I’m surprised at the number of people who have 1,000+ followers, but haven’t filled out the basic information that Twitter allows.  In fact, when I see an account with a mess of followers but no details, I automatically assume they’re playing the Twitter Numbers Game, and don’t follow the person.

Below are a list of five tasks that I feel are required for a successful Twitter account:

1. Upload a profile picture: If I see a brown square with two circles and a line, I know that’s not you and I wonder what you’re hiding.
2. Fill out your bio: How am I going to learn about you if you don’t tell me?
3. Provide a link: This is a chance to market your website.  Why pass that up?
4. Start posting BEFORE you start following: When I get a follow notification, I actually check out the new follower’s profile.  This gets time consuming, but I feel like it’s good courtesy.  It also keeps me from following people wholesale, which leads to having to unfollow people later.  When I check out a profile and it only has a couple of posts (or worse, doesn’t have ANY posts), I don’t follow back.  I suspect a lot of people are like this.  Before you start following people, write at least 5-10 posts so people know that type of Tweeter you are.
5. Get a custom twitter background: Anyone who has been on Twitter for a while can spot a generic Twitter background.  If you don’t have the graphic skills necessary to make one yourself, go to Twitbacks and get a free one.

Happy Tweeting!

PS – Once you’ve completed these tasks, follow me!