With more than 310 million active users, Twitter provides an amazing opportunity to create much wider awareness about your products and services. With no cost to enter and share your content with an unlimited number of followers, it’s no surprise that Twitter is becoming one of the most popular social media platforms for B2B and B2C marketers.
Of course, your content won’t get very far if you have no followers. That’s why gaining a greater Twitter following is a high priority of just about any social media marketer today. So how can you gain more followers? The following are five proven strategies to grow twitter followers you can leverage today for better results.
- Represent your brand personality, not just your product in your Twitter picture and bio. The first impression you will make on a potential follower is your picture and your bio. If it is solely utilitarian (i.e. We are x and we do y really well), all you do is inform, not connect. By injecting brand personality into the picture, banner, and bio, you make potential followers feel like they are getting to know the real you and building trust. Trust will grow Twitter followers, not pure information.
- Use the right hashtags on posts. Tweets with hashtags are twice as likely to engage a new audience than those without, but the level of engagement drops significantly as the number of hashtags increases. Hashtags need to be chosen carefully and be appropriate for the content in the post. Otherwise they lose power. Choose hashtags popular with your target audience and then create relevant content to engage that theme, rather than simply tagging a trending hashtag on just any content. With the right hashtag, you’ll be able to actually engage the people following it, rather than simply adding to the din.
- Engage in the community where your ideal customer will participate. Become a contributing part of the community where your ideal customer belongs. Don’t just push content about your brand customized to appeal to them, but really join the conversation. Follow leaders in the community and other popular Twitter personalities in that space. Ask questions. Respond to what’s already happening, and make sure your content is helpful, not just pushing your own agenda.
- Say “thank you” when people engage with your brand. People who share your content or retweet you won’t necessarily follow you at the same time. Don’t let this valuable chance to grow your network pass by. Thank them for engaging! About 1 out of 4 people you engage back will both favorite your tweet and follow you. This not only adds them as a follower, but it also provides you with a warm opening to their network. By showing that you appreciate them, you gain a more loyal follower who will be likely to share your content with their followers for an exponentially greater network.
- Post frequently (but not too often). Twitter is a 24/7 platform. One tweet a day won’t get you much traction nowadays. In fact, with the current algorithm, you may not be seen at all. You need to tweet many times throughout the day in order to reach your whole desired network. For many marketers, scheduling a large number of posts ahead of time helps. Just be careful to add in posts that are relevant to what’s happening in the moment and to participate in big trending topics. Don’t over-do it, though. If you send a bunch of unrelated tweets all at once, you may be written off as spam, losing your chance to gain new followers.
If you do all these things, you should see a massive growth in your Twitter following–and your influence!
Of course, getting followers is just half the battle. Once you get followers, you have to keep them engaged and listening to what you have to say. A comprehensive content marketing strategy can help you do this powerfully on Twitter and across channels. Talk to a social media and content marketing strategist at Provaro to see how you can increase your social media presence easily. You can reach our experts by using our contact page or by calling 707.595.7002
