Have you been ignoring your followers?
Your followers took the time to check out your profile and thought you were cool enough to follow, but how are you treating them in return? Have you allowed your large number of followers cause you to develop Twi-lebrity Syndrome? Suddenly, you’re too good to respond to or retweet anything and you think everyone should stop what they’re doing and retweet your tweets? If so, then you’ve probably begun to notice that for some strange reason the number of your followers are dropping. Why? Because you’ve been ignoring them. Followers are special – they can do more for your business than you could alone, that is if you would do more for them. I admit, when I first joined Twitter, I was totally confused by this new platform of reaching people. I’m sure I’ve offended several people with my random and even borderline spammy tweets. It wasn’t until someone took the time to say hello in a direct message that it finally clicked for me.
When I received that DM, it caused me to notice them…I took a moment to visit their profile and noticed there was some cool stuff there, so I clicked on several links, visited their blog and realized… that person gained more exposure to their blog all because they took a moment to say hello to me. Next thing you know I was retweeting their content and still enjoy interacting with them to this day.
But up to that point, I had been ignoring my followers. I noticed a big difference in the way people respond to my tweets and increased retweets when I changed my methods. This is what I did:
1. Profile Check: Whenever someone became a follower, whether I was already following them or not, I took a moment to check their profile.
2. Sent a Direct Message: I sent a Direct Message, thanking them for following. I took the time to write an authentic message and would comment on something I found on their profile. I’d say something like, “It’s wonderful to have you as a follower! Thanks for stopping by, I love your background by the way.” It’s even okay to post a link to your blog if it appears they might be interested – but don’t over do this one. If you’re posting a link in ever DM you send, you’re probably overdoing it.
3. Followed back: If I found that our interests were similar or if they’d piqued my interest, I’d thank them for following further by following them back.
4. Retweeted a tweet: If while on their profile, I found an interesting tweet – I’d retweet it.
5. Tweeted a blog post: If they had a website or a blog, I’d visit it, and if I found something noteworthy there, I’d tweet it.
6. Follow Friday: On Fridays, I’d take a moment to post a Follow Friday tweet for new and noteworthy Followers.
7. Responded to tweets: If I ran across an interesting tweet or question – I’d take a moment to respond with a reply or answer their question. People like to be heard, they won’t know that you’re hearing them if you don’t respond.
8. Added them to a List: So you can keep better track of followers create a list and make it a point to keep up with each one. You can do this throughout the week. For example, on Mondays, stay up on your “Crafters” list, or Tuesdays, check in on your “Bloggers” list. Whatever lists you’ve created, use them to help you stay in touch with followers.
9.Helped 5 a Day: Everyday I made it a point to visit 5 profiles and retweet 5 tweets; respond to 5; or visit 5 of your followers blogs or websites.
10. Tweet 3-4 of my own original updates. No one will know you’re there if you don’t Say something. Ask a question. Post a blog update. Do something at various times throughout the day. Use Hootsuite.com to schedule tweets if you know you won’t be available later – do what you have to do to remain active.
The point is, if you want your followers to respond to you – you’ve got to respond to them. You get what you give on Twitter. If you ignore people – you’ll be ignored. If you love people, you’ll be loved in return. It’s that simple.
@david_j_parsons
great suggestions. I try do do this on my own twitter profile myself, but i have never thought about visting others websites. A great suggestion, thanks; that seems like a good way to connect with people.
@ilijabrajkovic
How much time do you spend on Twitter? Doing all this stuff surely requires a lot of time.
@LucyThorpe
I find I have the best relationships with people who are local to me geographicaly. Maybe it is the real possibility of meet-ups that make us more courteous to each other ?
I find that sometimes I am shy of re-tweeting or commenting directly particularly if the person is a ‘hotshot’ either in social media or in the ‘real’ world !
Maybe I’m so worried about being creepy that I don’t do it at all !
@TomPick
Excellent post Kiesha. I try to do most of these things, but you brought up a couple of points where I’m lagging. I particularly agree with point #2: all DMs should be personal. Automated DMs seem very un-social.
You may want to check out a recent post of mine related to this topic, with a bit more snarky tone: How to Suck at Twitter (and Still Look Successful): http://webmarketcentral.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-to-suck-at-twitter-and-still-look.html
@BuildThatListCo
They are some fantastic tips. I have just recently made the decision to be a lot more personal with Twitter so these are going to be extremely helpful.
