We all know that it’s important to have a presence on social media. But did you know that Twitter has over 400 million active users?
If you harness the power of Twitter correctly, it gives you real opportunities to generate leads and increase brand awareness.
But how do you do this? By growing your Twitter followers, of course!
Your business needs a large following of the right type of person on Twitter. That way, you get your name out there to a huge global audience – and gain an advantage over your competition.
Twitter isn’t the only social media platform available to you – but it’s still important to have a presence on there!
You can use it to shorten content from a…
- Blog
- Case study
- LinkedIn post
- Newsletter
… and ‘just get it out there’! That way, you do half the work, but get double the reward.
We’ve outlined some key steps for you to grow your number of Twitter followers below.
Post ‘original’ content – regularly!
You need to give Twitter users an incentive to follow you – and posting ‘original’ and illustrated content is the best way of doing this.
By writing your own posts, without copying from others (otherwise known as ‘original’ posts), you give potential followers content that they can’t find elsewhere.
This could include:
- Updates on company activities
- Alerts about upcoming events
- Top tips relating to your field
- News from across the sector
- Images supporting your main post
- Videos reinforcing your message
If all your posts advertise company products / services, your visitors won’t want to follow you – so, avoid sales messages! Instead, take a personable approach to communicating with your audience.
Make sure to include images and videos (created by your company) when and where possible. These draw people to your posts, as visual information is easier and more attractive to absorb.
Just remember: if you don’t start posting content on your Twitter before building your following, people who discover your profile will have no reason to follow you.
So, before you go on a huge following spree, create some initial posts to show your visitors what they’re in for!
Identify appropriate hashtags
Your Twitter posts need to include appropriate hashtags relating to your industry. You should also put one or two of these in your profile ‘Biography’.
Often, Twitter users will search for hashtags that relate to what they’re interested in. So, if you use these hashtags, you’ll show up in those results – and grab their attention!
Use hashtags that are:
- Related to your industry
- Relevant to what your post is about
- Known, without being too commonly used
Getting the balance on what hashtags you should use is a difficult one. You want to use hashtags that lots of people will see – but if you use ones that are too common, you’ll get lost in the abyss.
For example, a Twitter post including #marketing is going to be one of thousands of posts with that hashtag. Therefore, due to the lack of followers you’ll have at first, very few people will see this post.
Instead, something like #newbusinessdevelopment is a bit more niche, and provides more visibility for your post.
Get following!
Now that you’re posting original content and using appropriate hashtags, it’s time to get following! You can do this in two key stages:
- Ask your colleagues & referrers to follow your account
- Follow people who regularly post about your industry
When following people, it’s worth choosing those who follow more accounts than they have followers. That way, you know that they’re far more likely to follow you back.
For example, if an account has 10,000 followers but follows only 100, then the likelihood of them following you back is very slim.
Instead, identify accounts where they follow back many of their followers. Personally, we wouldn’t recommend asking your friends and family to follow your account.
People want to see that your account has authentic, appropriate followers – not just anyone you know, unrelated to your industry.
If you can, ask your colleagues and referrers to…
- Like
- Retweet
- Comment
… on your posts, so that your content will show up in their followers’ feeds, too!
At the start, only follow accounts that have more ‘followings’ than ‘followers’
Interact with your new followers
After a few weeks, your follower count will start going up. This means that different Twitter accounts will start liking, commenting or retweeting your posts. Make sure that you interact with these people!
You could:
- Respond to their comments on your post(s)
- Message accounts that retweet your content, thanking them
- Interact with their content, too, in return
- Use the ‘like’ button
By doing this, your business looks friendly, approachable and eager to engage with your followers. This personable approach means that other users will want to follow you, too!
If appropriate, you can message accounts that retweet your content, thanking them and interacting with them
Level out your ratio
Your ‘follower’ count is now going up – but nowhere near as quickly as your ‘following’ count. So, what do you do?
You start unfollowing the first people you followed, that didn’t follow you back.
Although it may not seem like it, this is an important thing to do. Having too many followers isn’t a good look for your business, as it takes away the personable aspect of your account.
For example, if you follow 50 times more people than follow you, site visitors may think that your account is run by a ‘bot’ (a machine used by some companies to follow as many people as possible).
It can also make your visitors feel that, if you follow them (in return for them following you), you will be unlikely to see their content, and therefore won’t interact very much.
Spread the news!
Now your company is on Twitter, and growing fast – so you need to let people know! Telling your colleagues and referrers to follow is one thing, but you can do more than this.
You can also post about your Twitter account on your:
- Website
- Newsletter
- Blog
- Other social media accounts
- Pretty much anywhere!
This way, people will know that you’re posting fantastic Twitter content – and that they need to be following you!
To keep your follower count moving up, you need to keep repeating all the above steps. On Twitter, the more you post and the more hashtags you use, the better.
You can post about your new Twitter presence on your company newsletter, amongst other things
Bringing in some help
To be successful on Twitter, you need to post every day. Your company may want to use Twitter effectively – but doesn’t have the time to do so.
Giving this work to untrained, inexperienced staff, just because they know how Twitter works, isn’t the solution. They will use Twitter in their private life in a completely different way from how it should be used in business.
Alternatively, you may need help setting up your account in the first place.
That’s where Ryall Marketing comes in!
We have years of experience running high-quality Twitter accounts for our clients. This has included generating multiple leads for our customers via the platform.