How to Optimize Your Twitter Profile for Mobile Users

By Julia Borgini
Published December 18, 2014

Are the majority of your Twitter followers using a mobile device?

Do you want to optimize your Twitter profile for mobile views?

Understanding how to design your Twitter profile for mobile views helps you put your best foot forward.

In this article you'll find four ways to make sure your Twitter profile makes a great first impression with mobile users.

Current Twitter data confirms that 80% of Twitter users are on mobile devices. They use Twitter during their commute to work, while they're shopping and while they watch television.

Find out how to optimize your Twitter profile for mobile views.

Additionally, past data from Twitter shows that users who primarily access Twitter from a mobile device are 79% more likely to be on Twitter multiple times a day and are 44% more likely to click on links. This gives you more than enough reasons to make sure your Twitter presence is ready for mobile viewers.

Use the same color scheme and logo design from your website on your Twitter profile.

When you do, you make it easier for your followers, prospects and customers to find and recognize you. Plus, they instantly know what content to expect from your profile.

For example, Qlik's Twitter header is the same image they use on their website.

Use your current brand elements to create an easily recognized Twitter profile.

Both your header image and profile picture need to stand out on Twitter, so they're recognizable on mobile. 

You upload your header image at 1500 x 1500 pixels and your profile image at 400 x 400 pixels, but they're automatically resized when Twitter is viewed on a mobile device. Be creative in those spaces, and focus on presenting your company brand as a whole, instead of just as a logo.

For instance, here's how my Twitter header appears on a desktop:

The header on my Twitter profile uses easily readable text.

And here's the header as it's viewed in the Twitter app on a mobile device. As you can see, not all of the wider header image is viewable on mobile devices. Depending on which Twitter app your followers are using to access Twitter on mobile, they may see even less of your header.

Although full Twitter headers don't show on mobile devices, you can design your header so the key parts are included.

Because they display smaller on mobile devices, you should consider avoiding hard-to-read text or small calls to action in these images, as they may be obscured.

Use this cheat sheet from Online Digital Circle to design a header and profile picture that displays properly.

Use the size information in this image to design your Twitter header to best show off your profile to mobile viewers.

It's also good to remember that many mobile Twitter apps let users hide user names in their news feed, so your profile image may be the ONLY thing your followers see next to your message. Use one that's easily identifiable.

For many brands on Twitter, this means using the company logo as the profile picture, but if you're an individual it's best to use your picture. For best results, use a GIF or PNG when you upload a vector-based profile image and a JPG or PNG when you upload a photo-based profile image.

Whichever you choose, make sure people can immediately recognize and associate the messages you're sending out with your brand or identity.

After the header image and bio picture, your bio is the next thing users see on your mobile Twitter profile. Twitter gives you 160 characters to describe your business. Use them all to tell your story to clearly and concisely highlight your uniqueness and encourage people to follow you.

Jay Baer suggests you should "treat your bio like SEO copy," and he's right. Include hashtags and keywords in your bio to increase the chances of your profile showing up in front of new audience members searching Twitter for those same hashtags or keywords.

This bio is very clear about who Cory Torrella is and what he does.

In the example above, not only does Cory Torrella's bio include keywords and hashtags, he added a call to action to promote his LinkedIn presence.

It's difficult to anticipate every kind of mobile device people will use to view your profile on Twitter. That's why it's important to test out your Twitter profile on various devices.

Though we don't all have the money to buy multiple devices, there are many online tools, like Responsive Test and Responsive Design Checker, to test how your Twitter profile displays on various mobile devices. These tools often let you choose the screen resolution and/or the device being used. Simply type in your Twitter profile URL and you're all set.

It's also important to test out how your Twitter profile displays in various third-party Twitter apps. For example, in both TweetBot and Echofon for iOS, profile header images are blurred when users first view the profile.

Make sure the color of your header doesn't hide your account details.

Here you see why you want to make sure the color of your header doesn't make your account details unreadable when your profile is viewed in a Twitter app.

Your Turn

Given the increasing number of people using Twitter on mobile, it makes good sense to review and adapt your Twitter profile for mobile views, so it stands out in the feed.

Today, you need to constantly grow your network, no matter how small or large your business. A unique Twitter profile that's optimized for mobile can help you develop relationships with new and potential clients who live their lives on the go.

What do you think? Have you optimized your Twitter profile for mobile? Do you check your Twitter profile to see how it looks across all mobile devices? What other Twitter tricks do you use? Do you have a spectacular mobile Twitter profile to show us? Please share your thoughts and links in the comments.

Tweet!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,'script','twitter-wjs'); About the Author, Julia Borgini

Julia Borgini is a freelance writer & online content strategist for B2B Technology companies at Spacebarpress. She helps Geeks sell their stuff. Other posts by Julia Borgini »

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