The caveat to the above is one needn’t have a Twitter account to retweet. It depends what you call a retweet. I’ve seen entire 500+ word blog posts composed from a single Twitter message. Is the blog post a retweet?
@morsmal
Thanks!
You convinced me now too, we follow you!
Just one think, I do not know if its only me, but usually when I see someone with 20,000 followers and the word “marketing” anymore in his/her profile… I run away!
@morsmal
ops.. that was, just one “thing”…. not “think”, but maybe a “thought”.
@rayebersole
2. DM, thanking a person for a follow is spam in my book and a lot of others. You can say hi in the main stream and do the same thing.
6. Follow Friday is annoying. I do a follow this person every once in a great while because they are interesting, not to do a Follow Friday or something that is a follow the leader thing like Follow Friday is.
@ptcearner
These r good tips.Thanx for sharing.I got to implement some of these..
@berget
I never send Direct Messages (DMs), and I never actually take the time to look at DMs either. I receive way more than 100 a day, and every DM I receive are close to identical, “Thank you for following me…”
To me, DMs are not worth your effort. But on the other hand, a lot of people might be reading them. So, I’m not saying that it’s not a good thing to do
@theMickMorris
Learning a new mode of communicating is a steep learning curve, thanks for these tips, I’m sure they will help A LOT!
@bimal_tailor
good tips but this doesn’t guarantee retweets.
@cegeland
Tip 10 really fell in line with a blog post I did yesterday. If you aren’t adding your voice to the Twitter conversation how will anyone know you are even there.
Like @berget mentioned I get plenty of identical DMs everyday that start with thanks for the follow…and they all look like canned responses so I am not sure how effective a method this might be.
great tips, thanks. i am going to do what you’ve teach me here.
@originalparis
Thank you for all your information. However, although I would love to spend more time on Twitter, I am a member of over 250 groups and have a family, promoting my books and dolls and need to take a breather now and again. It is hard to find the time.
@NaomiTrower
This article brings up great points! The more you give on Twitter, you will receive. I have an interesting take on Auto DM’s. I know most people don’t like them but I treat them as personal voicemails. I’m not always available when someone calls me on my cellphone so what do you get? My voicemail. The same applies to my Twitter acct. I’m not always available when someone follows me so I leave them a Twitter voicemail. I don’t even say Thanks for following me. My message receives SO MUCH response and starts great conversations. My message is simply: I appreciate you! Tell me something more about you.
@AmazonCares
What a wonderful article! As a small charity we have analyzed social media and choose Twitter as our favorite medium. I have many followers, but now I’ll knw how to better interact with them, starting with you, who I started following today!!
@marianschembari
This is actually a VERY well organized list – all stuff you should know if you’re on Twitter, but categorized in a way that makes it easier to manage the insane amount of time you can spend tweeting. Good job!
@freemanlegacy
I need to learn more about #8 because I have no clue how to use the Twitter lists…
@patreniaspears
Thanks Kiesha, this is great information. I just joined twitter about 2 months ago and have been kind of “feeling” my way through it. This is a really great resource that I have printed and will be using.
@krenee76
@Paris Tompkins – You’re right – Twitter can become time consuming. But I have a system – I periodically check in and RT things I find interesting and then I schedule other things such as my own original tweets and automate blog update tweets so that I don’t have to try to do it all myself.
@Scarlettopia
I’ve been on Twitter for about a year now, but I’m still getting into the swing of things. It’s sometimes a bit of a head-trip to think that hundred of people have an interest in my 140 character ramblings, so that keeps me from tweeting very often. And I’ve always been shy about retweets and replies because they’re so one-sided. I’m bookmarking this post though, and will take time to ramp up my Twittering in the future!
@freemotioncoach
Thanks for the ideas. It’s all about connecting. (twitter, and life…)
@miimiisfstore
Kiesha, you have great ideas and thank you for sharing the information. I would of never thought of some of those ideas for my business and my personal account. I had checked out your Christian Inspirational Blog and it looks GREAT! Keep up the good work!
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@jvrfranco
+1 for lists, -1 for DMs if they are automated
@etiqet
I’ve kind of taken a wildly different approach. I’m really interested in all the different ways people ask about or talk about rules (or norms) of behavior on twitter… since it’s so open. So I mostly just retweet posts concerned with that or questions that come up. Since y’all are similarly concerned feel free to send such things my way!