19 Twitter Management Tips to Increase Your Followers Organically

If you want to build your Twitter follower list quickly, you might be tempted to spend money to boost those numbers. Before you do that, consider this; the followers you buy will likely be spam accounts or simply inactive. Plus, you’ll damage your reputation if people catch the wind of what you’re doing. Instead, try these 19 methods of increasing your followers organically.

The 80/20 rule of content marketing applies to Twitter just as it applies everywhere else. 80% of your tweets should focus on content that informs, educates, or entertains. 20% of your content can then focus on promoting your brand and talking about your products and services.

If people click into your Twitter page and find that it’s been weeks since you’ve done anything, they aren’t very likely to follow you. If they do follow you and realize that you only tweet sporadically, they’ll unfollow very quickly as well. Be sure to tweet several times throughout the day, and make a point to tweet to 3 to 5 new people each day.

Add your Twitter account to your social share buttons on your blog and on your website. You can also include a call to action in your content reminding people that they can follow you on Twitter as well.

Your first priority in tweeting should be to focus on topics that are relevant to your brand that also interests your audience. Once you have that down pat, you can check the left side of your feed for currently trending topics to try and find trending topics that you can make a logical connection with. For example, if there’s an upcoming holiday that fits into your niche, send out a few relevant tweets.

When people decide whether or not to follow a Twitter account they generally look at the following things:

• How often do you tweet.
• Do your tweets contain interesting content.
• Do your tweets generate engagement.
• Who is following you
• Who you are following

The last point is very important. If people recognize the people you are following as being influential, they’re more likely to follow you than if your followed list is full of unknowns.

If somebody follows you or even retweets one of your posts, take a few moments to acknowledge them. If they’ve followed you, they will be more inclined to stay a follower. If they’ve simply retweeted, your engagement may be the thing that turns them into a follower.

To attract new followers, make sure your current list of followers is full of people who are active and engaged. Every week or so, take a look at your list and purge any that stand out as particularly stagnant.

When somebody doesn’t follow you back, it’s usually a subtle way of telling you that they aren’t interested in engaging or that they don’t have time to do so. Wait about 5 or 6 days and if they haven’t followed you in return, go ahead and unfollow them.

Yes, it is true that some people overuse hashtags, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t a useful tool. A couple of relevant hashtags in your tweets can help people interested in a particular topic find you and engage with you.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with riding on the coattails of the big guys. If a popular Twitter account publishes a tweet that is relevant to you, tweet back. It’s a great way to get seen by a large audience.

You can use the Twitter search utility to find conversations that are currently active on topics that are relevant to you and your audience. Join these, and you may pick up some new followers. If nothing else, you’ll create interesting engagement for your current audience.

If you’ve published a tweet that’s really gotten a great reaction, you can embed that tweet in your website. This will allow visitors to your website to see your tweet, retweet it, comment, or like it. If their followers are impressed, they may also become your followers.

Consider holding a giveaway to reward people who decide to follow you on Twitter. For example, you could offer a free eBook download to the next 100 people who follow you. Just be sure you have a plan in place to keep them engaged, or they may simply unfollow once the contest is over.

If you mention somebody in a tweet or quote something that they have written, send them a DM to let them know. They’ll appreciate the notification and may drop your name to their followers so that their audience can see what you have written as well.

Be very liberal about retweeting items that your audience will find interesting. They will pass these things along to their networks which of course gives you a wider audience, and hopefully more followers.

The hashtag #FF was created to promote follow Friday. This designates Friday as a day for Twitter users to recommend other accounts to their followers. While there is no guarantee that you will be added to anybody’s list of accounts to follow, it may be worthwhile to reserve a few particularly interesting tweets for Fridays.

Twitter chats, as opposed to conversations, are moderated discussions held on a variety of topics. They are often led by business owners, community leaders, or other influential people. If you find any that are relevant to you, sign up and take part. You’ll connect with new people and get a chance to demonstrate your knowledge.

When you fill out your social media profiles, be sure to add your Twitter handle. The same is true for business cards and email correspondence. The more your handle gets out there, the more likely you will be to gain followers who are interested in what you have to say.

Ultimately, the best way to get a large number of followers is to have an active and engaging Twitter feed. One of the best ways to get that activity and engagement happening is to simply ask your followers questions and open up the floor to them. You’d be surprised at how much action they will create for you.