How to Get More Twitter Followers: Some Methods That Work
Why would you want to get more Twitter followers? What purpose does it serve? And what steps should you take to increase your Twitter followers? These are questions often asked by normal users, brands and business owners who not only see Twitter as a means of social interaction but an effective marketing platform.
You’re interested in increasing your Twitter followers. You want more people reading your updates. It’s not difficult to build a prominent profile but I think it’s important to start with the right understanding. This is the first thing you need to know: It’s not really about how you tweet, what you say or who you talk to but who you are.
There have been several articles on the topic of growing your Twitter presence: many of them focus on teaching you how to use Twitter by providing value in order to increase your Twitter following. While good points were made, I want to offer my perspective on this topic.
Take a look at this list of Twitter users with the most followers and you’ll see that almost everyone on it is famous or well known for reasons other than Twitter. For example, you’ll notice that the top 10 users are mainly all people who own popular websites/businesses and brands or have established a reputation through their involvement in different activities.
Run your eyes down the list further and you’ll notice the same thing: these Twitter users built their large audience through their already established popularity. They didn’t start from the ground up: it’s likely that they started with a decent amount of followers and will continue accumulate them passively through the strength of their reputation or personal brand.
Many people have built their following because they are well known away from Twitter, not because they were inherently entertaining or helpful as a Twitter user. In other words, they grew large follower base because they cleverly integrated their brand or what it is they do, with their Twitter profile. They used their websites or platforms to promote their Twitter profile
This doesn’t mean that you can’t develop a strong Twitter following if you are not famous for something online or offline. It can be done but in my opinion, building a Twitter following has little to do with how you use Twitter. I don’t believe that in order to get a sizeable audience, you need obsesses about specific tweeting etiquette.
I’ve never written any articles on how to use Twitter because I don’t think there’s an ‘optimal’ or best way to use Twitter, nor am I interested in regulating another person’s lifestream. Even if you’re purely using Twitter as a broadcast tool to increase your online influence, how or what you tweet is not really the thing you should be focusing on.
So let’s talk about what I think will help you to get more Twitter followers.
Maximize Visibility: Treat Your Twitter Profile Like Any Other Website
Image Credit: Tweet via QuickSilver
The first step is to understand that your Twitter profile is like any other website. You should treat it no differently from your own blog or a free opt-in newsletter. This means that if you want to increase your Twitter subscriber base, you just need to do one thing again and again: Drive web traffic to your profile. The more targeted the traffic, the better.
This sounds obvious but many people overlook this fundamental principle and focus instead on less relevant details like Twitter usage times/frequency. I’m sure that causing controversy or learning to tweet a certain way might get some extra exposure to your profile but in my opinion, the benefits are minimal. How, when and what you tweet is not crucial.
When you want to catch as many fish as possible, use a large net and spread it as far as you can. The guideline to remember when building your profile is just one: keep working on sending visitors to your profile. People can only follow you when they know you exist.
With this in mind, you can play around with a myriad number of marketing strategies, just like how you would promote a website. Think in terms of incentives. Why would someone want to follow me on Twitter? How will he or she benefit from it? Assuming that someone doesn’t know who I am, what would motivate him or her to subscribe to my Twitter profile?
Here are just some examples of traffic-driving strategies (there are many more):
- Create a tool/application and promote your profile alongside it.
- Buy a banner ad to target tech-savvy audiences, link it to your profile.
- Use Twitter as a tool for tech/customer support.
- Organize a contest through your Twitter profile
- Include links to your profile in email/forum signatures.
- Evangelize Twitter on your blog/other blogs and include a link to your profile.
- Connect your blog and other social media profiles to your Twitter page.
- Learn to pitch Twitter influencers with articles relevant to their interest
- Explicitly ask another user to recommend your profile or exchange recommendations.
Apart from these strategies, there’s also another sure-fire way to increase your Twitter followers and this simply involves the act of following other users. Lets look at this in detail.
Mass Following Twitter Users: The Favorite Methodology of ‘Spammers’
Twitter is similar to many other social networks in numerous aspects, particularly when it comes to friending behaviors. Like Myspace, its possible to befriend a massive amount of users, some of whom will add you back as a friend. Continually adding Twitter users as friends allows you to increase the amount of followers you have.
This is a strategy that has worked remarkably well for early adopters when the Twitter was still a relatively new phenomenon. For example, I know a marketer who followed over ten thousand users and got thousands of followers in return. He then cut down the amount of people he followed and changed his username to make the account look legitimate.
Nowadays, the Twitter community has grown more aware of these ’spammers’ and many tools like the Twitter Blacklist and Twerpscan have been developed to help Twitter users weed out people who try to follow many users in order to build an large audience. Still, a portion of Twitter users (perhaps the new ones) tend to add anyone who befriends them.
Take for instance, Osen Komura. A fake profile set up by another Twitter user in February 2008 as a social experiment. The Osen account followed 41,798 Twitter users in one month and 7,847 users added him as a friend, a 17%+ follow-back rate.
And Osen is not only the only profile out there with thousands of followers all derived through mass user following. The question is: Should you consider using the same strategy?
Apart from the risk of being labeled a Twitter spammer and increasing the noise on your Twitter stream, this method still works. However, know that following so many users inevitably reduces your ability to keep track of individual users since they are drowned out by other updates, unless you conscientiously keep track of your Twitter stream or use RSS. But keep in mind that this is not essential. Here are some good reasons why you really don’t need to mass follow twitter users.
Scoble has suggested that it’s beneficial to follow many Twitter users because you get more access to information and it shows that you’re listening and more open to communication or meeting people. Perhaps so, but I would recommend increasing the people you follow on Twitter gradually, while making sure that you’re maintaining conversational interactiveness.
Most Twitter users don’t like it if you’re simply following him/her to broadcast a message and if you don’t monitor them equally in return or engage them in conversation. Unless you’re a popular celebrity of some sort, one-way attention doesn’t work very well for Twitter.
