How do you become influential on Twitter?
You can post great content all day long – but if no one is following you then it’s not as effective as it could be. You need followers to get followers; it’s a Catch 22. The quality of your tweets is only one factor. I am proud to say I’ve never played any games or purchased lists to get more followers. I don’t think those methods will produce the type of followers you want.
Here are my top 7 tips for increasing your followers today:
- Understand it is a numbers game. The more people you follow, the more followers you will have. If you follow a lot more people, a lot more people will follow you back.
- Follow people with similar interests who also have a high likelihood of following you back. Search for key people in real estate OR in key people in your community and follow them. Then look to see who their followers are, and then work through the list, following selected followers. By selectively following people who follow leaders in your industry, you tap into people who want to be connected, have things in common with you, and will likely connect to you too.
- Use hashtags (#) to find followers. In my case, I am always looking for great social media tweeters, so I often search for tweets under #sm or #facebook. In real estate, search #realestate or #realtors. I also love to search #mobile, #ipad, or #iphone. I know I will always find good people to follow there, as well as followers to follow me. I also always search event hashtags to follow like-minded people. Check out the #agentrb hashtag to see everyone talking about Agent Reboot™!
- Be sure to add appropriate hashtags to your tweets so that they will show up in those Twitter streams and thereby increase your chances of getting re-tweeted.
- Get re-tweeted. Having your followers re-tweet your great content is like getting an unsolicited endorsement. How do you get re-tweets? You must re-tweet others. Make it a point to re-tweet 3-5 posts a day.
- Repeat hot tweets. I am a big fan of the repeat tweet. Key messages repeat 2-3 x a day or 1x a day for 3 days in a row!
- Promote it. Make sure your Twitter profile is part of your email address, linked to your Facebook, LinkedIn, email signature, blog, and prominent on your homepage.
BONUS: It never hurts to ask, right? :-) For instance: Please follow me at@katielance or @inmannews
What are your tips for increasing your followers? Leave me a comment below!
Written by: Katie Lance, Senior Marketing Manager, Inman News