Twitter as a Branding Opportunity
August 27th, 2008 (8:00am) Mike Gunderloy 8 CommentsTweet This
We’ve written before about the importance of building a personal brand for independent web workers, and others have pronounced it a “prerequisite for career success.” If you’re a believer in this idea, and you have a Twitter account, there’s an easy way to help define and promote your own brand: use your Twitter page background.
I picked up on this idea from @Pistachio, though it’s been going around. The screenshot is from my own Twitter page – which now, thanks to the ability to upload a custom background, promotes my field, shows my availability, and tells people how to get hold of me. If you’ve got a modicum of talent with any graphics program and a few minutes to spare, you can do the same. The only drawback: no clickable links. But it’s way better than letting Twitter provide the default background, or posting pictures of your cats.
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I’ve seen these backgrounds before, and I have to let you know they all look terrible on Firefox/Mac. The twitters & about segments shift at least 50 pixels to the left & all I see on these backgrounds is half the information you’re promoting. Ick. That’s why I haven’t pursued this advice before.
Here’s what I see:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zesmerelda/2802431227/
The display issues you’re seeing, Tammy, look like they’re due to the width of your browser window, rather than it being browser specific.
The background image is anchored, so if you make your window wide enough, it should show everything.
But you’re right, that’s a big disadvantage to using a custom background with important information in it.
I managed to change my background but what I really like is your sidebar. Keeping in mind my modicum of talent, and the fact that anything graphic takes me longer than a few minutes–how hard it it to do a sidebar like that–really truly!
Thank you!
Tammy – Yes, Brian’s right. I’m assuming a 1000-pixel wide browser window, which is (I think) within the average realm these days, but it certainly doesn’t cover everyone. Hm, I wonder if it’s worth adding a “widen your browser to see everything” note.
and then use Twittercounter to track your brand effectiveness on Twitted… ;-)
A funny coincidence, because I created my own wallpaper branding on Twitter 2 day ago. :) I saw Gary Vaynerchuk’s wallpaper and was inspired to do my own. I’m working on this for all of the social media sites I’m active on.
My profile with the wallpaper is here: http://twitter.com/motionblur
It’s currently designed for 1920×1670, but I’ll be adjusting it to suit a 1024×768 resolution, with the logo left aligned.
Assuming a specific browser width is dangerous these days – you can be almost certain that your site will look ugly every now and then.
I have my browser set as wide as my screen will allow on a Powerbook G4. It still looks bad. I don’t think there’s a way to make this solution work consistently.