As of press time, there are approximately 1,436 katrillion Twitter users, so I can understand why it might be difficult to distinguish yourself from everyone else in your Twitter Bio when you’ve only got 140 or whatever characters.
Maybe you use Twitter to chat with friends. Or maybe you use it pass on world-crushing news headlines. Every three minutes. Or maybe you want to use social media to connect to people. Forty thousand people. On an intimate basis. Or maybe you don’t use Twitter at all, in which case, I commend you. You must have an awful lot of time on your hands because of it.
But for those who do use Twitter, if you want to stand out from the rest, if you want to separate your wheat from their chaff, please avoid the following commonly used Twitter Bio cliches.
Twitter Bio Cliches
- Using the word “entrepreneur”. Do you not realize it rhymes with “cat manure”? You should use the word “me too” instead because it means the same thing and it uses less characters. Or try a creative derivation, like “frogpreneur”. Or “sludgepreneur”.
- Loving shoes and chocolate. Unless you’re a man, in which case, that is different.
- Loving your life. Nobody wants to hear how fabulous your life is, Pollyanna. You’re one of those people that tweets about what you’re having for lunch, aren’t you. Aren’t you!
- Being married to your best friend. See item #3.
- Your passion is sharing marketing tips. Yeah, you and 456 craptillion others.
- Your passion is helping people live their life to the fullest. Listen to yourself. Read that out loud. What do you think that sounds like?
- Being passionate about anything, really. Take a chill pill, Eager McEagerstein.
- Trying to “stay sane” in your “crazy life”. Ask the next 10 people you see if they think their life is crazy. If less than 10 of them say YES, then you can leave your bio as is.
- Being a “strategist”, “guru”, or “maven” of some sort. Or worse, all three.
- Any misspellings whatsoever. This isn’t necessarily a cliché; it just grates on me and makes you a grammar klutz. Unless you’re doing it on purpose. Like “Vampirepreneur”.
Use the above checklist to count how many cliché violations you are committing. If your Twitter Bio contains three or more of the above references, knock it down to one at the most and replace them with something truly different and unique.
Or convert them to an obvious list of hashtags, so that you’re telling us that you know that we know that you know you’re just using buzzwords for search results. But if you’re simply using them to describe yourself, you’re not one in a million; you’re one of a million.
I’m not saying that being a “life coach” or an “entrepreneur” in and of itself is a bad thing, but when you jump into the pool and everyone else is yelling that they are a life coach or an entrepreneur, when millions of other people use those words to describe themselves, it dilutes the meaning and lessens their effectiveness in distinguishing yourself from the pack.
So take a second look at your bio and see if there isn’t something that helps individualize you. Want some suggestions?
Twitter Bio Ideas and Suggestions
Consultant vs. Entrepreneur – How about neither? Try to be a little more specific than these generic and commonly used terms. Are you a UFO consultant, perhaps? Or maybe you’re interested in building businesses on Mars. Yeah! You could be a Marspreneur!
My Passion Is… – If you find that you’re running out of room, remove the phrase, “My passion is…” because it sounds like something you picked up at a Tony Robbins seminar. Use your OWN words. Say “I love…” or just list what you love. It uses less characters to say: “Big Foot, Abominable Snowman, Loch Ness Monster” than to preface it with “My passion is…”. If you produce a list of items that you’re into, we’ll know you love them.
Favorite Food – Everyone loves chocolate. But what do you like that a lot of people don’t like? You know, something icky like persimmon-stuffed anchovies. How many other people like that stuff? Let alone proclaim it on their Twitter Bio.
By the way, I’m not saying mine is all that and a box of Twinkies, but I’ve managed to avoid violating the Top Ten List, and I’ve incorporated something you might not see on someone else’s bio:
Click on bio to follow me on Twitter
So for the love of all that is holy, take another crack at that bio of yours and see if you can’t throw one semi-unique description of yourself in there.
Meanwhile, if you want another follower, follow me on Twitter. I’m @nannygoats. And I’ll catch you on the flip side. Or whatever the kids are saying these days.
