Say you’re on Twitter and you’ve got some followers, but it doesn’t seem as if the amount of followers you have will matter much to your business. How do you find more followers?
It’s actually really easy. Think of it this way, the more people you follow that share interests with you, the more likely they’ll follow you back. This is called building a conversation group. If they follow me, great, if not, well, Twitter is about give and take, not all take. If you want to succeed, I’d suggest you follow many people. It is truly the way to get lots of Twitter followers.
Where do you find these people?
1. Search listings of Twitter users by subject. These include Twellow, TwitterPacks Wiki, TwitDir, and JustTweetIt. All these directories give you listing after listing of folks to follow on Twitter. The key is to find folks who have a high influence rate (namely, a lot of followers) and a return influence rate (they follow a lot of people). If you have an Internet marketing guru who doesn’t follow anyone, you wouldn’t want to really follow him, unless you really WANT to.
2. Search popular topics of discussion to find folks to follow. These include Twitter Search, Twitscoop, and Twitturly. If you can find topics of interest to you, go find the folks talking about those topics and follow them! It’s fun, it’s easy, and well, you’d be amazed how your Twitter feed will liven up.
3. Start conversations with people on your Twitter list. Talk and talk often. Quick little replies to various folks on their Tweets. A reply is as easy as typing the “@” sign followed by the user’s Twitter name. That way, whatever you type after that goes directly to that user, but is seen by all your followers. Edited: Yes, thanks Ann, great catch.
4. Post often to your Twitter. And make it interesting. Links of interest, reviews, comments, personal tidbits, and then every so often, direct people to your site or blog. Don’t be a person who only uses Twitter to get something. Give something. It won’t hurt.
5. If you’ve followed a lot of people because of the previous urls, you’ve probably gained a lot of followers. See, it’s that easy. Now get out there and interact with your new Twitter friends.
Fellow Twitter enthusiast Dana Willhoit has a great ebook on how to get followers and her tips are worth it (I used her tips and added a ton of followers). I will let everyone know how to get that ebook when I find out her new URL!
Enjoy!
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Good list. There’s an error in #3 though. The @ replies are seen by you, the recipient, and your followers (I often find new people to follow this way). I think you’re confusing @ replies with Direct Messages which are only between two people.
Thanks, Ann. Fixed it. Me and my multitasking brain! Have a great day!
question – what do you do on a day to day basis?
Hi, Harold,
I’m a medical copyeditor for a European company by day (telecommute) and I am a business blogger (blogger for hire) and freelance writer/editor as a moonlighting entrepreneur. Now, if only I could paid to go to the gym.
I just received my reports after checking out http://MrTweet.net . Not bad compared to existing find & follow services made for Twitter.
Nice post too!
“…Now, if only I could paid to go to the gym.” now that’s funny. I’d follow your blog every day if you had that secret.
Nonetheless, I have noted that you blog a lot, you have quite a bit of followers on twitter…so I was curious.
H
AK, yes, I used MrTweet recently as well. Great tip! Thanks for visiting! Harold, I will let EVERYONE know if I ever find out how to get paid for gym time.
Thanks for stopping by!
seems like someone is working on your request “Weight loss easier when you get paid for it” http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE4B87A420081209
Ha! From my lips to God’s ears. I really do enjoy the gym a lot. Have no problem getting there everyday (at least this month anyway). I’m trying to “maintain” through the holiday eating fests.
Thanks for the link!