthermore, says Gladwell, these first impressions are indelible – almost impossible to alter.

Not only are first impressions made with lightning speed, they’re also remarkably thorough. Our brains are capable of taking in and processing an astronomical amount of information in that two-second snapshot.

This is why, when crafting your Twitter Profile Page, you need to look at every detail, as well as the big picture, in order to make that first impression really solid. But even more critical than your profile page is the information that gets sent via email to the new people you are following. This is when most of us make the decision to follow back, ignore, or block.

For Part I of this series, I will focus on the information we gather from Twitter’s new follower notifications, and how we evaluate that information. In Part II, I’ll talk about your Twitter Profile as a whole; specifically your Bio, Location, Website, background image, and Twitter stream.

Disclaimer: All rules have their exceptions, and all people use Twitter for different means and ends. This series is intended to help new Twitter users, especially those interested in marketing or branding, who might be feeling a little lost at sea. If you’re confident and happy in your own approach, by all means, break the rules. I break ‘em all the time.

Username

Warning: Don't Try This Username at Home

Your username is far and above the most important element of your Twitter profile. If you’re tweeting on behalf of a company or organization, you should use the name of that company. Personal accounts can be more whimsical. You may choose a nickname, or a variation of your real name. Whenever possible, keep your username short and sweet, and don’t follow it up with a bunch of numbers.

If you chose your username in haste, don’t worry, you can change it. Check out this post from Twitter, which will take you through the steps.

Name

Zappos.com CEO - Tony

One of the better-known corporate accounts on Twitter is @Zappos, which is Tweeted by Tony Hsieh. There are many reasons why this is a successful account, including name recognition, a company that champions transparency, excellent customer service, and the fact that it’s obvious it is always Tony himself who is sending out the Tweets. Tony could have simply used the name “Tony Hsieh”, or even “Zappos” or “Zappos CEO.” But he’s done something more clever. The name on the account is “Zappos.com CEO – Tony.” This tells you everything you need to know about the account itself (it represents Zappos.com, it’s written by the CEO, and the CEO’s name is Tony), and shows that Tony is taking responsibility for the Twitter stream. Smart.

Profile Picture

@anamariecox

Only @anamariecox gets to have a picture of her cat* for her profile picture. You don’t. YOU ARE NOT YOUR CAT. Be yourself, or be your company brand, or be both at once. People will occasionally change their pictures to reflect their support for a cause, or to commemorate a holiday. This is okay in small doses, but watch that you don’t make a habit of it. Your picture is important to your readers – pick a good one, and stick with it.

Some examples of Profile Pics that combine the person with the brand:

@philcampbell, @joshuabaer, @zappos

Oh, and for the love of Twitter, be SOMETHING.

My Tree is Huger than Your Tree

If I see a 0_O instead of an actual picture, it’s an automatic unfollow.

Following/Followers

flickr photo by tachyondecay

You’re new, you’re green, you want a lot of followers because you have something SO AWESOME to sell or market. We get it. But don’t make the rookie mistake of following 1,000 people your first week. If I see that your following/followers ratio is out of whack, I’ll probably not bother to follow you. Take it easy, take it slow, build rapport with your followers, and the people will come. Give yourself a few months, not a few days, to amass those followers. Otherwise the people who follow you back are by and large going to be autofollowers who aren’t even reading your stream anyway. Don’t be a victim of the numbers game.

# of Updates

Along with the following/followers metric comes the final piece of information we see, and that is the number of updates to your account. I’m not automatically opposed to following new people on Twitter, but as my community swells I become more and more selective about who I’ll “let in.” If you’re following a ton of people, and just a fraction of them are following you back, and you’ve got less than 100 updates? I don’t trust you, and I won’t bother with you.

Conclusion

If you tweak all of these things well, the chances that someone will actually click on your profile page and consider following you are much, much greater. But danger lurks ahead! On Twitter, you have to make TWO good first impressions in order to win your followers. The next post in this series will look at your Twitter Profile as a whole, taking into account the impression you make on your Twitter Page, and what you can do to improve it. Stay tuned!

*er, or dog. I know she has cats, so I always just assumed. But it’s been pointed out to me that I could be wrong here…anyway, you are not your pet!

Part II.

Tags: Blink, Malcolm Gladwell, Profile, Twitter, Username, Zappos