Months ago, I wrote about this exact topic but I wish I knew then what I know now.
With a lot more experiments and iterations into the general tactics, I have come across a strategy that works - a strategy that will allow you to grow your Twitter following steadily and organically.
But allow me to say this. This article is not for those who are interested in "buying results" to get ahead.
It is for you if you are willing to build your brand online and grow consistently over time with a group of followers that you can be proud of.
As I mentioned in the previous article- first, you'll need to get started with the following:
A singular mission or focus topic for your Twitter account
This is necessary for your overall personal brand and it will guide you when searching for accounts to engage with.
The Mass Follow for Twitter extension
This extension is for Google's famous browser and can be found on the Chrome Web Store. It'll save you a lot of time and hustle.
A tracking mechanism such as a Google Spreadsheet
This is mainly for record-keeping. You will be experimenting so you'll need to track the numbers somewhere.
Unfollow For Twitter App
This is an addition to the previous article's list. It is an app that will be useful in the management of your new followers once you start reeling them in.
And now here are the 4 key tactics:
1. Have content that you can share consistently
This entire idea of your growing your Twitter following will only work if you are actually worth following.
It will only work if you have actual content to share - if your tweets are regular and relevant. People like following and engaging with people who have something to share. You likely do the same on Twitter too. So make sure you have something to share and be consistent with it.
At best, your tweets should all be connected to a singular mission. What is it that's pushing you to want to share with your community of followers? Do you have one key topic you would like to be known for? Do you have some kind of plan?
Twitter is a fast-moving world. Tweeting once a day just doesn't cut it. Tweeting three times a day is not quite enough. Tweeting seven to eight times or more is ideal. That's the best way for your followers to catch at least one of your tweets during their busy days.
2. Engage, engage, engage!
You will need to be human and social about this whole Twitter thing. It is not enough to just sit there, throw out tweets and wait for followers to find you.
They won't.
You will have to get out there and engage so that they do.
Commenting:
Tap on the human psychology of needing to be "seen" by commenting on relevant tweets every now and then.
Keyword: Relevant.
Commenting will reinforce and complement any other tactics I will mention and it will allow you to connect with others.
The details of how many you need to do will depend on your experimentation. I would recommend 10-20 per day if possible. You could make it selfish and only comment on accounts you want to connect with or you could make it interesting by commenting on random accounts with great tweets. These random accounts could become your newest followers.
For best results, make the comments meaningful or at least entertaining.
Liking:
Liking is the simpler version of commenting. It's quick and easy. Use it generously. Both for selfish and interesting reasons. Whatever works for you.
3. Follow accounts that like or retweet relevant big accounts
This is the secret sauce to growing your account steadily over time.
In my previous article on this topic, the idea was to follow people from keyword search results. I would still recommend it but the only problem with it is that you could also be following inactive users. You want to avoid that.
That's why you need to be following accounts that you are sure have engaged with other accounts recently.
You can do this with the help of big accounts that are relevant to your business.
I'm insisting on big accounts because you need those with likes and retweets that get to the hundreds. I'm also insisting on relevant big accounts because you need to mine followers who are most likely to relate to your account and what you stand for.
For example, if you tweet about climate change a lot, it will help to mine followers not from a bank's twitter account, but from a UN body that talks about that topic.
All you need to do is simply click the numbers indicating how many have liked or retweeted a big account's particular tweet, then use the Mass Follow for Twitter extension to follow up to 50 of those people.
But beware! You need to tread carefully!
Follow more than 50 in a day and Twitter will likely consider you a bot and force you to change your password. Even worse, it might suspend your account. So please use it once a day. Every other follow can be done manually.
Since you will be following that many people every day, you will need to do something else to balance the numbers of followers vs. following.
Personally, I haven't been too good at this last step. But I recommend that you get good at it. Do it a lot more consistently than I do.
Here it is.
4. Unfollow those who don't follow back after a while
For this, you will need to use a phone app called Unfollow For Twitter. And it's pretty easy to use.
Why would you unfollow accounts, you ask? Well, you do it because those accounts haven't followed you back.
It's literally a game of math.
If you keep following accounts without unfollowing the ones that don't follow back, you'll skew your Follower Ratio. It's always better to have more followers than it is to to be following too many accounts.
2-3 days is good enough time for people to decide whether your account is cool enough to follow back. After that time period, get rid of the dead weight.
Anyone not reciprocating your follow needs to leave room for the accounts that will.
Another thing- don't forget your follow backs
If you are going around unfollowing people who don't follow back, then you had better cover your bases.
The few accounts that end up following you without any focused following efforts from you should be followed back. Especially if they seem decent. Returning the favour is your way of saying "thank you".
For best results:
Do this every day as you don't want to lose any current followers due to delayed reciprocation.
________________________________________
So here they are again:
1. Have content that you can share consistently
2. Engage, engage, engage!
3. Follow accounts that like or retweet relevant big accounts
4. Unfollow those who don't follow back after a while
Then rinse and repeat, every single day if possible. If done right, it should gain you an average of 20-30 followers each day.
How's that for consistent and steady growth?!
Let me know what you think and please let me know if you have any questions. Also, be sure to update me about how it all goes.