What Happens When You Get Twitter Followers?

Most businesses seem hell bent on gathering as many Twitter followers as possible.

They seem to be concerned, when starting out, that their ‘following’ to ‘being followed’ ratio will look odd if the first number is greater than the second.

Well, for starters the only way to get people following you is to follow others, so this really shouldn’t be an issue.

But numbers are not the be all and end all of Twitter. Yes, we’ve all seen people (ordinary Joe’s, not super celebs) with tens of thousands of followers because they’ve followed one of those ‘how to get thousands of followers quickly’ blog posts.

Why?

It’s not impressive and all they’ve done is land themselves with a worthless Twitter stream of inane ramblings of people they’re not interest in.

It’s so much better to search out the people you want to follow and have a stream of interesting tweets from people you want to engage with.

But once you have your followers the next big hurdle is to get them to notice and engage with you.

The following 5 ideas will help you stand out, but it will take time and practice, no one becomes an overnight Twitter superstar – not even you.

1. Time zones

Your followers not only come from all over the country, but all over the world. They are all going to be using Twitter at different times of day, so if you have something important to say, say it once or twice at different times.

That doesn’t mean sending out the same tweets all day long, but once or twice at different times (only for the important stuff) is OK.

2. Talk

If you’re one of those people that sends out blanket tweets to everyone the chances are your engagement levels are zero.

If you want a particular influencer in your field to see what you’re saying, say it to them directly. Keep an eye on what they’re saying too and respond to them. Eventually, they will notice you and talk back.

3. Retweet

Having one of your tweets retweeted is a great feeling and will draw people’s attention to you.

If you have someone you particularly want to engage with, retweet his or her stuff (not everything, you’ll look like a stalker) if it resonates with you. They’ll start paying attention to you too.

4. Ask

Rather than just putting stuff out into the Twitterverse, start asking questions and advice. As a copywriter who works alone most of the time, I use Twitter as a knowledge bank. When I have a query about IT or need a recommendation for a service provider, I turn to my Twitter followers.

It gets you noticed and is a great way to start conversations with people.

5. Be consistent

When using Twitter it’s important to be consistent in what you put out if people are going to get a sense of your personality. If you always put out great information, retweet useful information and interact with other tweeters, you’ll start to build long-term and rewarding relationships with other people.

So you see, Twitter isn’t just about getting loads of followers. If you want to be effective you must get people to notice you.