In any case, only viewing Twitter as a broadcast platform to drive traffic to your websites is a limited perspective, especially when your Twitter followers offer a wealth of knowledge, connections and opinions you can use to improve your business and personal skills.
Personally, I prefer building up an online reputation and driving traffic to my Twitter profile. For me, the benefits of Twitter come from using it as a conversational/networking tool, so I’m more concerned with whose updates I’m receiving daily and hence, the people I follow.
All in all, it depends on your goals and how you use Twitter. Feel free to share this article with your Twitter friends. I’ll love to get more feedback on this topic.
And yes…please follow me on Twitter and say hi! I’m always looking to follow new people so don’t hesitate to introduce yourself. I’m pretty friendly and open to new experiences. 
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You just contradicted yourself. Sure people will follow Obama ‘cuz he’s popular. But if you’re not a big brand then you DO need to follow Twitter rules, like engaging the people you talk to. I’ve dropped a lot of people because they NEVER respond to my @’s.
The biggest key that I can see in building your number of followers and your influence on Twitter, is to not give a damned about your number of followers and boosting your influence on Twitter.
Look at Pistachio. She is now one of the true power players in social media, and it’s mainly because of Twitter. Look at how she uses Twitter, as a conversation tool, and promote content that OTHER people have created.
I have yet to hear her ONCE mention how many followers she has. Scoble does it every other day.
Twitter works well when you use it as a spotlight to put the focus on EVERYONE ELSE.
That is how you build influence on Twitter and increase your number of followers.
Nice post, Maki. I fully agree with the point of gradually increasing the amount of ppl you follow, which ultimately reflects a positive and educational flow within your twitter stream. I’ve realized this as I’ve recently grown past 300 followers (not an astronomical amount, but great ppl within). Focusing on interaction with people that are relevant to me and vice versa has made my Twitter experience great thus far.
Thanks, Maki; that is well-put. I have really been annoyed by the mass-adding on Twitter and was not aware of any resources to monitor that.
Regarding the contest idea that you mentioned above, I do notice that few people are able to increase their following on Twitter by adding value to the so-called Twittersphere– for example, the Zappos campaign for free shoes. True, Tony was able to capitalize on the Zappos name, but the number of new followers wouldn’t have been nearly as high without the contest.
I would agree with you, though I am still in the early stages with Twitter and trying hard to figure out the pros and cons.
I am not so sure I care about the day-to-day routines of those I follow, but I do appreciate it when they offer useful insights that increase my learning. So, content does matter to an extent because meaninglessness is a waste of my time. Engaging in conversation is part of the charm. You mention Scoble. I followed him for a while but I found that he had way too many tweets and that was distracting me from the rest of those I wanted to hear.
You are right, unless you are famous, the best way to increase you following is shameless self promotion.
mm. i don’t follow darren r because he pimps his own blog posts too much (imho). i read his blog, but i unfollowed him on twitter because i didn’t feel i was getting any value there.
it seems to me twitter is a nice way for people who already read your blog to feel even more connected to you – yet, if they follow you and you don’t follow them, you just insulted them a bit. maybe if you have 8,000 followers and are only following 50 people, they understand. or .. maybe they decide you’re conceited. it colors their opinion of you, and maybe they stop reading your blog, too.
*why* do you want to build a big twitter following? i don’t. i am using twitter to listen, not talk. i am following a select group of people and *i* am the one getting value – unfollowing where i decide there is no value. carefully building relationships with the people i’m following, and i’m keeping the number low.
if i want to reach out to my readers, i guess i can start a second account and return-friend everyone – but then i’ve created yet another time waster on my schedule. how much time would it take me to respond to all the random comments i’d get? i’m not sure there would be enough *benefit* coming back to me from this scenario for the loss of time.
whereas with the account i am using to follow key people .. i know i’m getting value, it’s worth my time, and i can work very selectively. before people try to build a big twitter following, they should think it through. is it worth the cost?
MishMosh, great post (as usual).
I’d love to have 7,800+ followers on twitter, but
a. I wouldn’t want to have to follow 40k+ to get there and
b. I don’t believe that “followers” gained that way are worth having as followers, or at least the vast majority.
personally I’m just 5 followers of having more followers than “followees”, and I’m happy with that, as I’ve done nothing so far to promote my twitter account to my newsletter subscribers, simply because I was more interested in trying it out for myself and seeing if i got “value” from it first, but that’s just me…
@mattgarrett
Mack has a great point, I think its the whole quality of content thing that many websites rush past that applies aptly to the rest of life as well…we should always keep an eye on the trimmings but great content sells itself…
I think you’re right in pointing out that a guy like Darren is naturally going to get a lot of followers because of his pre-existing reputation. I have started using Twitter recently, and I don’t have a blog or pre-existing group of followers to instantly generate popularity. Instead, I’ve started to see Twitter as my blog – my platform. And like tends to happen on most blogs, interest grows gradually.
Great post. Your advice on taking a gradual increase on a platform like twitter is something people should pay attention to. Twitter could easily get overwhelming when ‘friending’ so many people. I prefer to see twitter as a compliment to social world. It is a wonderful tool when managing lots of social network accounts.
Didn’t realize Barack Obama had a twitter account. You are right on the well-known profile thing. I follow the people whose blogs I love to read, who are doing well in this industry…Don’t really care if their tweets are funny or thought provoking or plain boring…I just need to know what they are working on and how they plan their day, so that I can draw inspiration from it.
The best way to have more followers with the right niche is to put your twitter updates on your blog.
@ Tabz
If you’ve read my article closely enough, you’ll probably see that there’s no contradiction at all.
I did mention that tweeting habits do matter but not to the extent that many authors have suggested. The way you tweet and what you say will appeal differently to other users. Apart from being a mini-broadcast or communication platform, Twitter is first and foremost a lifestreaming service built to provide updates on your personal life for others.
