It’s the age-old social media question: How do I get more Twitter followers?
The truth is, there is no simple answer.
Some people stumble upon a post that goes wildly viral and gain a ton of followers that way. Others happen to be somewhere offline at the right time and catch something incredible on camera for their 15 minutes of fame, which prompts a large number of people to hit the follow button.
But that’s like entering the social media lottery. You really can’t plan or schedule a tweet that you can guarantee will go viral.
And what can you do? Let’s go over some simple tips to grow your Twitter followers.
Tweet
This seems obvious, right? Tweet. Post content to your account. Contribute to the Twitter community.
People follow accounts because they are interested in what that user is tweeting. Tweet often and you will see your follower count grow as there is more content to grab people’s attention.
Of course, don’t keep tweeting muddled nonsense. It provides value, be it entertainment or information. Throw some multimedia into the mix: Share links, embed photos, upload videos.
Life happens; we all need rest and sleep. I’m not saying you have to become an hourly tweeting machine. But if your last tweet was that “Happy New Year” ringing in 2017, don’t be surprised that you’re not gaining followers in the 2020s.
An active account will see gains in their follower count.
Pay attention to what is happening
Twitter asks every user — every day at the top of their feed — “What’s up?”
That’s because Twitter is a platform for current events. You don’t have to be a news reporter or run one of those “SPLASHING” accounts that share news media links all day long. Just pay attention to what other users are talking about and which topics are listed in the platform’s trending topics.
Maybe there is a way to correlate your position with the trends of the day? If you tweet a lot about horror movies and the trailer for the biggest scary movie just came out, this can work in your favor and give you some inspiration on what to tweet.
If you have something of value to add to a trending conversation, add it!
But don’t spam
Yes, trends can help users find your tweets. But don’t be stupid about it.
Don’t even think about posting a trending topic by inserting those keywords into your completely unrelated tweet. This will not attract new followers and will probably turn some of your current followers into unfollowers.
The same goes for hashtags. Don’t confuse a hashtag search with your tweets. People use them to follow certain events or topics. (As a side note, you should probably look into whether you want to use hashtags at all. They’re pretty passable.)
You won’t gain followers with off-topic self-promotion that clutters people’s feeds. In fact, you will lose them.
Be careful when you tweet
There are strong social media professionals who analyze their Twitter data and dive into the time and day of the week in which their content gets the most engagement. You can really crunch the numbers if you want.
But you don’t have to do that. Being aware of how society works doesn’t require you to be a big data person.
If you’re growing a following on the West Coast, it probably doesn’t make sense to drop your best tweets at 8am ET. If you have an account that posts business advice, you probably don’t want your quality content to debut on Labor Day.
Of course, there are many niches that are evergreen, meaning you can tweet whenever you want and still get engagement. Just don’t be surprised when those 3am tweets you’re tweeting out on a Sunday night from NYC get answered by a bunch of Aussies passing the time at the end of the workday.
Actually set up your account
Just having a Twitter @ handle is not enough.
Change your avatar to something unique to you, even if you don’t want to use your own photo. Add a header image while you’re at it.
Also, fill out that bio. No, really, fill out that bio. Include information that will inform people about what they will get from this account, what your experience is.
Are you a football fan? Let people know. Will you be sharing your latest original knitting patterns? You should put it in your bio! You’d be surprised how much someone’s profile determines whether another user will follow them or not.
A complete profile also helps Twitter accurately place your account within search results so other users can find you.
Don’t be a bot
There are some great automated Twitter accounts that share quality and funny content all the time.
But unless you have some creative idea for a theme account that can be run by a bot, don’t do it. Automating replies or DMs to thank new followers is not. Be a real person and don’t use bots or automated systems to tweet for you. Interact with people where appropriate so they know you’re a real person.
And if your Twitter handle is the default name and set of numbers that Twitter suggests for you, for the love of God, change it. You look like a bot.
Follow people
We’re not talking about “follow back” trains where you reply to someone who follows you, so eventually you end up with 30,000 followers and 30,000 people you’re following. There is no value in this for anyone.
Follow accounts you find interesting, even if they don’t follow you back. Curate your Twitter feed so you can find value in what others are tweeting. You will discover interesting content yourself.
From there, you’ll end up interacting with these users by replying to their tweets to discuss what they’re posting. This will help you grow in your niche among other members of that Twitter community. You’ll probably end up getting a follow as well, but this way you’ll have earned it and your new follower will pay attention to what you post in the future.
And last but not least…
Grow your account organically
Don’t buy followers. Just don’t do it.
There are tons of websites out there where you can lose money and gain thousands of followers in just a few hours. How are all those awesome Twitter users finding you? They are not. Many of these websites take advantage of hacked accounts or create tens of thousands of fake profiles to give the illusion of being a popular Twitter user.
Have you ever seen a Twitter account with hundreds of thousands of followers, but each tweet doesn’t get more than one retweet and two likes? This is because they are faking it with paid followers. It’s inauthentic and real people who find your account can see it directly.
