Monday, February 25, 2013

Social Media Monday—The Tweet Life, Part Four—10 Tips to Help You Get More Twitter Followers


A lot of you have done the basics and now you’re sitting back waiting for your Twitter account to explode with followers. Well, if you’ve followed the previous three posts you’re in a good position. But, today I’m going to share10 tips to help you get more Twitter followers. Click to Tweet

If there are any of these you aren’t certain how to implement, don’t worry. I’m going to post a list of links to previous blog posts about Twitter to help refresh your memory.

1. Tweet regularly. Just like you need to keep a regular blog schedule for that to grow, you also need to keep a regular Tweet schedule. I recommend scheduling a minimum of 4 – 6 tweets per day.

2. Focus on your audience. When you’re sending out Tweets keep in mind the people you’re trying to reach. Tweet about things they’ll be interested in. I don’t mean you can’t occasionally share something personal. For some reason, my audience always responds well to tweets that I share about my cat. But one of the reasons is that I don’t do it very often!

3. Follow Edie's 5 – 1 rule RIGIDLY. Personally, I’m not a never-vary, rule follower, except with this one. Never, allow your Tweets to become a personal sales pitch. The way to keep that from happening is to force yourself to share about someone or something else 5 times before you share about yourself once. So what happens if you have two things you have to share in one day? Then you’re going to have to Tweet 12 times to get it in—10 about someone else broken up with 2 about you.

4. Take time to research relevant hashtags and USE THEM. Don’t use more than 3 per Tweet, but use 1 or 2 in every Tweet.

5. Follow people back. Remember to reciprocate follows. If someone follows you, and they aren’t offensive, follow them back. I’ve been amazed at how this turns out well. Often times, some of the seemingly unrelated people who’ve followed me turn out to be very relevant when they Tweet.

6. Take time to follow new people daily. I recommend following at least ten new people per day. And here’s a trick to finding ones who are likely to follow you back:
Visit some of your followers who are in the sweet spot of your audience. Then, click on their followers. Go down the list and follow some of those folks who look relevant. You’ll get a higher percentage of follows using this method because these folks have recently taken time to follow someone with your focus.

7. Let people know your Twitter handle. Add your Twitter profile link to every email signature, business card, bio, byline, article, website, etc. you’re involved with. There is nothing more frustrating to me than sharing an article and not having the author’s Twitter info handy to add to my Tweet. Better yet, use Click to Tweet!


8. Use headline techniques to compose effective Tweets. I’ve mentioned on several occasions that the most effective Twitter updates are those composed like headlines. If you’re not sure what I mean, There’s a link to give you all the info you need.

9. Don’t be stingy about retweeting. We all want to know that our contribution is relevant. By retweeting others, you affirm them. And, by helping others grow, you make friends who’ll help you.

10. Thank those who mention you, follow you, and retweet you. Twitter is all about polite society. Taking time to be nice is the right thing to do, and it always pays off in the long run.

I’ve done my best to include a comprehensive list of things to do to increase your following. But I’m sure I’ve left some things out. What have you found helps you add Twitter followers to your account? And do you have any questions about things I’ve mentioned or the posts I’ve shared below? Be sure to share your experiences in the comments section below.

And don’t forget to join the conversation!
Blessings,
Edie

Previous Blog Posts about Twitter: 





14 comments:

  1. GREAT tips, Edie. This is on my list of things to work on. Have a great week!

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  2. Hello, when you tweet 4 to 6 times a day, is it the same tweet or do you rephrase one thought six different ways or six different thoughts?

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    1. Jennifer, thanks for asking, I should have made that distinction! It's 4-6 times a day with different Tweets. Blessings, E

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  3. Edie, as always your post is full of great info and a fabulous investment of time spent reading. I appreciate that you included links back to some of your posts for those of us who can't keep up every day. I especially appreciate your tip #3 - something I need to practice!

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    1. Julia, I'm so glad this post is helpful. It's easy to get in a rut with social media, so we all need to go over the basics periodically. Blessings, E

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  4. Great post, Edie...I'm bookmarking this and the other 3 blogs for when I have more time to digest it.

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    1. Pat, thanks so much! I know you're having a blast at Deep Thinkers. Give everyone a hug from me! Blessings, E

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  5. I’m writing New Adult and saw a reference in a tweet, so I searched the Category and followed a few people that way. It’s been great! Thanks for the post! -ceejae-devine.com

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    1. Ceejae, I have a friend of mine who's writing in the New Adult genre. I'm glad you were able to find others that way. Thanks for stopping by, Blessings, Edie

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  6. Another good post to file--thanks Edie! I do have a question. I have seen the words (link) "Click to Tweet" on other blogs. How do I do this?

    (Apologies--I have an unrelated question but still a social media one!) How do I add a Pinterest button at the end of my blog posts? I have been able to add some of my work (published on other sites) to my Pinterest board because the other sites have a Pinterest button. I am unable to find the Pintererst button for my own site on Blogger. Thanks!

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  7. I try to follow people back, but twitter keeps telling me I've reached the limit of the people I follow...so I have to unfollow someone to follow someone new. What's up with that? Any idea?

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    1. Celeste, I took a look at your Twitter and you're following 2000 people and you don't even have 1000 followers yet. You need to keep you numbers much closer. For having 900 followers you should be following about 1100 people. Also, Twitter has a really funky benchmark around 2000 following. I had to get to 1900 followers before it let me follow more than 2000 people. I haven't hit a wall like that since then, but everything I've read says it's hard to break through that. I recommend you go to www.manageflitter.com and find everyone who isn't following you back and unfollow the ones who aren't folks you're most interested in. Blessings, E

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