by LisaMarieDias – follow her @LisaMarieDias
During my introductory class on the basics of Twitter, almost every client asks me, “How do I get followers?” I try to explain that the question really should be “Who should I follow?” While your followers ARE key to the success of your Twitter efforts, the difference between reaching out to follow those that are of interest to you and gathering followers just to increase your number of followers is important. On Twitter, as in most of life, quality is more important than quantity. Having thousands of followers, if they are only interested in broadcasting their SPAM, is really of no value to you. And it will give you the mistaken impression that Twitter is only full of SPAMMERs. If you focus on offering valuable information and search for those that are sharing information of interest to you, you will find the Twitterverse a useful and positive place to learn, grow your sphere of influence and find real business leads.
Keep in mind; even if you don’t have a fleet of followers, by tweeting, you are sending info out into the larger worldwide web. Searches, by you or by others, are of the entire live Twitter feed, not just of your tribe. If you are tweeting about travel and someone is searching on a keyword you use, they will find you, whether they are a follower of yours or not. And if they contact you, be sure to follow them – that will be a valuable connection!
Start out by following people you already know (friends, co-workers, clients, customers and friends) and those you know of and respect. President Obama, Guy Kawasaki, Oprah, you choose. Follow experts in your industry. Search the Twitter stream for people using your keywords in their tweets. Keep an eye out as you read blog posts and check email signature footers for the Twitter icon (sometimes a single lowercase “t”, sometimes a small bird) or an @name. Check out their profiles and see if they are sharing helpful advice and suggestions. Keep in mind that everyone you follow need not be directly related to your business or field. Like networking in the real world, meeting people is not only about what they can do for you but also about what you can do for them. Or sometimes, just for the fun of it – a follow-worthy post may make you think, offer insights you hadn’t considered or just make you smile.
As you search on your keywords and visit various profiles, follow the ones that are of interest. To continue with the travel theme, say you run a hotel in Paris, France. Your search keywords might be “trip”, “Paris” etc. As you look at the results, click on the conversations that are about your city (there will probably be all sorts of other results about Ms Hilton and possibly Paris, Texas among others). See where you can offer advice or assistance. Hopefully you publish an e-newsletter about your hotel with suggestions for local dining, advice for first time visitors, maybe the hours for visiting the Eiffel Tower. Introduce yourself and offer them a copy. If you see that they will be arriving later that week, let them know if it will be chillier than usual so they can pack an extra sweater. Offer them a coupon for a free drink in your hotel bar. Most likely they will respond positively. And while they may not stay in your hotel this trip, maybe they will stop by and see you, and if nothing else, they will probably follow you. Again, this is a valuable addition to your group.
You will, upon entering the Twitterverse, probably find a large number of people that will rush to follow you. Some may be real live people but many will be on auto pilot or will be bots; programs that troll Twitter looking for people to add to their lists. These automated services follow anyone they can find, for the express purpose of sending you SPAM of one kind or another. Tips and links to get rich quick seem most prevalent, followed closely by offers to help you find thousands of Twitter followers. I would highly suggest vetting these followers before you consider following them back. See what they tweet and determine if they offer anything of value. See if they have a profile picture and a bio. See if they have clothes on in their photo – and hey, maybe that will help you decide that you DO want to follow them – but my point is this, do not necessarily auto-follow back. Especially people (or @names) that offer nothing but a repetitive stream of SPAM. As you follow these steps, your list of followers WILL grow, and you don’t want to dilute your tweet stream with their SPAM messages.
I have seen articles about how to determine who to follow with criteria indicating a large minimum number of followers and tweets. I tend to disagree. First, check to see the quality of the tweets – 1500 tweets on ‘how to grow your’… anything is probably not full of value. And just because someone has thousands of followers does not mean that those are actual people, it may just mean that they are part of a ring of auto-follows. While a tribe of followers numbering in the hundreds of thousands of real people (like Mari Smith or other active and hugely popular Twitterers) IS a sign of their genuine value, follower numbers alone are not necessarily a good benchmark. And I would venture to say that a real person, with just a few followers that has just joined Twitter may actually be a great connection! Their stream is sparse enough that your tweets will be seen and hopefully appreciated. They will have the time to respond and start conversations, to build connections and maybe even share your message via retweet!
Open and read through your Twitter feed regularly. Eventually, you will be able to check it less often but at first, it may be best to check in frequently (a few times a day). Pay attention to the people you are following, watch what they say and how. Learn the personalities of the various people and interact accordingly. Many people mix work and personal life on Twitter so don’t be afraid to let people know who you really are – you are not just a business profile, so let your personality shine thru. If someone is commenting on an extremely complicated recipe he is preparing and you like to cook, you may want to add a suggestion. Follow up the next day to see how it turned out!
By following these easy steps, you too can grow a large tribe of ‘true’ followers. Soon you will need to think about follower management tools – but that is a topic for another article. For now, enjoy and engage in the conversation!
