Do you think your Twitter avatar and background have an impact on how your current and potential followers view you? Can using an “inappropriate” avatar or background actually be a reason to lower the number Twitter users interested in following you or even attract the “wrong” type of followers?
A few introductory words…
There’s an old saying that goes something like this: “Don’t judge a book by its cover“. But how else would you judge a book if you can’t really see what’s inside of it in terms of content originality, uniqueness, usefulness and/or creativity? The same applies to interaction over social media channels, especially in the case of Twitter!
Regardless of which follow technique you’re using, you will eventually evaluate those you are planning to follow based on one or more of these elements:
- Activity (number of tweets).
- Engagement (number of retweets).
- Following to followers ratio.
- Profile name.
- The avatar (and sometimes the background as well).
Taking that into consideration, I guess it’s safe to say that your avatar and background can say something about you!
What do you want them to say?
Each of us uses Twitter for a certain aim and tweets for a different reason. Therefore, it is highly essential that your avatar and background are able to clearly corroborate the message you’re trying to communicate.
Below, you will find the top 5 ways how your Twitter avatar matters followed by another list of top 4 ways how your twitter background matters …
5 top ways how your avatar matters:
- Recognition: It has been proven that human beings are wired in a manner which allows them to recognize and remember faces. Therefore, if you use a picture of your face in your avatar, you have a higher percentage of being remembered by your followers.
Mashable: An Avatar People Will Remember!
- Expression: What your expression says in your avatar can actually be a factor in determining who follows you and why! Let’s say your smiling, a sincere smile is considered engaging and attracts people to you but a goofy smile might give off an unprofessional impression.
Example of Expressions in Avatars
- Intrusion: Sometimes, especially if you’re using a logo for your avatar, your many tweets might seem more intrusive! Seeing a logo appear 5-6 times on my Twitter home page is far more annoying than seeing a unique or expressive avatar repeated several times.
- Uniqueness: Flash-generated, Japanese animated avatars are not the solution! Sure they are very easy to create but they are repetitive and make you “just like millions of others out there”!
- Meaning & Relevancy: Your avatar should tell a story about you, your company, your service, your product, what you do or who you are and so on. Unless you account is promoting pet shelters, try to avoid using pets as avatars. The more the relevant your avatar, the more it will stick to your follower’s memory!
An example of Avatar Relevancy
Top 4 ways how your background matters:
- Generic is Boring: Twitter offers you a range of Twitter backgrounds to you. But as we all know, and in comparison to the huge number of Twitter users, those backgrounds have become generic, thus boring! Even if you background is a picture of the seaside for example, like mine is, at least it shows that you placed some effort in finding it and choosing it!
Generic Could Be Boring!
- Can be Informative: You have all this space behind your profile page to utilize whichever way you please. Use it wisely! Many users actually take advantage of the background to talk more about themselves, who they are and add additional information that otherwise won’t fit in their bio! You can also use your Twitter product to promote products or services.
- Humor is A Bliss: Humor can help you better reach your audience, depending on the line of work you’re in. Don’t hesitate to use it whenever possible!
Using Humor & Creativity for Twitter Backgrounds
- Can be Repulsive: I think, and I’m sure many ladies out there agree, there are many “repulsive” Twitter backgrounds out there! If you are planning to show a professional or even a helpful profile, avoid using backgrounds which can be offensive or uncalled for.
Finally…
Did you know that you can find lists of Twitter’s top spammer avatars and others of others of extremely creative ones? Do you also know that there has been competitions set up to nominate the best Twitter avatar? What does that tell you? I think it’s simple: Your avatar does matter!
Therefore, for my closing words, I’d love to hear your any more additions you might have to the tips I have provided and ask you: What would be your favorite choice of avatars?
To conclude, and as a way to help you get on the saddle for a better overall Twitter experience and results, here’s a list of 3 free sites for customized Twitter backgrounds… Enjoy!
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Socially yours: