Twitter followers, how do I get more of them?

10 tips on how to get more Twitter followers

One of the best ways for a small business, church or non-profit to increase its brand awareness and reach is to have a strong social media presence,particularly on Twitter. A single “tweet” can instantly become a national headline, and you need a growing following to make sure your tweets are seen. I was a somewhat late comer to twitter but through trial and error I have learned that these 10 tips will serve you well in growing your influence on twitter.

1. Make it simple to find and follow your account. Make your account easily visible on your website. If you have a blog, leverage its social networking tools so others can easily tweet about your posts.
2. Follow industry-specific users. Many users follow their own followers and close friends. Seek out the accounts of industry influencers and competitors (so their clients discover you) and engage these users. Twello, which is a directory of twitter users is one way to find the right influencers.
3. Get involved in social media communities. Several websites allow you post information about your business’ blog and/or social networking accounts. After you’re in a site’s directory, its users can look you up by industry or interest and follow you.
4. Write guest posts for other blogs and add your Twitter handle at the end of the piece. Offer expert advice by writing posts for other blogs so you can build trust, gain new followers and extend your reach.
5. Participate in and host Twitter parties and Twitter chats. Such events will expose your business to new followers and enhance your branding.
6. Post quality tweets that are worthy of re-tweets. Your followers want to read about relevant news and solutions that you can offer. If the post is valuable, readers will share it with their own followers.
7. Schedule your tweets. When it’s hard to tweet everyday or at a certain time, use an application that will post tweets for you. Two that I use are Buffer and Hootsuite
8. Use hashtags. Hashtags (#) area a way for to categorize tweets, and search engines use them for keyword searches. Use a hashtag ‘#’ before relevant keywords or key phrases.
9. Analyze your content. See which posts have the most re-tweets and which led visitors to your website so you can optimize your tweets to gain new customers and new followers.
10. Engage the readers. Social media isn’t your private diary. Use social networking to start discussions with readers, address specific followers (using “@[twitterhandle]”) and get into conversations. No one wants a one -way conversation, engaging your followers is critical.

When using Twitter, focus on your influence more than your follower count. By organically growing your followers, you gain recognition from individuals who appreciate your messages. As a business, it’s more important to have 100 followers who know who you are than have 900 who are clueless.

Do you need help getting things going? Check out our social media management services. We will use our expertise and experience to help you grow your influence and your followers!

Question- How useful has Twitter been in providing exposure for your organization? What changes can you consider?