For those not in the know, Twitter’s algorithm for letting Twitter users follow others is 110%, therefore, if you have 1,000 followers, you can follow 1,100 people. For some of us, that’s just not enough. I went looking and found a few ways we anxious Twitter users can ramp our numbers up faster.
1. Hold an event. Joel Comm did this last week with his Twitter Power book. Buy the book, get access to an upcoming seminar on Twitter. I could do that on Twitter. Advertise an event or a teleconference for free; attendees just would have to follow me on Twitter.
2. Give something away. Sitepoint did this last year by giving away a free book (a whole book!) to anyone who followed them on Twitter. Over 13,000 people took them up on it (plus another 60,000 people that did not want to get on Twitter and just submitted their email address). Now that’s some good numbers.
3. Run a contest. Anyone who wants to win a prize (best blog, best picture, whatever) can enter by following me on Twitter and then Twittering their blog url or their photo. Interesting concept.
4. Have a charity event. For every follower you gain on Twitter, you’ll give a certain amount to charity.
The key to all these pursuits is getting the word out. Just as with gaining subscribers to your blogs (see this post from yesterday), getting Twitter followers is simply setting a goal and then going for it.
Just remember one thing: have fun!
