Today there are more than 1.3 billion Twitter accounts, with more than 326 million monthly active accounts globally and more than 500 million tweets posted daily. First, to reach these accounts and gain new followers, you need an invite profile. You should also engage with influencers, tweet, retweet, tag people and use relevant hashtags, use images and videos and promote yourself or the brand. Let’s find out how to grow Twitter followers organically.
Personalize your profile
Make sure you have a complete profile with your full or company name and a handle that fits your brand. Create a keyword-friendly bio that includes a link to your website and a personal photo or company logo. To make sure your site stands out, customize your color scheme and use a header image that matches your branding.
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Share your handle with friends and customers using various social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Go beyond social, too—announce it in a newsletter; put it on business cards, advertisements and marketing materials; and, embed it on your website.
Also Read: Top Social Media Trends for 2021
Keep an eye on your competitors
See how many followers they have and who they are, and how often they tweet and what they’re tweeting. What does their profile look like? How do they respond to their competition or customers, and what kind of content do they post that gets the most attention? Follow them and retweet their content to get on their radar. This step is equally important for people who want to know how to increase Twitter followers
Find followers and influencers
The rule of thumb is that if you follow someone on Twitter, they will likely follow you back. Use the “Who to Follow” feature to find popular sources and upload your email contacts to Twitter to find people you already know. Find and follow influencers in your industry—if you’re in the food industry, for example, find and follow celebrity chefs. If they see you’re following them, they might follow you back — and your tweets might end up in their feeds. Whatever you do with the goal of growing Twitter followers, try to do it organically. Although you might be tempted to buy a list of followers, those lists are usually filled with bots who can’t buy your products or services and can be deleted from Twitter anyway.
Stay active and engaged
Engaging with users is a surefire way to gain exposure and a more substantial following. Tweet regularly, respond to users who have mentioned you or contacted you for customer support, like and retweet others’ posts, and add your own comments regularly without going overboard. When appropriate, suggest other Twitter users by including their handle, and consider using Tweet chats to interact in real-time with followers who have similar interests.
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Tweet at the right time
Find out when your users are on Twitter so they can see your tweets. Gain insights using data from Sprout Social, Hootsuite, or Buffer to schedule timely posts that won’t get buried in your followers’ feeds. The prevailing consensus is that the best time to post is between noon and 3pm on weekdays, however there are many other tips to consider. Also, stagger your tweets so you don’t overwhelm your followers. Limiting your activity to one tweet every hour or two can maximize your visibility without alienating your network.
Knowing about hashtags is essential when you want to grow your Twitter followers. So, next, we discussed the use of relevant hashtags.
Hashtags are arguably the most powerful feature on Twitter. Use them often – aim for at least two per tweet. Hashtags are how people find your tweets through search. Make sure you use the ones that are relevant to your brand and audience. See what’s trending and check out competitors’ tweets for ideas, or create a new one that might pop.
Add videos and images
Tweets with images and videos get more engagement. According to Buffer, adding a relevant, high-quality image to a tweet can increase engagement by around 150%, while tweets with video are six times more likely to be retweeted. If you don’t have video, use images – but avoid using still photography and be aware of copyright issues.
Find good content
Use Twitter polls, highlight customer stories and recent blog posts, and share brand and industry news and events. If you’re aiming to grow your Twitter followers, make sure what you’re sharing is quality over quantity and bring variety to the content you share. Put your best foot forward by pinning your most engaging tweets to the top of your profile. When users visit your site, this is the first tweet they will see.
Related Reading: Top 10 Essential Ingredients of a Blog Post
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Showcase your business
About 75 percent of B2B companies market themselves on Twitter. In addition to promoting your products and services, you can grow your followers by running promotions like contests and giveaways. Who doesn’t like free stuff? Each participant is a potential new follower and each follower can invite their friends. You can also use Twitter Ads. Twitter advertising is also a good way to grow Twitter followers and provides a low cost-per-click rate and better audience targeting based on engagement and keywords. When you promote a tweet, you’re more likely to get in front of the right audience.
Overall, Twitter is an easy-to-use platform that enables you to share digestible content with target audiences. Getting more engaged means being engaged yourself. If you have the right elements in place—a solid profile, quality content, and connections with influencers and others within your industry—you’ll have a much better chance of growing your follower base.
Don’t stop once you know how to grow Twitter followers. Learn more about Twitter marketing with Advanced Social Media Certification Training, plus digital marketing strategies and best practices with Simplilearn’s Digital Marketing Specialist program.