Are there specific Twitter rules? Is there a right way to tweet and a wrong way to tweet? It’s hard to say. Must you engage with people who reply you in order to retain followers? I know common knowledge suggests so but how can you track how every visitor, Twitter user or follower feels about your profile because of your actions or what you say on Twitter? One can only assume that you’re following the “right Twitter rules” in the end.
I feel that the correlation between tweeting behavior and eventual social popularity is weak.
I am suggesting that one think beyond that, especially since this is a topic that has been beaten to death by anyone who has ever written about Twitter profile development.
Yes, tweeting habits might have some degree of influence but when we are purely talking about increasing your number of Twitter followers, I doubt anything matters more than sending relevant and interested traffic again and again to your Twitter profile and establishing a strong reputation outside of Twitter (not through it), one that you can leverage and translate into new Twitter followers.
@ Mack Collier
I agree with you. Twitter users follow conversations and if you start or continue them, they’ll eventually lead to your profile. That’s one way to do it although the act of conscientiously directing traffic to your profile is also applicable in this scenario.
Being generously conversational on Twitter and promoting your profile overtly is not mutually exclusive, I think they can complement each other very well. ^-^
@ Sonny Gill
Yes, it’s like an organic thing. I sometimes add a number of new users (people I don’t follow or know) because I feel the need to inject new voices or information sources into my stream. This feels like natural growth for me. When you’ve gotten accustomed to the same signals, you’ll eventually feel the need to seek out new ones.
@ Chris Guillebeau
Contests or managed through Twitter is a pretty good way to get some buzz around your profile. Twitter already has a large and active userbase, it’s not difficult for users to simply click a button and opt-in to follow another profile (especially when there is an incentive).
Some might unfollow after the specific contest but others will stick around if you continue to use the profile share info or specific updates.
I also think that there’s a fun element to organized participation; twitter polls about random trivia are an example of that.
@ Marketing Integrity
Yes, I do agree that content does matter to some extent but my emphasis on pushing the profile and marketing it is to emphasize the simple idea if people don’t know that you’re out there on Twitter, that you exist, they don’t have a chance or even the intention to follow you. This is especially the case when you’re not a celebrity or a popular brand.
@ Lori
I think when someone doesn’t follow you on Twitter, it’s not really an insult. Like you, they’re trying to manage their stream of updates in order to maximize value, so I wouldn’t take it too hard if someone doesn’t follow you.
There are many, many ways to use Twitter and the way you’re using it is a smart way to ensure that you’re only getting all the messages that interest or benefit you. This is a good way to network with influencers as well, especially if you keep the number of people you follow manageable.
However, there are many reasons why one would want to build a large Twitter following. The primary reason is very simple: Influence. When someone has a large following on Twitter, they accumulate attention they can use in many ways. Apart from directing larger amounts of web traffic than users with less followings, the larger social graph for users with more followers also allows them to get more feedback or opinions from other users.
The accumulated Twitter attention can be used to support marketing initiatives by generating buzz or participation, especially when it comes to social media. This is of course, one way of keeping and using attention for your own advantage. There are many other benefits but I can’t cover them all in this comment. Perhaps I will do another blog post on this topic.
@ Matt Garrett
I wouldn’t discriminate between the type of followers gained from mass following and ‘normal’ followers because after all, its kinda impossible to really know 7000+ Twitter followers (who they are, what they do, why they follow you, what they think about you etc). As long as they are listening, its good enough… I don’t really have any other expectations. ^_^
@ Doug
Great content sells itself… but it could always use a little push.
@ Eric Daams
Yup, pre-existing reputations can help one build a Twitter following really fast, but taking it slow is fine as well. I didn’t want to give the impression that a large Twitter following is better than a small but tight-knit Twitter community, because its not. Gradual growth is good.
@ PertinaxVir
You’re absolutely right. Twitter has a tendency to get overwhelming very fast, when you follow too many users.
@ Sandy Naidu
Yup, Obama has had one almost since the start of his Presidential run. It’s kinda cool if you’re a fan because it gives you notifications on his whereabouts, what he is doing etc… even though it doesn’t respond to questions.
Like you said, I follow Obama’s profile because I like to know what he is doing… even if he doesn’t talk to me, it doesn’t matter at all. The personality of the Twitter user and his/her reputation matters a great deal sometimes.
@ Bibokz
Definitely. As I’ve said, integrating Twitter with your blog or home base online is a good way to get some extra interested traffic… which is why I implemented Twitter in my sidebar during the recent Dosh Dosh redesign.
HEY hey what’s all the fuss about over here? I came to talk… what’s going on?
Nice post. I just arrived here from your Tweet.
I’ve found that users on Digg that display their Twitter profile follow you back quickly if you follow them. Especially the heavy users.
Anyone else noticed this?
Maki, you’re right, without search engines or word of mouth many great pages and articles would go unnoticed…and I imagine there are some real gems out there are! (I’d love for you to follow me on twitter
twitter.com/nullvariable)
All in all though its like any social medium, its all about balance.
I’m wondering what your twhirl looks like when you have so many tweets flying by.
hey dude
just saw your message on twitter, what hot spots shout i hit in toronto when im there next month?
notice my profile pic from last year is at the falls
Very nice article – I enjoy following you on Twitter and I’ll have to rethink not following people who follow me…I’m no one famous
@DishDosh
I did say I’d love to have 7k+ followers on “T”, and I agree there could be a significant percentage of those who “happened” to be interested in what I have to say (I hope), I just don’t like the idea of having to follow 42k+ other people to get those followers, I’d rather it happened naturally over time, but I’m old fashioned like that…
@mattgarrett
“Being generously conversational on Twitter and promoting your profile overtly is not mutually exclusive, I think they can complement each other very well. ^-^”
Yes but….in my experience the best way to use Twitter as a tool to promote yourself, is to promote yourself as little as possible.
Right now about 15% or less of the links I post on Twitter are my own posts. But what I’m finding is happening is that by dropping the number of times I pimp my own stuff, and by linking to MORE stuff from OTHER people, it actually leads to me having MORE traffic back to my blog from Twitter.
