Your Twitter Avatar. How Important Is It?
Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 9:00AM
What is the first thing you see when you start tweeting? That little square that has some picture, logo, or tweety bird in it. The tweety bird has no attraction because they all look alike and certainly do not define the tweeter. A logo is a bit more exciting, however again, you can not really get a feeling of who is tweeting. A picture however, if it is fun and appropriate, can make you immediately want to know more about who is tweeting, and that is where it all starts.
Twitter is all about building relationships. That little square with the picture, logo or tweey bird in it is your avatar. Your avatar is the very first step in building that relationship because it is the first thing someone sees as you tweet. That is why it is so important to have an avatar which correctly projects who you are.
An avatar is a person's alter ego. You could have an avatar of a very sexy woman and actually be an 80 year old man. Or your avatar could reflect a very muscular and handsome man and the person behind the picture could be a 100 pound weakling. But if you want to be successful in building relationships and getting business through twitter, you want to have your avatar truthfully start your conversation and be a picture of you.
How about a business logo as an avatar on twitter? While in some instances this may be appropriate, generally people do not want to do business with a logo. They want to do business with a real person. Business logos may define what your business is but not who you are. People ultimately do business with you because they trust and respect you. They do not do business with your business.
Some sort of full body or head shot picture of you is ultimately the best avatar. It should be professional yet fun and reflect who you are as a person and as a business person. It should attract a reader's eye and make someone say, "hey, I want to know more about that person"
And that is the beginning of building a twitter relationship! Because they want to know more about you, a dialog will start. The dialog then will turn into a conversation. The conversation will ultimately turn into business. But it all started with the avatar which got their attention.
Reader Comments (5)
I think this is such a good point.
I have two accounts on Twitter, one for my chess coaching and one for my writing. I use a good professional headshot for my writing account and a picture of a little girl in front a chess board for the chess coaching. Both work well.
I see so many people err on this. Some don't put any avatar up, which really sends a message of "I don't care enough about this to find a picture to post".
I'm also on LInkedin and am more active there. On LI it is vital to have a good, clean headshot. Sometimes people put up something that makes them look like a spec in the picture or they put up a pic of a logo or their dog (which technically is against the rules). This doesn't work here.
People want to see you, get a feel for who you are.
And the thing I would add is SMILE in the photo. People forget that. A smile goes a long, long way.
Great article. Thanks!
Laura- Thanks for the tips. I agree with you on the people who don't even bother to put up an avatar. In fact, if they do not have some sort of avatar (I'm more lenient with logos...) I won't follow them. If they are new, then I usually will DM them to let them know that they need to put up a picture to get followers. If they still don't, and have been tweeting for a long time, then I don't bother. It is that important to me to see who it is I am dealing with.
Wow, that is really nice that you do that! How do they respond? I am curious if they actually put up a picture or do they ignore you. I started all wrong with Twitter and just collected names. I should have known better! Now I can't read through my tweets. I don't think others are getting mine either.
Laura
have your tried Hootsuite or tweetdeck to manage your followers? On both you can have columns for your lists. It makes it easier to see the tweets you want to read vs the ones you dont. I also quite following the ones I dont want to follow anymore.
I think this is one of the most important things. As you said, a photo is ideal but even a logo, is good enough. I always suggest to my connections on Linked in to please include a head-shot.