Get feedback and plan for the future

At this point, you have a Twitter profile that’s ready to greet the public! If you haven’t published it yet, go ahead and do so now. By the end of this step, you’ll have a completed profile and a firm grasp of your next steps.

Once your profile is live, show it to a few new people you’ve interacted with lightly on Twitter. Don’t go to your close friends, because you want a more objective view. Ask them: 

• At first glance, what do you think I do?

• How would you describe me based on what you see?

Thank them for their input and then take a minute to see if what they’re seeing matches up with what you’re trying to convey. If it’s not quite there, tweak and edit until you’re ready to repeat the “show” process with new people. 

In this Playbook, we started by identifying the goals of a Twitter profile: to illustrate who you are, tell the reader how you can help, boost your credibility, and point to a call to action. Then we looked at how you can do that on your own, starting by creating an outcome-focused one-liner. We refined that one-liner using Wes Kao’s concept of a “spiky point of view.”

With that spiky one-liner in hand, we moved into the PIERS framework: Principles, Interests, Exceptions, Reluctances, and Strengths. We went through a series of questions to help you understand each to create a stand-out Twitter bio. Then, we took your answers to those questions and created your very own personal brand guideline. 

That brand guideline comes in handy not only for further refining your one-liner and adding on a second line but also for creating the other parts of your Twitter profile. Namely, your photo, banner, credibility marker, call-to-action, and pinned tweet. Then you posted it, got feedback, and made any necessary changes to make it more closely aligned with your brand guidelines. 

But just because it’s great now doesn’t mean it’s as great as it could be—or that it will be great forever. And that’s okay! This is an iterative process. Your profile changes as you understand more of yourself as a freelancer and your target audience. It’s not meant to remain static. 

An impressive profile is just the start. You've just worked on your “telling”, which gives a great first impression to the people who come into your world. At the same time, you need to show. You need to live up to your promise. How do you do that?

Your tweets are your “showing.” Share things related to your values and personality. You want to stay consistent with your tone and approach, i.e. if you say you're friendly, you have to show you're friendly. 

These all come from your tweets and replies, day in and day out. 

As a final aid, I’d like to leave you with this checklist of everything you should have done in this playbook. 

• Analyze your existing Twitter profile, if you have one, to see if it’s doing what it should do for you. 

• Identify the outcomes you can provide to a client.

• Write a one-liner focusing on that outcome. 

• Refine that one-liner to give it a spiky point of view.

• Identify 3-4 Principles and write 3-4 sentences about each. 

• Identify 3-4 Interests and write 3-4 sentences about each. 

• Identify 3-4 Exceptions and write 3-4 sentences about each. 

• Identify 3-4 Reluctances and write 3-4 sentences about each. 

• Identify 3-4 Strengths and write 3-4 sentences about each. 

• Create a mini brand guideline for yourself. 

• Utilize that brand guideline to refine your spiky one-liner and create a second line that illustrates part of your personality. 

• Utilize the brand guideline to fill out the rest of your Twitter profile, including your photo, banner, credibility marker, call-to-action, and pinned tweet.