How To #2 - Get More Twitter Followers
By Gregory Low - August 17, 2013
My "How To" Guide #2 - Get More Twitter Followers
Many people,or I could say everyone wants to be famous right?And majority of us has a Twitter account.We start off with no followers,then slowly it grows and grows.....but we are not satisfied.We want more!
Why would you want more followers? Three reasons:
- More followers provide social authority. Like any other ranking system, the higher your follower count, the more people assume you are an expert—or at least someone interesting. It may not be valid, but it’s the way it works in a world where there is a ranked list for everything.
- More followers extend your influence. Twitter is a great tool for spreading ideas. If you have ideas worth sharing, why wouldn't you want to spread them to as many people as possible? Twitter makes it really easy! The larger your follower count, the faster your ideas spread.
- More followers lead to more sales. You’re likely on Twitter for one of three reasons: to be entertained, to network with others, or to sell your stuff. Whether it’s a brand, a product, a service, or even a cause, more followers provide the opportunity to generate more leads and more conversions.
There are a few things to bear in mind before I share with you how to get followers.
Don’t try to cheat the system. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Unless you are a celebrity who has built a vast audience in some other media channel, attracting followers will take time and effort.
What about buying followers? (Yes,this is possible. Just Google it!) For starters, this is contrary to The Twitter Rules. Worse, these are followers who have no affinity for you. They are like sending direct mail to non targeted, generic list.
What about using special software that promises to increase your follower count? In the early days of Twitter, I used one of these programs. It did increase my follower count—dramatically. I thought I’d hit the jackpot. However, it didn't last.
These programs all rely on “aggressive following” and “follower churn” which means you follow people solely in the hope that they will follow you back. If they don’t, you dump them and follow additional people.
I admit I did use these programs to get more followers.I constantly used these programs that I got my Twitter account suspended,twice!I had to send an email to Twitter to remove my Twitter account from the suspended list.
If your Twitter account is suspended,click here
Instead of using these illegitimate ways to build your follower count, I want to share with you twelve proven ways you can get more twitter followers.
- Show your face. Make sure that you have uploaded a photo to your Twitter profile. I will not follow anyone without a photo. Why? Because the absence of a photo tells me they are either a spammer or a newbie on Twitter.
- Create an interesting bio. Don’t leave this blank. It is one of the first things potential followers review. Explain who you are and what you do. Include that in your bio. Also, be sure to include a city name. By the way, Twitter will not include you in search results unless you fill out your username, full name, and bio.
- Use a custom About page. Your Twitter bio can only include 160 characters. It’s not much room to tell your story or introduce people to all you offer. Consider creating a custom About page on your blog and linking to it on Twitter. Then, when the prospective follower clicks on that link, they will find a page you have created just for them.
- Make your Twitter presence visible. Make it easy for people to follow you. Display links to your Twitter account in your email signature, your blog or website, business cards—everywhere.
- Share valuable content. This is probably my most important piece of advice. Point people to helpful resources. Be generous. Be inspiring. Use lots of links. Create content that other people look forward to getting and want to pass on to their own followers. This is the key to getting retweeted.
- Post frequently, but don’t flood your followers. I head to all sorts of websites looking for interesting things to Tweet about.This will make me Tweet non-stop,flooding my followers timelines.Now, I use Buffer to spread these throughout the day, so I don’t overwhelm my followers.
- Keep your posts short enough to retweet. Retweets are the only to get noticed by people who don’t follow you. Therefore, you must make it easy for your followers to retweet you. Keep your tweets short enough for people to add the RT symbol and your username (“RT @GregJSLow”). For me, that takes up 15 characters, including the space. That means my tweets can be no longer than 125 characters (140–15=125).
- Reply to others publicly. Just click the "Reply" button below the Tweet you want to type your reply on.Try not to use DM ( Direct Message) as this will make your followers think that you're not sociable,and thus they might unfollow you.You should only use DM if you're sharing personal things to your follower(s),such as email addresses.
- Practice strategic following. This is not the same as “aggressive following”. By this I mean, follow people in your industry, people who use certain keywords in their bio, or even people who follow the people you follow. Some of these will follow you back. If they retweet you, it will introduce you to their followers.
- Be generous in linking and retweeting others. Twitter fosters a culture of sharing. The more you link to others, the more people will reciprocate. And that’s precisely what must happen for you to grow your follower count. You need others to introduce you to their followers. However, don’t ask for a retweet; simply post content worth retweeting.
- Avoid too much promotion. Yes, you can promote your blog posts, products, etc. on Twitter but be careful. There’s an invisible line you must not cross. If you do, you look like a spammer—or just clueless. Not only will you not get additional followers, you will wear out your existing followers and many of them will unfollow you.
- Don’t use an auto-responder. Some people (like myself) use some auto-responder apps to communicate with other people,for example - when someone follows you,the app will automatically Tweet/DM for you "Thank you @Name for following me" This is just more clutter in people’s Twitter inbox. Avoid it.
GregJSLow
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