Twitter can be a very tricky and mysterious creation. Sometimes it can be entirely beneficial from personal and business standpoints. When looking at both a personal account and a professional account, they should have some similarities that will draw in more followers and showcase your brand.
A Twitter account should be an investment for someone. I will only follow someone from my personal account if I know they will either be posting or re-tweeting some funny or knowledgeable tweets, or if they are a personal acquaintance that I want to read about on a regular basis.
When a person or company is tweeting too often, I find myself being overwhelmed with
the tweets and getting irritated that that’s all I see on my newsfeed. Twitter should
be used for occasional updates, live tweeting events - in an acceptable fashion -
and posting things that you see representing you or your company on a more personable
level.
Here are some tips that I feel are valuable to draw in more followers and the right
followers for Twitter:
- Have a neat and impressionable biography
This is one of the first few things someone will see when they go to your profile. Try to avoid inappropriate language or too much content that will send people the wrong message.
- Reply to tweets
Whether you are a professional representing a business or using a personal account, you can appeal to the people looking at your things by responding publicly and in a timely manner. Direct messaging is easy, show people that you are a real person or a responsive and caring company by talking to people that reach out to you.
- Offer good resources to your followers
Like I said above, with my personal account, I try to follow people that may be beneficial to me in some way, whether it’s a good reference with information, cool ideas that I can use in my own day-to-day plans, or even if it’s just a good laugh. Try to bring something to the table that people will want to get from you, not just anyone else
- Link your other social media profiles together and recommend people to follow you
By having other social media account linked to your Twitter, people will see that if you are a business account that you are a legitimate one and there are several ways that you showcase that. If you are using a personal account, people can reach out to you in multiple ways and see that you’re a real person, not just a random face behind a screen. When people see that you’ve not only asked them to follow you on Twitter, but you’ve linked your profile on other social media profiles, they will be more likely to visit your profile and increase your following.
- Use hashtags in some of your tweets
By using hashtags, people are able to stay connected with not only you, but topics that are trending. In return, hashtags can also help people find your tweets, and increase your following and numbers of re-tweets. With that, be careful how long the hashtags you choose to use are, and don’t send a message you didn’t intend to send by including one.
Twitter can be used by anyone and represent anything out there in the World. That means there are a lot of people that may be interested in you and your brand. Start with the basics, and work your way up from there, soon enough you’ll have so many followers you may need a second profile. (I don’t know if that’s even possible, but it’s an appealing thought isn’t it?)
If you liked these five tips on how to increase your Twitter followers, you can find 70 more equally beneficial tips at Twitter Tools Book. Happy following.
Jordan House is a News Services and Social Media student writer in University Advancement and Marketing.