Like Facebook and other channels, Twitter is an important social
media tool for marketers because it helps increase followers, which then
increase sales. For this reason, it's essential to use it in the right
way. Below are different ways that you can gain more followers on
Twitter:
- Target influencers with large fan bases - Follow and focus on Twitter influencers who have a large, high quality base of followers. This base should reflect the same followers you want to target. Some of these influencers will follow you back. In the future, retweeting popular tweets from those influencers can also increase your followers.
- Tweet during rush hours - It's very important to check the time your followers are most active in order to get your tweets seen. The best time to post is between 1 and 4 PM. You can also post between 7 and 10 pm on the weekends, another high traffic time when people often check social media. Posting during these hours will increase your visibility, however, it's best to do some research and determine the most accurate times related to your target audience.
- Interact with your followers - Communicate as much as possible with your followers and show them you are interested in what they have to say. Continuously share topics of mutual interest and retweet content that your followers will find useful.
- Follow other people - It's best to follow people in your industry. This builds a community around common interests and establishes your voice in that community. Once you gain some exposure with good content, they are likely to follow you. Create a list of interesting influencers and engage with them on Twitter as well. As the saying goes, "if you build it, they will come", so the same is true on Twitter, "if you tweet well, they will follow."
- Be consistent and post often - Regularly post interesting, relevant updates. To get those updates seen by large amounts of people, it's also critical that you tweet several times a day. You don't want your well-crafted tweets to get lost in the Twitter feed. People often follow dozens or hundreds of accounts on Twitter and if your content isn't near the top when they check-in, it won't be seen.
- Put a Twitter button on your blog and your website - When visitors go to your website and read your blog, they will see the Twitter box and can click on it to follow you.
- Hashtags - Hashtags are effective tool to greatly increase the number of people who see your posts. How do they work? Let's say you want to reach web designers with your content on responsive design. By placing those words at the end of your post and inserting a hashtag in front, like this #responsive design, people who search for that content will find your tweets. If they like your posts, they are likely to follow you to get more updates. Unlike Instagram, it is best not to use more than three hashtags on Twitter. Using too many of them may confuse your followers about the purpose of your post.
- Post inspiring quotes - Look for quotes that your followers find impressive. When your followers like the quotes they are likely to share them with their friends which can also increase your followers.
- Focus on images - People process visuals 60000 times faster than texts. You can attract more followers with appealing images, but always keep in mind that they need to be relevant to your main topic.
- Offer giveaways - Giveaways are useful for attracting followers and generating leads. When you offer promotional discounts or free gifts, you are nurturing your relationships and expanding your target audience. If you use these ten tips consistently, over time you'll definitely grow your number of followers. With 300 million active users, Twitter has become widely used in different industries as a way for companies to engage with customers and grow their businesses. For some companies, like airlines, Twitter is actually a necessity for important updates and addressing customer concerns. By building a significant number of followers, companies can also increase their brand image and presence. One final tip for Twitter is that it's better to have a limited number of high quality, engaging followers than to have a large number of silent followers who are not your target audience. The goal is ultimately to get the right messages to the right people, not just the largest numbers.
