First a confession: I am a Twitter convert. When I first ran across the platform, I really disliked it. I also (admittedly now) didn’t really get it.
But that was then and this is now.
Now I get it and like it, although again admittedly, I am not obsessed with it like some people. Indeed, one thing I find as I speak to small business people around the country is that, even in the current age of social media mania, a lot of small business people still question about the usefulness of it all:
- Is social media worth the effort?
- What is it really good for?
- How much of a social media presence is really necessary ?
And the one question about Twitter I get most often is – do you really need to have a lot of Twitter followers? Second is: If you do, how do you get them?
Well, there are many reasons why self-employed entrepreneur would want more Twitter followers. First of all, having more followers offers you the opportunity to meet more people, including people you would otherwise not meet. That, in turn, can open up business opportunities.
Another reason to get more followers is that there is some brand equity that comes with having a lot of people follow you on Twitter (or similarly, being your friend on Facebook, or your connection on LinkedIn). Shallow yes, but true nonetheless: Having thousands of followers looks better to some people than having scores of followers.
Additionally, having a lot of followers helps establish you as an expert in your field, as a thought leader.
Having more followers also extends your reach of course, and thus allows you to market to more people.
So, if any of this makes sense to you, then the question is, how do you get more followers? The answer is, read on!
Here Is How You Get More Twitter Followers
1. Tweet well: The first and most important thing you need to do is tweet smart. Business people use Twitter to learn new things and meet people, so be someone that people want to meet. Tweet interesting articles (using a tool like Tiny URL to reduce URL address length), insights, tips, quotes, or pictures.
2. Follow more people: The “twittaquette” is that people follow people who follow them. That is, if you follow someone, they should follow you back. This is not always true of course, but you can tell if someone follows this unwritten rule if their number of “followers” and “following” are roughly similar. If they are, it is a pretty safe bet that if you follow them, they will follow you.
3. Follow the leaders: Here is a great strategy: You know who the leaders in your industry or area of interest are, so go over to their Twitter homepage and see who is following them. Click their list of followers and you will find a goldmine of people interested in what you are interested in. Follow selected people on that list and again, because you already know that they follow people in your industry, the chances are high that they will follow you, too.
4. Use hashtags: In the world of Twitter, hashtags — # — are used to create discussions. For instance, #SmallBiz is where you can find lots of great small business tweets. People add hashtags to their tweets so as to drop them into the proper Twitter stream. Therefore, by searching Twitter for hashtags related to your business, you will again find good people to follow. Follow the ones you like, and they will follow you. It’s really that simple.
And before you know it, you will have met a lot of new people, made some new connections and built your online cred.
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