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im new to twitter but I can’t seem to think of a good twitter bio can I get some help
[…] Need Help With Your Twitter Bio? Actually, That’s Not a Question. […]
How ’bout:
“Loving life”, “trying to stay sane in my crazy life”. Naw. I eat mustard with a spoon.
Fabulous! It sort of sneaks up behind you with an awesome surprise. 🙂
Going to change my twitter bio NOW.
Best advice I’ve had since…well, since I read your book!
Ha! How on earth did you stumble onto this old thing?
I can be really unique-over 60 and on Twitter.
Hee hee! Yes, how many people can say THAT? 🙂
Okay, I just updated my Twitter file. Now I guess I’ll just wait for the teaming masses to discover me…
Waiting…
… Still waiting.
Give it another minute, smartypants.
😉
I wandered over here from a Tribal Blogs email. Love this post! Somehow my twitter profile has avoided all the cliches, but after reading the comments, I want to add something zombie-ish, too! 🙂
I’m so glad you wandered over here from the TB email! And you should pat yourself on the back for your successful cliche-less bio! Go Nina!
I love you more than Meleah. Now I’m going to have to change my whole bio to include Vampirprenuer and my love of all things aliens.
What is the ist?
You know…. ist. For congruency, or parallelism, or whatever that thing is where you’re supposed to keep the same form in a series of words in a sentence. Or something like that.
Ah, I get it. The period after “squirrel tamer” threw me. I would have said
“squirrel tamer – ist.” But my grammar sucks so don’t listen to me.
Grammatically speaking, you are probably correct, but I think I was going for that comedic beat, as if I suddenly remembered I should probably put an “ist” at the end of it which required a longer pause, and I can’t believe I’m dissecting this to death – somebody stop me – did I mention I never went to bed last night? Yeah.
Why didn’t you go to bed last night?
Thanks for the tips NGIP. I don’t tweet but I think I can should have a go at changing my profile on blogger. Just checked it…maybe not.
But I really love yours and I have gone on to vote!!
Thank you so much for the vote, Ginger!
Dang… now I’m going to have to go see what the heck I wrote on my bio. Hope it wasn’t anything too cliche and embarrassing!
Hee hee! I’m sure you’re fine Boom Boom!
You go girl!! I agree. Passion sounds like something picked up from a dirty toilet seat.
Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!
Nice one, though.
🙂
[…] See also: Need Help With Your Twitter Bio? Actually That Wasn’t a Question. […]
Yikes! I don’t remember what I have on my bio, probably five of the don’ts. So, I am heading over to Twitter to revise. Thanks for the suggestions. Love your site!
Thanks, Linda! And I’m sure your bio is fine. I was sort of half kidding when I wrote this. Sort of. 🙂
I always love when people say they are addicted to twitter. Um, your twitter activity will show your level of addiction. Save the characters for something else more worthwhile to say.
Ah, yes. The old SHOW vs. TELL thing.
I completely agree with you there.
You bio is awesome!!! I do have more time since I don’t use Twitter at all!! Ha! I always forget about it. Sigh!
Hugs
SueAnn
Well good for you! Gosh, what do you DO all day without Twitter? 😉
Great suggestions! I had to double check mine and than I realized I didn’t even fill out my profile. So I guess that makes me ironically cool or just plain ignorant. Or since I tend to always be a complete and utter grammar klutz I was frozen in terror and too afraid to fill out my profile.
I’m going to go with ironically cool. But should you ever decide to go down that road and actually fill out your profile bio, I wish you good grammar. 😉
I think #4 and #6 are my favorite. I can’t stop laughing at this post!
Thanks, Aims.
And thank you for the retweet too. You’re the best!
I have 3 hands. Wait. Hm.
Good post! No GREAT POST! BOOM!
Well there you go. Three hands. How many people can say THAT?
You funny. ist. I’d follow you but I’m a Twit. ist. when it comes to Twitter. So I voted for you instead.
Signed,
Twinkiepreneur
Oh, THANK YOU for voting Nick! I’d ask you to marry me, but I think I’ve already done that.
You funny. ist. I’d follow you but I’m a Twit. ist. when it comes to Twitter. So I voted for you instead.
