We all know by now that social networking for business delivers great rewards when you do it well. Nobody could have imagined a decade and a half ago how much social media would change how we communicate, how we connect and how we do business, from digital marketing to lead generation, and even to sales. The entire marketing landscape has been transformed forever and we are delighted to be along for the ride.
Twitter is a fantastic tool for business owners to expand the reach of their brand and to communicate their brand identity in a deep and enduring way. But there is no point having copious numbers of followers on Twitter if they are not actively seeing and paying attention to you! The question begs to be asked: How to increase Twitter follower numbers in a valuable way?
Make Twitter responsive
The key to getting the most value out of tweeting for your business and to create a powerful network is to make your Twitter follower list as responsive as possible. A responsive list of followers will result in more likes, more retweets, more comments and a more interactive and engaged audience. It means your goals for your social media marketing campaign will be easier to achieve and your vision for your business will come to fruition.
Tips to build a powerful network on Twitter
- Create Twitter lists
A copious number of followers aren’t necessarily better than a smaller number of high quality people who have liked and followed your profile. By creating Twitter lists of carefully selected people, you are engaging with followers and, as a result, listed people are more likely to pay attention to what you have to say. When you do list someone, let them know – and they will sit up and take notice.
- Maximise value of existing contacts
Use the Find Friends tool on Twitter to connect with friends, colleagues and acquaintances that already use Twitter. This is the first and easiest way to build your follower base from the ground up when you begin using Twitter as a tool for social networking for business.
- Showcase your Twitter presence on Facebook and Instagram
Many people who use Facebook and/or Instagram also use Twitter. If someone follows you on one platform, they are more inclined to follow you on others. Showcase your presence on Twitter via Facebook or Instagram and watch your Twitter follower numbers escalate. You can either do this directly or by importing tweets to Facebook via the Selective Tweets tool. You can alternatively link to Twitter accounts via the info tab by listing the URL for your Twitter account.
- Engage
We’ve said it before: Social media is about being social! You are using Twitter to impart your brand identity to the world and part of this is via personalisation. By engaging and conversing with your followers, you communicate to them that they matter to you. Without a conversation, social networking for business will not be successful.
- Follow valuable users
Not all Twitter users are created equal – and particularly when it comes to your business profile, you need to choose quality over quantity. By following quality targets, you’re more likely to have them follow you back – and potentially be exposed to their followers as well by default.
- Unfollow inactive users
Be selective about who you as a business follow – and don’t be afraid to unfollow anyone who is inactive or irrelevant to your ultimate goals. If someone is incredibly unlikely to become a customer, or doesn’t fit the demographic of your target consumer in any way, don’t feel obliged to follow them. Take a look at any high-end or quality brand – they will have many, many followers, however they themselves will have a smaller, select group of high-quality people and businesses they follow. It makes them feel even more exclusive – and worth paying attention to.
- Be inspired by your competition
Your online competitors can be a wealth of valuable information and inspiration for your own Twitter marketing campaign. The best part is that they can’t see you watching them! Monitor engagement with their tweets, what their trending topics are, and use their ideas to formulate your own better ones. If you do it in a clever and targeted way, you can also potentially make their followers your followers – and bring their business your way.
- Build trust – and avoid the sales pitch
Twitter isn’t the place to sell. Yes, you can showcase your product or service in a certain number of your tweets, but avoid the hard sell or direct selling on this platform. Overselling and pushy marketing will alienate your followers and if you clog their feed with content that they find annoying or of little value to them, you’ll likely lose followers. Instead, show that you are a real person, that your business is a living entity and that you are worthy of your followers’ trust. Be interesting and interested. If you communicate this and gain trust, consumers will think of you when they have a need or desire that you can fill.
- Ask questions
Part of engaging and showing interest in your followers is appreciating their opinion. And people LOVE to give their opinion! Ask questions via your tweets. This triggers perhaps the most engagement you will ever get via social media – and when people feel like their opinion matters, they feel like they matter. And they will love you for it.
- Time Tweets wisely
Timing is everything. There’s no point tweeting in the middle of the night when your target audience is asleep. By timing your tweets well, you can trigger a maximum response. There are tools that allow for pre-scheduling of tweets; these are great but you shouldn’t just auto tweet.
Ironically, the most popular time to tweet worldwide is noon (local time) – when engagement is at its lowest! (Note that in Australia, the most popular time to tweet is 8am).
So when is the best time to tweet?
- Very early morning tweets tend to receive the most clicks
- The fewest clicks are triggered between 9am and 1pm
- Evening and late at night is the best time for receiving favourites and retweets
Base your timing for tweeting on your location and that of your target audience.
- Tweet quality
Provide value to your followers. Position yourself as an expert in your field. Tweet links to your blog, to interesting snippets of information and to infographics, images, motivational, inspirational, and funny content. So much of what is tweeted by the world each day is simply noise – so make your presence stand out by offering something better than what others do. Make people look forward to what you have to say next.
Make sure your tweets are clear, concise and pack a big punch. Shorten all links. Include high-quality, relevant images where you can and keep true to your brand identity in all that you do.
So now you know how to increase Twitter follower numbers. Remember, you want quality followers – so fewer followers who are of great quality to your brand will be better than a huge number of inactive or irrelevant followers.
Never buy follower lists.
Finally, always respect your network. No matter how busy or “important” you are, take time to respond to your followers – especially those who offer feedback, tweet you, mentions you, or thanks you. A little reciprocity goes a very long way – in life and in business.
Want more Twitter posts?
Here are some of our Twitter reads!
In the realm of social media marketing, Twitter can be a powerful tool for connecting businesses and consumers. If you’re not yet using Twitter for business, it’s time to rethink your social media marketing strategy…
The effectiveness of a Twitter campaign will depend on much (much!) more than simply Tweeting randomly!
Using the Twitter social media platform as part of a business marketing strategy is an extremely savvy move by a business owner and can up the ante for any brand’s digital profile in a dramatic way.
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