Twitter plays by its own rules.
It has kept its 140 character limit despite the jokes, the pressure to change by many of its followers and the demands to be more like Facebook or Google+.
It is misunderstood by many people who throw stones at it from the sidelines. Despite the knockers it has kept true to its initial design and constraints that don’t seem to fit it into an online world that is about bigger being better.
This succinct reporting has made it the channel of choice for breaking news. Twitter is now often seen popping up on the television screen as viewers interact with a show. The character limitation it demands lends itself to one liners that are often humorous, pithy and sharp.
Twitter has enhanced the art of comedy and the throw away quip.
Why should you bother increasing your Twitter followers?
Increasing your Twitter followers does have some distinct benefits for business and brands. Here are three worth mentioning
- It increases brand awareness. What business doesn’t want that.
- Distributes your content wider and faster. This can improve link building to your website and hence improving your organic SEO
- Drive traffic to your blog or website. This can lead to more lead generation and sales.
So how do you double your Twitter followers?
The average Twitter account has a 126 followers and has tweeted 307 times. Doubling that number isn’t hard if you implement some of the following tips. And you can do much better than that if you apply a little focus and discipline.
- Make sure your profile and “Bio” (which is limited to 160 characters) is to the point and attracts followers in your niche. Check out Hilary Clinton’s Twitter Bio in the infographic below.
- Tweet more often. Those with 15,000 plus tweets have between 100,000 to 1 million followers
- Use hashtags. This will expand your tweet visibility
- Schedule and automate tweets with tools like Hootsuite and Socialoomph.com
- Follow people in your niche or industry. Especially those with substantial numbers of followers on Twitter.
- Retweet the content of influencers and let them know with the @mention
- Join in Twitter chats or start one of your own a regular basis
- Find new followers that share your interests by using tools like Tweepi
- Twitter is not an inbox but a stream so you need to keep your followers engaged by tweeting valuable content for your target audience
- Learn from the best. Check out Anton Perlkvist does it with @Fun and @Googlefacts
- Promote your Twitter account “everywhere
For some more tips check out the infographic.
What about you?
How do you use Twitter? Is it still an enigma? What have you found to be an effective tactic to gain more Twitter followers?
Look forward to your insights and stories in the comments below.
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