How? Because as I link to more stuff from OTHER people, those OTHER people are more likely to link to MY stuff. And all things being equal, a link from someone else to MY stuff sends me more traffic than if *I* link to it.
The problem I see with posts strategizing about how you can get more followers on Twitter or get more traffic from Twitter is that it shifts your mindset to thinking of ways that YOU can GET more FROM Twitter. That is NOT how you become successful on Twitter. You become successful on Twitter by GIVING as much as possible.
There’s a reason why people like Jason Calcanis and Robert Scoble are constantly comparing notes on how many followers they have, and a reason why people like Pistachio and Chris Brogan never do. I prefer to follow the example of the people that give as much as possible, not the ones that try to win a numbers game.
Maki, I don’t think mass following is spamming. Last week I followed 1700+ people. And around 85+ has followed me back so far. I was following people who were following blogs similar to mine. This was more of an experimentation. I have decided not to follow any randomly in the future until I figure out whether this method works. I mainly did this exercise to get some traction. This did work for me. So far I have helped my followers and my followers have helped me.
How do you define mass following? 1000+, 10000+ ?
You are following 2500+ people. Are you honestly interested in get updates from all of them?
By following someone you are not interfering with that person. All that person gets is a simple email.
Great post Maki!
It is not how you Twitt but who you are!
You do not need 10,000 Followers to be noticed!
If you have 40 friends on Twitter who listen to you and you listen to them you could be more influential than having 10,000 followers.
Remember every good friend you have on Twitter, or on Internet in general, has his or her friends. So it becomes a Matrix. Ask 40 friends and they will ask their 40 friends, etc.
Recently A friend’s friend had a problem with McAfee and Yahoo, they ignored his requests. I Twitted my friends, a few hours later the problem was fixed!
I generally check out people that follow me. If they don’t have anything that interests me in the last 10 tweets and they’re following over a 1,000 people, I don’t follow them back. The exception sometimes is when they also have lots of followers.
As Bibokz said, putting twitter updates on your blog can also be helpful. I currently use Twitter Tools WP plugin to do this, but don’t currently track how much traffic that outbound link gets. I think both are preferable. Making it easy for your users to associate your blog with your twitter account and vice versa is the optimal outcome.
Maki, would you say that Twitter provides the most value to You when you focus on providing value to Others via Twitter?
Maki,
Thank you for bringing out that Twitter is another platform for people to gain an audience.
I grew weary in the last few months of all the big name people jumping up and down and telling their readers how great Twitter was and they needed to get on board big time. The truth was they had just found another way to engage the thousands already following them. The little guy just wasn’t seeing this kind of interest in what they had to say.
Having said that, I agree totally that Twitter can be used to help your web presence if you do as you say and treat it like another web site and actively send traffic to it.
Thanks for the great content as usual,
Jeff
By the way Maki, this the article that inspired me to follow 1700+ people. Your comments are much appreciated.
http://www.manvsblog.com/2008/05/08/dont-take-promotion-personal-with-twitter/
Brilliant article. Consider it sphunn, stumbled and otherwise clicked upon.
As a recent Twitter convert, I am still learning the best ways to leverage traffic from there. So thanks for the logical and simple advice. And for following me.
http://twitter.com/Kimota
@ Miguel
We are having a civilized chat about Twitter.
@ domfosnz
I don’t have any experience with that but I can see why they follow you back quickly. You’re an asset that’ll help them get more diggs if and when they post links to their submissions. Or maybe they’re just really friendly…
@ Doug
Just followed you on Twitter! ^-^
@ Bil Stevens
It looks fantastic. I love the way it displays avatars and since I leave it parked on the right side of my screen, its a great way to overhear conversations and what not.
@ Marc
Which part of Toronto? The downtown core? Check out Queen Street East for art/shopping, maybe Kensington Market too and Chinatown for food. The Beaches is fun too, nice in Spring and maybe Toronto Islands. See more at the official city website:
http://www.toronto.ca/
@ Tyler
I always try following them back and then talking a little to see if we click or not. If not, just unfollow them and move on… at least thats what I did in the beginning..
@ Matt Garrett
Nothing wrong with being old fashioned.
@ Mack Collier
Yup, I agree about not over-promoting yourself on Twitter. Nothing really wrong with that but it can a turn-off to some. Something to take note off when you’re only trying to get more followers through Twitter alone.
Linking to others is a way to network on Twitter, altogether I’m not sure if it leads to more traffic for everyone initially, especially for a new user who doesn’t have a relevant blog (in order to receive off-Twitter traffic), established Twitter friend network or someone with low visibility. Still, its good practice (and karma) to share and help promote others.
However, I don’t really agree that the mindset of wanting to get more followers or more traffic from Twitter is an impediment towards being successful on Twitter. If we define ’success’ as social graph popularity (presence + reputation + fanbase), I know many users who are extremely giving (links out, conversational etc) but not successful on Twitter.
I agree that the underlying brand-building/exposure-generating philosophy is to practice generosity and connect people with similar interests, I have no qualms with that but success (as defined in the context of this article) can also be achieved with the intention of wanting to be successful or popular.
I don’t know about Calacanis but I have always enjoyed Scoble’s Twitter stream. Sure, he talks about the amount of Twitter followers he has but he is very conversational and he links out frequently. He’s probably a suitable example of how being competitively interested in Twitter popularity and being ‘giving’ is not mutually exclusive.
@ Aaron from Webspear
I don’t necessarily see mass following as spam either, hence the quotation marks around the word ’spammers’, which is somewhat a misnomer since some of these users do not spam. I’m just using the term to illustrate the perspective that some Twitter users have about people who follow many users.
Mass following is not really defined by the amount of people you follow but your follow ratio.. although a mass follower is usually characterized by 1000 and 10,000+ user follows. Take a look at the Twitter Blacklist (linked in this article) for an example. It’s one of ways Twitter users use to identify potential ’spammers’.
