The best art Twitter bios and pinned tweets have one thing in common: they’re original. There’s not a lot of room to accomplish this, and making your bio original, useful, and personalized in such a small space can be a real challenge. These Twitter tips for artists will help you craft an account that shows off your work and helps your audience engage with you.
Twitter bios and your pinned tweet are the first things anyone sees and they’re your chance to introduce yourself. The wording you choose, and what you link to, communicates a lot about you.
BIO BASICS
Twitter gives you 160 characters to write your bio. While that may sound like a lot, after an intro and a few links, you’ll have hit the limit–but in most cases, that’s a good thing, so long as you’ve said everything you need to say. According to a study by Mention, the ideal bio length is 91 characters; experiment with your phrasing to find a balance that works for you.
Remember that your Twitter bio is searchable – so it’s a great opportunity to include some keywords about your artwork that will increase your discovery. Think carefully about what you want to write, and where you want to direct your followers.
INTRODUCE YOURSELF
Keep it short, but introduce yourself to your followers! Name (or whatever you want people to call you) – the type of art you draw – location – and the company you work for (if applicable) are all viable to put on the first line of your bio.
THE BODY
If you’re currently taking commissions (or even if they’re closed), include this in your bio with your preferred contact method. Next, include any links to your other social profiles. Make it easy to find you! Whether it’s Instagram or Tumblr or TikTok, including your handle will make you easier to discover on those platforms. If you have a specific Call to Action (CTA), or a Patreon you want your followers to support, include that as well.
THE LINK
Twitter gives you one link, so use it wisely and consider your CTA. Do you want to drive traffic to your website or Patreon? Then a singular link will suffice. If you have many places you want to drive traffic – such as other social profiles, your shops, your commissions info – then consider using a LinkTree or carrd.
ADD SOME FLAIR
Make your bio your own! Whatever is “on brand” for you – it can be funny, or include a lot of emojis, or it can be serious, or it can be sarcastic. So long as it’s in line with your personality.
SOME EXAMPLES
PINNED TWEET TIPS
Since Twitter only gives you one official link field in your bio, a pinned Tweet is equally if not more important than what’s in your bio. It will live at the top of your feed and be the first post anyone sees. While your bio gives you 160 characters, a Tweet gives you 280, so you have more room to play around with. Think of your pinned tweet as a second bio.
(RE-)INTRODUCE YOURSELF
While it may seem redundant, introducing yourself again in your pinned tweet is a great place to start. Since you have more characters in a tweet, you should elaborate as much as possible. Include more specifics about yourself and your art.
MORE LINKS!
Unlike your bio, you can have as many links as you want in your pinned tweet. With more real estate comes more responsibility. Decide where you want to direct your followers and link to the most important places. Some common landing pages include your ArtStation, Twitch, Etsy or CO2ign shop, Patreon, or Instagram.
INCLUDE IMAGES
Artists on Twitter have an advantage when it comes to making an eye-catching pinned Tweet, and the best way to describe your art is with your art! Include two or four images (for the most attractive layout) to give new followers an idea of what you create.
SOME EXAMPLES
TIPS FOR TWEETING (ABOUT YOUR ART)
Any time you finish a work of art and upload it for sale, you probably want to link to it and let everyone know. A great idea, but unfortunately it seems Twitter algorithms would disagree.
While there’s no official confirmation that this is happening, it is fairly well-known and studied that, at minimum, tweets without links or any buying-and-selling-related calls to action perform much better. Thankfully, the solution is simple: reply to yourself with your links. Not including the link in your primary tweet increases discoverability, and since your own sub-tweets appear first, you don’t compromise on the link being seen. This is also why putting all your links in your pinned tweet or bio is so important, as you can refer anyone to the links there and avoid them in any future top levels.
DROP THE SHOP
This one is simple, don’t use the word “shop” on Twitter. Just Twitter algorithm things–like above, the word “shop” is anecdotally observed by artists on Twitter to decrease the reach of their tweet. The simplest way to bypass this and stylize your tweet is to get creative with your spelling. Try “sh0p” instead. You can also utilize backslashes and say “s/h/o/p” (a trick many people apply to say “N/F/Ts” or “en eff tees.” as well).
Update Summer 2022 New anecdata makes reports that this is now swapped – that is, putting links as a reply now reduces visibility. Maybe Twitter has made changes! You’ll want to experiment with this.
