Twitter which started as a micro blogging site has undergone a lot of transformation’s, crossed all the barriers and become one of the top websites in the world. For bloggers twitter will help to improve the quality of your blog, drive more traffic, help in networking with fellow bloggers and will widen the readership. While speaking about twitter most people are worried about the number of followers. Of course numbers are important, but we must be concerned more about the quality of the followers.
You can get thousands of followers using automated software’s. But the majority of those followers are spammers who follow you expecting a follow back. They will not see your tweets, respond to your messages and more importantly will not bring you any good. In fact 10 targeted followers are more valuable than 1000 untargeted ones. Getting targeted followers will take time but it is well worth the time you invested in building it. In this post I will share 10 sure fire ways to get more targeted, real human followers.
1. Tweet like a human, not a machine
There are a lot of software’s available which automate your tweeting process. They just tweet your links again and again and makes people think that you are a spammer. Automation is not a bad thing, but you have to be careful on that. Don’t let your tweeting activities completely on autopilot. Many people will get irritated when they see someone tweet his blog links again and again. So make sure you tweet like a human, not a machine.
2. Always make sure that your tweets are useful to your followers
People follow you because they hope that they can learn something from your tweets. You need to provide your followers with value. Personal tweets can be fun but you should try to minimize it (unless you are a celebrity). Your tweets must provide your followers something useful, otherwise they won’t follow you for long. Make it a point to inspire, educate and help people on Twitter. Also don’t tweet just for the sake of tweeting. If you have nothing to say, don’t.
3. Engage in conversations
After all twitter is a social networking site. It is meant for connecting people from different parts of the globe, different niches, different ages etc. If you come off as a friendly individual who chit-chat once in a while with followers, the more people will feel like you’re a welcoming person to follow. Every time you reply to someone and have they replied to you your Twitter ID appears in the feeds of others which expose you to potentially thousands upon thousands of other Twitter users. Don’t forget to look into your inbox and reply to the messages.
4. Don’t over tweet
Staying active on twitter is good but make sure you don’t over tweet. I have seen many people tweeting their links every 5 minutes (automatic tools handle this). This is like someone talking too much and not giving listeners the time to respond. Make sure there is enough time for the follower’s reactions.
5. Stay on point
Your tweets should stay in your field, where your expertise can be of value to others. If you are a technology expert then your tweets are more likely to be in that field. Naturally your followers will also be technology enthusiasts and would be interested in your technology tweets rather than movie gossips. If you do too many tweets out of topic then your followers will get distracted and may unfollow you.
6. Fill your bio
Make sure your profile bio is compelling and interesting. The people want to know whom they are listening to, isn’t it? Try to use your real profile photo, not your company logo or avatar. This will help people to realize that you are a real person, not a spammer. This will help your followers have more trust in you.
7. Design your twitter page
Still using default twitter background and default icon? Then it is the time to change the look and feel. If the people have to notice you then you need to stand out from the crowd. If you have enough money consider getting a custom background designed. At least change the default background and move to a simple and good looking background which is available for free.
8. Use #hashtags whenever possible
The #hashtags makes it easy for the twitter users to search for a common subject. Quality content coupled with suitable# hashtags will definitely bring you new followers. Look for the hot trending #hash topics on twitter and jump into conversation. It can be helpful to do a little research first, to find out if the subject you’re tweeting already has an established hashtag.
9. Learn from others
There are already many people out there on twitter with thousands of followers. Have a look on their account. How their profile is designed? What is their tweeting style? How do they respond to the questions? How do they engage in conversations? You don’t need to blindly imitate their methods. But you will definitely get some useful tips.
10. Bring your twitter profile to offline
Bring your twitter account to the real world. Every time when you do a talk, participating in the panel discussions, meetings figure out a way to show your twitter account. You can add your twitter URL in your business cards and letter pads. What about getting a custom designed T-shirts with the words “Follow me @YourUserName” printed on it 😉
These are some surefire ways which will bring you more twitter followers. Unlike automated ways this will take time and engagement from your part. But the end results will be definitely worth your time and effort.
Do you have any other methods? Please share your comments.
Typical geek, night owl, gadget freak, budding entrepreneur, WordPress & Ruby enthusiast.
I love your number one tip, ‘tweet like a human’. Many bloggers fall short of this act. They tweet as if they’re machines and as if their readers are robots.
To get the most of twitter, one must take the above precautions. Thanks for your post man, thanks for commenting on my blog also.
Enjoy your day.
Tim
Hi Tim, welcome to my blog. Thanks for stopping by and dropping a comment 🙂
This conversation is awesome. I do hate bad tweeting habit of some bloggers. they tweet every single minutes and that is very bad. They behave just like a machine serving a Robots…I love your words..
Thanks a lot for your comment 🙂
First of all I really like the pic u have added. I always behave as a autmoated machine in twitter. I should start behaving as a human at least in twitter. Interacting is the key point to success in twitter. Also Rojish spacing between some points is not proper. Fix it.
At first I was also behaving like a machine in twitter. But then I realised my mistake a tried to become a human. And then I noticed a significant increase in the number of my followers.
I hope problems with spacing is fixed now. Thanks for notifying me 🙂
Good ten tips to live up our Twitter venture. I mostly like the “Engage in Conversations” since I think Twitter is created for the conversations sake.
Twitter is a good traffic source but more than that it is a social network connecting different people. So we should engage in conversations in twitter.
Thanks for stopping by and dropping a comment 🙂
The traffic from Twitter is now seems like machine, almost of it.
Hello Tony, welcome to my blog. Thanks for stopping by and dropping a comment 🙂
Logical steps to get a good and loyan follower on Twitter. Thanks for the post.
Thanks for the comment buddy 🙂
You are right.
tweeting about interesting quotes will make other people to take interest in your tweets.
Hello Usman, welcome to my blog. Thanks for commenting 🙂
Twitter has proved that words are more powerful than any other weapon. 140 character tweets has started revolutions and toppled governments.
Twitter is a ‘once in a generation’ idea. No one ever thought that twitter will become so much popular.
Welcome to my blog Manpreet. Thanks for the comment 🙂
I completely agree with all the points. Just do everything like a human not like a machine.
yep, tweeting like a machine has to be the number one turnoff.
Once I automated all my twitter activities and then I realized that it is the biggest mistake I am doing. Now I am trying to be human in twitter.
Thanks for stopping by and dropping a comment Neal.
Have you seen any increase in your followers when you started behaving like and actual human Rojish?
The traffic from Twitter is now seems like machine, almost of it.
Another great way to build your twitter following is to attend a popular event and actively tweet about it! For this to work you should us the hashtag provided by the event. People will search for the hash tag and follow you.