Signed,
Twinkiepreneur
OK I’m changing my Twitter profile to “best person to have by your side during the Zombie Apocalypse.” Which is true. Especially if you are kinda slow and tip over easy.
You should TOTALLY put that in your bio. How cool would you be then? Not to mention all the people you’d attract. 🙂
Your cliches are right on. I hate people who say they’re going to make my life better. Take it somewhere else, Preneur Boy!
oooh, Preneur Boy, I like that. Sounds like a bad sidekick name to some Superhero.
The only tweetin’ ’round here are the massive amount of wild birds I feed year round but if I ever start, I’ll be sure to look ya up when I write my bio.
Now, truth be told you are all that and a box of Twinkies! (and a squirrel tamer too…WoW)
Have a fabulous day girl!
Keep on tweetin’, girl!
My Twitter bio is: “Hockey is my passion. The Red Wings are my obsession.” I guess that part about my passion has kept me from getting too many followers? 😀 But then, considering I began on Twitter JUST so I could stay in touch with other Wing fans, I guess I’m doing okay. 😉
I’m sure you ARE doing OK. Truth be told, I don’t think using any “cliche” keep you from getting followers. It probably connects you to others with similar interest, like Wing fans! 🙂
I appreciated #6 especially. In online dating profiles, I have made sure to specifically point out that I do not live life to the fullest, because I actually do enjoy TV. And sleep. And they can take it or leave it. (Usually the latter.)
Thank you for that. And as far as I’m concerned, sleeping is part of a good life anyway. Isn’t it supposed to help you live longer? You know, so you have more life to live to the fullest?
If I had a dollar for every profile I saw that mentioned wine, well, I’d have several dollars. I like wine too, but it’s becoming a cliche among “mom bloggers.” And I also hate that term. “Mommy blogger” even more.
Twitter bios are like reality shows – the market is getting so saturated with certain words and phrases. And they demonstrate the need for good writers.
I’m just full of bad ideas.
That’s perfect!
You crack me up. I’m almost 60 years old so I can say that.
60? Awesome. Actually, I say it too, so I’ve decided it’s okay for both of us to say thast.
What about people who put “follower of Jesus” in their profiles? Does this mean they @JesusChrist?
Hi Anne-Marie –
I’m not sure what you’re asking so I can’t tell if you’re mad at me or making a joke. I hate it when I don’t get what someone is asking because now I’ll feel dumb as you explain it to me, but your 2nd question is throwing me. It’s either missing a verb, or you’re using an advanced form of Twitter speak I’m not aware of.
Sorry!
It’s a bit of sarcasm and a joke aimed at them, not you. Frankly I find it a little weird when people discuss religion in their Twitter profiles. And if they follow someone, they “@” them, right?
Even though you can’t show me how to live my life to the fullest, I’m pleased that you taught me a new word. Now, I just need to work crpatillion into my Twitter bio. Too bad I’ve only had 2 husbands and 3 kids, hmmm.
Yes, everyone should use craptillion. At least until one person just before it becomes cliche’. (love the name of your blog, by the way)
perfect. really. I’m passionate about this post. Look me up so I can share my marketing tips with you. I’m a Maven of Guru-Strategists.
Awesome. I’ll have my entrepreneur call your entrepreneur. We’ll do lunch.
Awesome!!! Love love love it! You rock!
Thanks, Robyn! No, YOU rock! And thanks for the retweet!
I actually thought having a facebook acct or profile or whatever it is was the utmost waste of time and space. I do not have an acct on facebook nor do I plan to. Twitter is enough for me as well as my blog.
You are definitely saving a LOT of time in your life if you do not have a Facebook thingie. Good for you!!
The publicist’s says Jewelry designer, soap maker, goatherd
She thinks that says it all.
I do not tweet. I am not a bird. I maaaa
Short and sweet. Perfect!
I only use Twitter to stalk people.
RuEtta.ist <—- LOL!
Isn't that the only reason to use Twitter?
I have the words “committing homicide” in my bio. You should be proud.
“committing homicide” definitely rocks. Keep up the good work.
I freaking LOVE you!
Not if I love you first! Wait, that’s not it. It’s something about loving YOU, though.
HA! xoxo