Be Worth Following

On Twitter, in addition to people who share interesting, insightful information, there are many spammers and aggressive marketers that the typical consumer avoids following. To be a figure worth following, you don’t want get labeled as a spammer. So the first step in increasing your followers on the site is to make sure your account is worth following!  Here’s how to do it:

1) Make sure your Twitter profile is optimized with an original picture, bio, and links.

2) Post interesting content often. Balance unique content (authored by you) and shared content (authored by others). Many experts say for each self-promotional tweet, you should share 5-10 tweets about something else.

3) Time your tweets so people see content during peak hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. You can use an automatic scheduling tool out there to time your tweets throughout the day.

4) When someone follows you, follow them back.

5) Be social. Use the site as a way to connect  with others, not just to promote yourself. 

Find and Follow Interesting Users

The next step to increasing followers is to find and follow people yourself. How will people know if you’re out there to follow unless you tell them?

6) Connect with connections first. Put your Twitter URL on business cards and in-store signage to encourage consumers to follow you online. See if people you’re already connected to are on by looking up contacts from Gmail, Yahoo, and AOL email accounts and linking your account to your LinkedIn profile under the “Find Friends” section of the “Find People” function on your account. Connect with those you’re already connected to first, because those are the people most likely to follow you online.

7) Connect with local consumers.

8) Follow people in your industry, niche, and topic area.  Who you follow may influence the content you will retweet and reply to.

9) Follow From Users’ Twitter Lists and “Following” Links. Find people or organizations on Twitter with similar interests, and click the link labeled “following” from their profile page to see who they find worth following. 

10) Tap into influential local circles. Who is influential in your market? Aside from grades on Twitter tools, which may or may not reflect true influence, it may be difficult to determine this at first. One tip is to find and follow local media outlets, businesses, and organizations. Then, look at lists they have created to find more important local figures to follow.

Invest in the Twitter Community 

Twitter is more than a marketing tool. It’s a community you cultivate for yourself. So, give back and invest in the community to build follow karma and increase not only the number of followers you have, but the number of lists you are mentioned in as well.  

11) Particiapte in #chelmsfordhour on Thursdays 4-5pm. compose your tweet and include #chelmsfordhour and they will re-tweet this for you. A lot of businesses get involved with this.

12) Create Twitter lists of interesting users, such as local and topical users and those you’ve met in different social circles. Adding users to lists not only allows you to watch a cultivated, topical stream of their tweets, it’s also a form of virtual endorsement, which may encourage the users on your lists to follow you back.

13) Answer questions and offer advice. In addition to sharing links to interesting content, you can use Twitter as a place to answer questions or offer advice in 140 characters, building your industry expertise and cultivating trust with consumers.

14)  Take time to respond an engage with followers through replies and retweets. Make sure that you’re using Twitter as the powerful, two-way communication tool it is, and engage to increase your fan and follower base.