How do I grow my Twitter following?
I was asked this question recently: "How do I grow my Twitter following?" On the surface, this question could be simply about numbers. However, I'm going to take it a bit further and address how to grow your Twitter following with interested followers. Having a lot of followers is great but it's even better if they actually pay attention.
Post good content. This is the number one most important thing you can do. Posting promotional material, advertising, or announcements as your only content will not grow your following very much. Posting links to educational blogs and articles will, however. People will be more interested in what you have to say if you are sharing content that has value. Each time your followers see a link that you post, they are making a decision about whether to click on it based on the question "what's in it for me?". If they think they will learn something or be entertained, they will be more likely to click.
Talk to other people. Even posting good content will not get you very far if you don't talk to anyone. Be sure to reply to your followers and have actual conversations. If people feel like you are listening, they will be more likely to listen back.
Re-tweet other people's stuff. This goes along with talking to people. When you see something you like posted by someone else, re-tweet it. It just takes a second and shows that you endorse that person's content. Others will appreciate what you are doing and start to do the same for you (as long as you are posting good content). This also shows that you are listening to others.
Use targeted hashtags. A hashtag is a keyword prefaced by the "#" symbol. Some common hashtags I use include #Indianapolis, #sushi, #tennis, #marketing, and #lds. These hashtags place my tweets in a group along with other related tweets under the same keyword. Many people filter their incoming tweets based on hashtags that interest them. This means that if you use certain hashtags in your tweets, your content will show up in their Twitter feeds.
Be consistent. If you over-tweet, your followers will stop paying attention and are likely to un-follow you. If you rarely tweet, you are not participating enough to build a brand. However, if you are consistent and reasonable, you will start to cultivate a network and build a following over time of people who are actually listening to what you have to say.
Growing your Twitter following takes time so don't expect it to happen overnight. It can take months to really gain momentum so be patient. However, once you have developed a rhythm and have made Twitter a normal part of your communication routine, it will become much easier and you will be gaining new followers daily. Be sure to follow back the ones who interest you, as well.
How do you grow your Twitter following? I would love to hear your comments below.
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