I’m actually following 2200 not 2500+ users. I’m definitely interested in getting updates from all the people I follow. I happen to be the sort of user who welcomes the large amount of noise on Twitter since I enjoy watching/reading tweets from a large variety of people.
As I’ve mentioned in my previous on managing information flow, I subscribe to several Twitter user updates via RSS as well, to supplement what I access with through the Twitter client I’m using.
@ Igor The Troll
I hear ya. The circle of influence spreads outwards. Someone might know someone who knows an influencer or problem solver. It’s not all about the size of your network, although I’ll have to suggest that a larger follow base increases the possibility of messages reaching and connecting with unexpected audiences.
@ UltraRob
That sounds like an efficient way to decide how or who to follow back!
@ kaykoa
No, I wouldn’t say that Twitter gives me the most value when I focus on providing value. When I share interesting links, its nice to see people discuss about them with me but what I really enjoy the most is when I’m thinking out loud on Twitter and people offer their feedback for my most random tweets, the ones when i don’t even focus on ‘adding value’.
Apart from that, I can’t deny that I enjoy Twitter traffic (however minimal it is) and the interactions I have with people after I tweet about each new post on Dosh Dosh. It just adds an additional layer of engagement, I feel.
@ Jeff Jones
Yeah, most of the popular Twitter users (according to no. of followers) are coincidentally people with an established reputation. It’s easy for the big guys to be conversational because they come with a ready and captive audience. I know how being a totally new Twitter user feels… when I started using it, I had less than 20 followers. It probably took me a few months just to break 100 followers.
The dynamic is a little different, sometimes you need to push/promote your profile a little to get rolling.
Maki you have convinced me. After thinking this over twice, I have cleaned up my 1700+ followings. A skewed ratio can put off a potential follower. I see these sentiments being echoed in user comments as well.
This is by far the most interesting and informative. I have Twitter and no one is following me..This article definitely help me to increase my followers, hopefully.
Maki, are you ever wrong? And by the way, i have enjoyed using the Twitter to reach local area bloggers. Hopefully, i can build more traffic by getting to know more people in my area.
Here’s the original Twitter article that was written before Matt’s. *sigh*
http://www.successonline.in/using-twitter-to-build-and-engage-your-audience/
Attention whores…
I’m actually blocking 2/3 followers per day (spammers, connection whores, fakes, etc)
Reductio ad absurdum: everyone follows everyone, max follower/ing for everyone, zero knowledge/value in the network.
– MV
Good tips, but somehow almost all Twitter guides go back to having a good profile outside of Twitter and/or being useful.
While the latter is easier, the former isn’t – which is sad.
Another thing to note should be that you should be happier with a few hundred Twitterers who involve in conversation with you, rather than a few thousand inactive Twitterers.
Using Quotably (link to a review of mine) to pull up conversations of popular guys in the niche you’re interested in (in my case, that is internet and tech) would be a good idea – you can find out replies from interested Twitterers, which is an easy way to find and link up with like-minded people.
I follow nearly 800 people on twitter and that is about all I can handle for now. I did so not to get followers (I have less than 300) but so that I could tap into the benefit of human content filters. Often people (way smarter or in different areas of expertise) post links to articles that I’d never find.
Personally I find that I garner much more form Tweets from brilliant people both in coloured opinions and differing points of view than I do from most other social media.
It makes me think of the floor after a great conference where you just want to chat with everyone and overhear conversations of other people, brilliant or mundane because it the stream that I like and I wade in and out, deeper when I want to get more involved and toes only when I want to just see what is going on.
If you really want to get twitter followers, give people something worth taking, be interesting but don’t try to be clever, give them something that they can’t get elsewhere. In the case of Darren Rowse, he could offer articles and freebies not on his blog. Same goes for other bloggers and SocMediacs. Give and ye shall receieve. Lurk and ye shall be lonely.
Someone needs to explain the false logic that has penetrated the Twitterverse that says:
Lots of Follows and few followers = Spammer.
Are people so stupid/lazy/lame that they can’t unfollow a twitter user the first time they feel they have been spammed?
Many twitter newbs will want to follow lots of people because there are lots of smart people. None of the people I follow were random. They were either people with whom respected due to their blogs or reputation as a professional in their field. Often I would follow people they follow because those people followed other smart experts.
I am not well known so people have less reason to follow me back. Sure they might follow me to see what I’m all about but I don’t get bent out of shape about my follower numbers all the time. I’d rather have people genuinely interested in my message over people who follow me out of some pseudo or guilt based obligation. To those people my posts will have meaning, add value and if I have some thing that I am hoping to promote in a non-spammy and help offering way I will have people check it out and share it if it is helpful.
Numbers shouldn’t and really don’t matter that much. It is the right people, interested people, targeted (self selected/those who purposefully chose) followers and not mass/random followers. The more random and less interested the less impact the numbers have. I’d rather have a “skewed” but genuine ratio than an artificial “balanced” ratio.
Some wonderful suggestions and I love the idea of not just adding people to follow. I’m trying to enjoy Twitter. I find that if I have too many people to follow I miss some wonderful obeservations that are buried beneath minutiae of crap.
I definitely love to have more followers on my twitter (http://twitter.com/Daniel_Richard). I follow those who’s blogs that I visit frequently and I do find it easier to follow up on the latest posts on their websites as they post their latest updates on Twitter.
It’s faster than looking up my RSS reader to scan through the latest entries, and Twitter is a great way to hit up conversations. on the go upon receiving latest tweets.
Like I mentioned, I would like to have more followers on http://twitter.com/Daniel_Richard .
Great entry Maki!
“However, I don’t really agree that the mindset of wanting to get more followers or more traffic from Twitter is an impediment towards being successful on Twitter. If we define ’success’ as social graph popularity (presence + reputation + fanbase), I know many users who are extremely giving (links out, conversational etc) but not successful on Twitter.”
