437,356 groupies.
Oops, I mean followers.
Yep, my friend Martin Zwilling has 437,356 followers on Twitter.
So you must be thinking, wow, this guy Eric is friends with movie stars or something. He must be chillin’ with celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Charlie Sheen and Martin Zwilling.
Wait a minute. Hold the phone. Have you ever heard of Martin Zwilling before?
Didn’t think so.
But that’s the cool thing: Martin is an average, normal business guy just like you and I.
So if he can get over 400,000 followers on Twitter, why can’t we? Well, that’s just what I wanted to find out from Martin. So I hooked up with him, hoping he’d pull back the curtain to reveal some of his secrets… and he did.
So, without further delay, here’s my chat with the wild Twitter man; Martin…
1st Secret Revealed: 437,356 and Counting. How?
So Martin, how in the world did you get so many followers on Twitter? What is your secret? What strategy did you use to build your following?
“First, I proactively follow as many new people as I can every day – anyone whose profile looks like my target customer, or who talks about targeted subjects in their tweets. This can be done manually with Twitter, but I have also tested other tools, such as TweetAttacks. There are hundreds of tools out there, but the point is to find what works for you and do it on a daily basis.”
Second, I provide something of “value” to my followers on a daily basis. I provide up to six tweets daily, with pointers to the “best of the best” articles for entrepreneurs, which are my target customers. The idea is my follower can read my tweet stream and link to a useful, pre-filtered channel of information every day. If your channel is empty for even a few days, people stop following.
To help me do this, I use the service SocialOomph: It automatically sends a welcome message to new followers, and it spreads the tweets out across the day — so they don’t all come in a big clump”.
2nd Secret Revealed: Following 384,554. How?
And wow, you follow a whole bunch of people yourself. What is your secret on managing so many followers? How do you handle engagement on that level?
“The secret here is to extract from the stream only those messages addressed directly to me, or talking about me or my business: Startup Professionals.
I use TweetDeck to do this. In fact, I only get a few business messages per day requiring a response, and of course, I respond to every one. Overall, I’ve allotted no more than an hour a day for all Twitter and other social media activities, usually early morning or late evening. Not a high price for the value and learning I get from it.”
3rd Secret Revealed: Impact on Business
So, how has having 437,356 followers impacted your business? In other words, what are the real world results you’ve seen?
“Twitter has clearly helped me build my brand. It brings me real leads; both directly through Twitter and indirectly by Twitter users talking to their friends. Because of the many followers; people give me great credibility, speaking invitations, and book sales.
For example, my large following entices great book authors to send me a review copy of their latest book, which I might mention to my followers. In turn, these books keep me up to date and expand my expertise. And that helps me close even more business as a consultant.”
Great stuff Martin. Thanks so much for sharing. And actually, you’re pretty smart. Not a madman at all.
So there you go folks. 3 Secrets from a Twitter Sane-man who has over 400,000 followers.
Tell me, are you gonna be next to reach 400k and what are your secrets for getting there?
About the Guest Author: Eric T. Wagner is a husband, father and life-long entrepreneur. After starting multiple businesses, he is now focused on helping entrepreneurs nail it too. Uncover Eric today at: Mighty Wise Media.
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