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Spam techniques can have your Twitter follower count nearing celebrity status in less than a week.
You can easily buy hordes of Twitter followers and attempt overnight stardom. This may fool a few people who don’t understand that a lack of engagement and a low number of tweets with a high follower count is spammy. But, most tweeters won’t buy it.
On Twitter, sporting a large number of followers without a realistic, authentic profile will make you look like a spammer. If this is what you are going for, you have succeeded. But, if you are looking for followers who may eventually become leads or customers, read on.
One potential Twitter lead is more valuable than 1,000 casual tweeters who followed you because you paid someone to build your follower count. The tweeters who find you organically follow you because they are interested in what you offer and they want to connect.
Acquiring a large number of Twitter followers ethically is not difficult. The following steps will get you on track to gaining more targeted followers:
Beware: These steps aren’t glamorous hype meant to fast track your account to stardom over night. Social media popularity takes time as with any inbound marketing strategy. If you are looking for a “get rich quick” scheme, you are in the wrong place.
1. The Follower Trap
You may not be a spammer, but you could be the person who follows anyone and everyone just to build your follower count. Is there any value to following someone who is a pajama salesman when you run a food truck? Not really.
Mindless following suggests you do not understand that quality trumps quantity. Focusing on quantity first is a time-sucker. Yes, it’s alluring and it may satisfy your childhood need for love and acceptance, but it will do nothing for your business.
Imagine you held a conference on crocheting because that was your field of expertise, but you invited dog trainers, construction workers and violinists. You invited everyone because you thought it was important to get as many people as you could to the conference hoping that someone would develop a new love for crocheting.
This conference would be an epic failure. This example is rather silly but it describes what happens when people on Twitter focus more on numbers.
2. Influencers
Besides following people who have a genuine interest in what you offer, follow the influencers in your space. Observe what they tweet, and retweet their content occasionally to get on their radar. Don’t be pushy, but be yourself and offer value to their audience.
Comment on their blog posts, write on their Facebook pages and try to interact with them without looking like you are a stalker. Praise them when warranted and build a professional relationship.
Once influencers start communicating with you, their followers will notice you as well.
3. Tweet Related Information
Stick to your industry so followers know how to identify you. Your followers are interested in your field; give them what they want. This doesn’t mean that you cannot tweet about other things. You should add a little of your personal life and interests into your tweets to come across as authentic. But, try to stay focused.
4. Outside Promotion
Do you have customers? An email list? A blog? Business cards?
Use other methods to gain followers. Add a Twitter link to your emails, on your blog or any other place where you connect with people. Utilize every opportunity.
5. Online Magazines / Newspapers
Take advantage of online resources like Paper.li which is a newspaper that allows you to aggregate content and distribute it to your followers. This strategy is effective because you can gather top industry-related tweets into one place. Once the paper is published, a tweet informs your followers and also mentions the profiles of the people’s tweets you used to make the newspaper.
This strategy is two-fold:
- By publishing, you get the attention of the people whose content you aggregate. Most likely they will follow you back.
- By tweeting great content, your tweets may become the impetus for someone to use for their own newspaper. Your profile will be tweeted to this person’s followers. This has happened to me on more than one occasion.
Start using these strategies and notice how your follower count increases. The key is to stay consistent. The strategies are meant to be repeated over and over for maximum results.
What strategy has helped you gain more Twitter followers?
Jenna Scaglione is a content writer, internet marketer, and a lover of family, friends and life. Jenna enjoys learning, growing and discovering the newest and latest trends on the internet. Known as "Lady Content", she lives in sunny Socal where she helps her clients around the world increase brand awareness on the internet through content writing and social media.
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