When I am on Twitter and engaged in conversations, I immediately start adding followers. As soon as the conversation ends, the follower notifications stop. And I do the same thing, I follow people that I see my friends talking to, that I am not following.
People are becoming very wary of spam on Twitter, and when we see that someone is following 5,000 and has 500 following them, that tells me that for every 10 people they follow, only 1 wants to follow them back. Not good.
As for people being ’successful’ on Twitter, depends on how you define ’success’. If you think Twitter is a tool for you to extract value from, you’re going to have trouble getting that value. On the other hand, I see Twitter as a tool to create value for OTHERS, because I know that the more value I create for others, the more will come back to me. The more people I network with and become friends with, the more benefits *I* get, and likewise, the more I can help others.
Want to add followers on Twitter? Then give more people a reason to follow you. Link to items that you think will interest them. Talk to others and be friendly. Think about how you can create value for others.
@ Aaron
Cool. You’ll probably be able to keep up with updates better now. If you have some users whom you don’t want to miss, subscribe to them via RSS and keep them in a special Twitter folder in your feed reader.
@ Tony Dee
Getting to know people in your area is a great idea.
@ MV
Yup, I hear ya. There are people who are out to market and then again there are people out to connect, but these are rare.
@ Sumesh
Actually, most Twitter guides I’ve read do not emphasize the fact that it is ‘who you are’ and not what you do. Most of them just talk about how, when or what to tweet. But yes I agree, having a pre-established reputation doesn’t come easy. And conversation is very important.
@ Jay Gilmore
I know what you mean. I don’t agree with the ’spammer’ label as well (hence the quotation marks in the article) but you know, a few bad apples can spoil the overall impression that everyone has about users with skewed following/follow ratios since almost all commercial link spammers have the same modus operandi.
What can you do? I would just ignore the naysayers. If you’re a non-spammer and someone who is authentic, people will know and when they do, they’ll talk to you, stick around or become a follower. You can’t manage expectations all the time and if following many people gives you the right balance of content and interaction, stick with it.
@ Mack
I am still wondering why you think wanting to extract value from Twitter, stops you from getting value in return. ‘Value’ is such a subjective term. Take me for example. I want to extract benefits from Twitter. I am not an idealist. I know what it can give me or do for me. And even with that mindset, I don’t have any trouble getting any value from it at all.
Like I said, I understand all you said about giving value, networking and putting others first etc. and I agree with them. It’s the right way to do it. But its not and will never be mutually exclusive with the motivation of wanting to extract value or get something (be it traffic etc) from Twitter.
Most of the time, the most value I get from Twitter comes when I don’t think of ‘adding value’ at all nor do I think about making someone else’s day or helping them with something. I’m purely thinking out loud and enjoying the responses that come to naked thoughts. I get the most value from these interactions.
A smart person who wants to use Twitter to extract value, understands that he or she needs to pay it forward to get something back. This is the same for all social media websites.
In my vast venerable age, I’ve decided to simply follow those folks whose postings intrigue me and jump into conversations whenever possible (ie, if someone needs help with SEO, templates, kids, coffee, sanity, etc.). Friendliness is what makes Twitter worthwhile for me.
Data points,
Barbara
Thanks bro for the tip about treating one’s tweet profile as a proper website.
Will look into ways of driving traffic towards the profile page.
Cheers!
I am new to Twitter. Still not real sure what I’m doing over there, but it’s fun. I like reading what everyone has to say and I jump in when I think I have something to contribute.
I am following 43 people. Why? They’re all people I read the blogs of, are members of forums I’m in, etc.
Do I expect them to follow me? Not really. If they do, I’m thrilled. If not, I understand.
When you see someone following 40k people, it’s kind of obvious the reasons behind it.
For me, T would begin to loose its usefulness if I couldn’t keep up with those I’m following.
yeah creating an app worked well for me and http://crowdstatus.com
I am http://twitter.com/ninjamonk :p
In my case, I son’t really care much about how many folowers I have..I’m more concerned by whom I’m following..^^ that way I can learn something worthwhile from them.
Thanks for the great article Maki. If anyone is interested, I recently created some free “follow me on Twitter” graphics, good for use in your sidebar, etc.- available here.
I have been on twitter for some time now and I still have not figured out how this can help me promote my current site.
You are thinking in a box! It is not about promoting your site, it is about promoting your Brand!
Your Brand maybe You, or a Service that you provide!
Keep your Followers ware of what you doing via Twitter!
Follow others to learn from them how they do it.
Interesting article, but for me, personally, the value of Twitter is in the quality conversations I have with a small group – not gaining 100s of followers with whom I’ll never interact, and that’s the part of your piece I can totally agree with.
Looking at ways to bulk up follower numbers isn’t something I’m keen on doing, or really seeing promoted…but hey, each to their own…
I would be curious to know how the http://twitterblacklist.com/ came about. I randomly clicked on one of the links on that page to see who the criminals were (according to the creator of the blacklist) and what crime they may have committed to be awarded a place on this list and I found myself on http://twitter.com/WeAreCanadians.
Maybe I have no standards at all because I did not see any indication on that page or even their myspace page that would have them be placed on a blacklist. Or maybe I just don’t pay much attention to folks that are doing stuff I am not attracted to.
After all, isn’t that what life is about? Picking friends based on like-interests and allowing others to play the way they want to.
There will always be someone that will scream “spam” at the least sign of self-promotion and usually those folks are the ones that are fearful of promoting themselves in any fashion because they think sales in any flavor is a nasty business and best saved for only the sleazy.
I say, “pay attention to what you are wanting to attract and ignore the rest.” Life is too short to worry about changing other people to suit your own preferences.
That’s what the unsubscribe button and delete finger is used for.
By the way, Maki, I have been a RSS reader of yours for a long time and really enjoy the information you share! Thanks much!
Pat
I must be the onl person with a blog who has not idea what the hell Twitter is. I’ll have to take a look tonight.
@ Barbara Ling, JustJen, Zoobie Joy
Just following people that interests you is a great way to use Twitter. There is no real point in receiving information that doesn’t appeal or benefit you.
@ Randa Clay
Thanks for sharing those Twitter graphics!
@ Igor the Troll
Yup, it was always about promoting your brand. That’s what I’ve been saying!
@ Dan Thornton
There is nothing wrong with trying to increase one’s follower numbers. You can’t have conversations when people don’t follow you, and that’s a problem for many newbies who enter into Twitter. I understand that your concerned about ’spam’ but I don’t think Twitter users need to be ‘protected’ from it.
Everyone has their own built-in filters to determine if a user is worth following or not and there’s nothing wrong about articles which help Twitter users engage or connect with more people through Twitter (which if you’ve read the post closely, especially the last few paragraphs, is what I’m suggesting here).
@ Dean Saliba
Sign up for a free account, check it out and if you have any questions use @doshdosh to connect with me anytime.
“It’s the right way to do it. But its not and will never be mutually exclusive with the motivation of wanting to extract value or get something (be it traffic etc) from Twitter.”
Maybe not for you. As I said, different strokes, I just don’t worry about what *I* get from Twitter. Because when I start worrying about what *I* can GET from Twitter, then how I use Twitter, changes.
For example, I stop worrying about trying to share interesting links with my friends, and start trying to pimp my own stuff more, because I become ‘worried’ that I’m not getting enough FROM Twitter.
The way *I* use Twitter is to participate, share, and put the exposure on other people. That’s a system that’s working remarkably well for me, both personally and professionally.
If I start worrying about ‘what do I get from Twitter?’, then the way I *use* twitter changes, and it all goes to hell in an handbasket. Right now all I worry about is how can I *give* to others on Twitter. So far that’s resulted in my getting a lot more BACK.
As I said, different strokes.
Am I the only person in the civilised World that has heard of Twitter but never used it?
From reading your article and all the follow-up comments, I tend to agree with Mack Collier. With all of the social bookmarking sites and apps, you really need to decide in advance what you goal is. Do you want a warm cosy feeling from a huge amount of (largely random) contacts, or is the plan to do some real networking and build real relationships?
I think it goes for all things online — if you already have a pre-established identity, then it should be a no-brainer to get hits. People naturally find you, you don’t have to find them. I think the basic secret for the rest of us though is compelling content. If what you do is interesting, and what you write about is interesting, people will wanna know what you’re doing. The thing is, everybody’s so busy getting an audience that nobody watches anybody else anymore.
That’s exactly the reason why I don’t care about the Twitter at the moment. Firts I need to create a reputation through other means like getting known and respected with blogging or creating some new website based on a fresh unique idea etc… then maybe I will care more…
I’ve always had this idea but never got around carrying it out. What if i were to create a Twitter user and pose as a suicidal maniac. I’ll talk about my desire to kill myself. Then i’ll make it seem like with more followers i get, the less likely I will to suicide. I wonder how would it turn out..
Not sure if it can get any better than some of the social bookmarking sites in terms of providing organic traffic. I never used twitter yet, though, this is my feeling
Ajith, DollarShower.com
“It’s not really about how you tweet, what you say or who you talk to but who you are” that quotation works true in real life too!
gradually increasing the amount of ppl you follow, this will ultimately reflects a positive and educational flow within the twitter stream. focusin on quality will be alot better than quantity in the long run
Goal is something that you really need to decide. also agree with Igor The Troll, this is about promoting the brand, and the the brand will promote site.
Coming late to this. Another great post @DishDosh! I am also enjoying the many interesting comments.
I am fairly new to twitter and still trying to figure it out, but I really enjoy it. I remember Osen as he started that right after I joined. I felt quite proud of myself that I decided not to follow him back even though I only had about one follower at the time. I was totally clueless, but it did not seem right at the time ( for me). I still do not like to follow those that have a huge gap between their followers and who they follow.
We go in and out of internet connection on our world tour, so it is a great tool for me to use to communicate when I do not feel safe using email, like in internet cafes. Or right now where I have wifi but my VPN is not working for some reason. Twitter and SU are my favorite social media sites, primarily because they are very useful and easy. I live a mobile digital life, am a tech dummy and need easy and useful.
I still have not figured out digg or technorati. I think twitter is the easiest of all and part of what makes it grow.
What are the best tools for being able to handle lots of followers and followings?
I keep gaining more and have mixed feelings, because it is harder to not miss things the larger my twitter space grows. ( I am at about 360 followers now and I follow about 340).
I would love an app where I could sort all my tweets by type as I have different interests. Say a section for educational ones, a section for social media, a section for travel , a section for writers, a section for parents, homeschoolers etc. That way I could skim them more quickly and keep up with pertinent conversations and information.
How do people with 3000, or more followers even hear what is being said? Also how does one reach someone who has sooo many followers. Sometimes I am successful with connecting to someone very popular that I follow, but sometimes I think they never even see my tweet to them. I know I miss tweets and sometimes only find them in tweetscan later.
I love twitpics
Now they need twit vids 
I love twitter..Twittering is a fun way to keep updating frends and families the latest news about us..
well, some of your method does goes in my mind
but i think twitter has more than that
I can’t believe i’ve never heard of this before. I must’ve been living under a nutshell for the past few years or so
. I’ve just registered and its loads of fun! Will try to take some of your advices!
Good article. Let’s begin to find followers.
Maki, you put a light on the most pressing problem.
Actually whether we are on Twitter or whatever social networks, we must have already achieved success through other online medium, and only after that we could fully harness the power of social networks. I really like your examples of traffic-driving strategies.
Cheers,
Codrut Turcanu – “Succeeding Against All Odds!”
Good stuff.
LoL.. just when I was thinking. …” why am I typing in this little square”.
Your tips are the best twitter tips I found in the 2 weeks I’ve tried it. I guess it makes sense that people have to know you to rush and follow you, because I started following the famous folks first. I was a little confused how it would work getting followers and finding tweets I wanted to read. I’ve read through your post and all the comments here … Yaaay! My head is no longer a tweet fog.
I guess anything works when you work it as far as promotion goes. It’s definitly a different world than Technorati ,Bc or Digg @ Soultraver3, but in a short time I’ve already met some great people in my field…
So Thanks to all for giving some info…feel free to follow me : MsTrisBeats
http://www.mstrismusic.com
I think “Your Target Market” means a lot unless you’re out for ego purposes and selling nonsense. Micromarkets are the key, you can have 5oo followers, however if this group helps you in the area you need help, then be happy with a smaller group. Actually, 50 followers that quality twitters can be more powerful than 500 people with nothing to do besides sending out nonsense all day long. Twitter can be powerful, I just feel that a lot of consultants believe in more mass followers versus small niche groups of people and individuals that can help you grow a product, venture or social group.
Just like with SEO marketing these days, people care more about traffic than the right traffic. For example, does Rolex really want 20 million people to their site each month, how about 10,000 people that can afford their watches? Or 5000 people that are buying versus mass, mass wastes time, money and resources, you only need to score 1% of the US population paying you $1 a month to make $3million a month, so why does someone need so much mass when you miss your target instead. Hitting the target group along with quality is the key!
I haven’t tried twitter yet but I heard a lot about its potential to bring traffic if used properly. Your post inspires me and convinced me to give twitter a try. Thanks.
Terrific post, Maki. By far the best and most no-BS article on Twitter I’ve read so far.
Wow, I drifted to your post via twitter and WOW! You are so prolific and explain things so well. I really appreciate it/you.
I’m not a small talker (and don’t care about people’s basic daily lives who I don’t know or stupid conversations), yet I’m an international speaker and author and am a great and fun communicator! So, twitter is a gradual experiment for me nudged on me by a colleague due to our new mobile magazine and online connectability/marketing for it. I like talking TO people in person and hear voices and laughter, etc., – but it’s been kind of neat.
I’m also a late night person and tend to just read through everyone else’s posts and then answer those that matter to me. It’s 1:20 am now and I’m pretty much be talking to myself on Twtr in my group of flwrs!
Anyway, love the way you present your thoughts. Very good!
Blissings, Kim
I think what you point out Maki is a gold mine , this encourages me to point my attention more on tweeter. I believe with a little work everyone can get as many followers anyway great post as allways.
Latest post on driving more traffic to your website -> http://www.exgrafix.com/?p=5
i see. This is the first time i know about twitter.
hope i will get more follower next time.
Successful bloggers also have profiles on Digg, StumbleUpon, Del.icio.us, and similar social bookmarking sites; my own blog, at ariwriter.com, for instance, has such links in the footer of every post.
I know that some of my Facebook friends also have LinkedIn profiles, but I selectively choose (or we selectively choose) who is friend on which platform. Former work colleagues, for instance, who have LinkedIn profiles, may or may not have Facebook profiles but I don’t care because I don’t need to tell them what I tell my Facebook friends.
Penelope Trunk recently blogged about the intersection of Twitter and other social media sites and how it’s not necessary to mash everything together.
Her first two paragraphs:
When I started doing Twitter, I put my Twitter feed on the sidebar of my blog. It seemed smart: more content means more traffic, and more traffic is good. But after two weeks of Twitter, I removed it. And then, when I was blogging about important topics like ditching Hebrew school as a career harbinger, commenters asked what happened to my Twitter feed.
Well, the Twitter feed is right here on Twitter. Just like my LinkedIn profile is on LinkedIn, and the potted plants I’ve collected on Facebook are on Facebook. Because mashing our social media together for the purpose of marketing one feed to another dilutes the value of social media. If you express yourself in the same way on a blog and on Twitter, then you don’t need both.
I signed up for Twitter a few moments ago. I figure I’ll give the service another shot. I last tried it over a year ago, around the time it was starting up and not much going on. I sense I will dump it in a few weeks. But the point remains I don’t intend to have my Twitter feed on my blog.
Well I’m following 0 people, and so far have 500 people following me, the number is growing – but at times it goes backwards, few drop out, but the next week more join so it’s all good. I’m not following anyone – not 1 person, and I don’t have a popular site – I also don’t tweet more then 2-3 times a day at max, it’s all about the quality of what you write.
Right now I’ve noticed a few spammers starting to follow me, I haven’t blocked them because at least it rounds out the number – there’s only 4-5 in my list that I can identify as obvious spam, other then that it all seems legit. Not sure what I can do with such a growing audience – no real way to monetize but I guess I could do plugs for others brands.
I found this post just in time! I just set up my twitter profile today, and was feeling a bit lost…Thanks for the great advice!
Its been few months that I’ve used Twitter service, and found out that, daily traffic from my twitter follower are amazed up to my satisfaction, but of cos the more the better. Maki, as always, your post are very useful and helped a lot.
Thanks
David Cheong
http://www.twitter.com/davcheong
I got to this great post via FriendFeed … is that ironic still?
It is a touchy subject and one that has to be taken on a case by case basis. However, great stab at a huge conundrum. Thanks.
(PS – Adding you to my blogroll … )
Nice article. Will try some of the methods.
Excellent read Maki – not a whole lot of useful Twitter info out there quite yet, so this article was definitely a refreshing site (especially from your blog!)
Anyway, I decided the other day that I want to see how big of a following I can build up on Twitter, mainly for the sake of competitive nature. The difference though – is that I’ve started from scratch. I’m not using any existing sites of mine to funnel traffic to it. I want to see what I can do starting from the ground up and challenge myself to 65k followers.
Sounds crazy, right? Well, that it may be, but at least I’ll have fun in the process! Would love if you were one of my first followers (long time fan!).
Cheers
this is nice tips about twitter, I’ll try the method you suggested
I think I am going to try the method osen did, maybe just follow about 15 new people a day and slowly build up.
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