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@aclambart
Was ready to come back to your retweet via(@Robswebtips) with some witty comment like – “Well I won’t be following you @LisaMarieDias” But then I read your blog!
Very useful & Interesting! I get spam all the time and can feel like there is no ‘real’ people on Twitter! I spend nearly as much time deleting followers as I do Tweeting.
I ‘vet’ my followers before following back hence not so many followers but my Twitter Gang are great and I follow some really interesting, funny conversations as a result.
@sayzlim
If you only starting to have a twitter account, start by following your friend who doesn’t spam your public main stream and yet still relevant to what you want to know. To determine if you should follow your friend, I use this question.
1. Do they have profile picture?
No profile picture is a big NO NO for me.
2. Do they tweet more than 12 times in an hour?
If they tweet more than that everyday, for me it’s a spam rather than quality tweet.
3. Do you want them to follow you?
If you prefer to stay away from your colleagues, why bother follow them? Well, we have our own life.
As for following people, you have 2 choices. As it is stated above, follow the people who inspires you, share quality information, and you really admire and want to know what that person do. Most of times these kind of people is not more than 15 people. So don’t follow more than that.
And to know who you should follow, now twitter have a feature named “list”, start monitoring the people listed in your favorite category. And monitor them, reply to them and see if they respond to you. Keep monitoring and once both of you have decent interaction, and you also value the interaction. By then, start following them and create your own list.
Just my 2 cent, hope it helps… thus if you have a nice relationship, your follower will grow slowly. and remember to keep quality followers.
@GregoryClerc
I think your advises are right. We have to choose which person we Will follow. Ans not “automatically-follow” persons.
@amykoehler
thanks. so much out there to read & follow but must be streamlined @ the same time.
@amykoehler
…and, according to @chrisbrogan in his book, #trustagents, one should never have more on the “following” list than the “followers” list. that can be difficult to maintain, especially when first starting out on Twitter.
@LisaMarieDias
Thank you for taking the time to read thru the article – I have visited your profile and followed – do hope that you will check out what I do and keep in touch!
Have a great weekend,
@LisaMarieDias
@smart_box
I couldn’t agree more, less is, in this case, more. It is tiresome to receive tweets that mean nothing, I do prefer to receive informations and tips that help me discover other amazing things being done in the world, whatever the subject is, rather than read personal responses to personal conversations that mean nothing to me.
Bom fim de semana [Have a great weekend]
@propsblog
Great advice on how to pick out good people to follow. When I first started on twitter, I thought following and being followed by people with huge follower counts was awesome.
The more time I spend on twitter, the more I find that to be untrue. 90% of the people with 5,000 followers or more have turned out to just be spam bots. It’s the people with 200-500 followers/following that seem to respond and be a real part of the twitter community.
@LisaMarieDias
Yes, Blake, I agree, though I think that the over 500 crowd (of which we are both members!) are also still active.
@Jimme_VB
The comments listed above were very helpful as I just created a new Twitter account. I had thought about adding tons of people but as you indicated it would probably cause more spam than anything else. Thanks for the tips… I have no followers but I guess thats Ok for now.
@gadgetguysite
I think there’s also some value in being only a little selective. High follower numbers can get you high placement in tools like Twitterholic and Twitter Grader. Be it a high number of followers, high follow reciprocity, high retweet count, whatever is used to compile the rankings, if you rank highly it’s another good way to be found by ‘high value’ followers.
Also, with methods like making use of the List feature, or being diligent about checking and replying to your @ replies, it’s very easy to separate the noise from the signal.
@ariherzog
Two thoughts to consider:
1. There is a difference between following for your inbound stream and following for a list. In recent days, I unfollowed people from one and put them on the other.
2. Which leads to the idea that you are choosing to follow people, so you also can choose to unfollow people. People may not like you unfollowing them, but that goes with the territory. If you unfollow someone from the stream and follow them on a list, would one be as upset?
@LisaMarieDias
Ari, can you please explain what you mean by your 2nd comment?
Also, for the record, the article was written before the intro of lists – lists do add a new, interesting option to the concept of following!
I love the list function but have, to date, kept most of my lists private – I know that there is a TON of talk out there now about lists and would love to hear how you guys here are using them.
@ariherzog
What’s confusing about #2? If I choose to follow you, that’s my action. Whether you reciprocate is your action. If I unfollow, that’s also my action. But you may (as most are) get offended because of my action.
Which is why lists are doubly beneficial. My take is at http://ariwriter.com/twitter-lists-a-new-way-to-follow/
@LisaMarieDias
Liked the article on lists – just RT’d it. Thank you for the clarification!
@NicksTraffic
Thanks for another great article TwiTip!
I submitted it to reddit:
http://www.reddit.com/r/internet_marketing/
@lisamariedias
Thank you Nick for submitting to reddit!
@christiantjr
Great insights here. It’s true that followers with lower numbers can often be great people to meet and talk to. Contrary to what could easily be believed, not everyone on twitter is concerned with building a huge number of followers.
@lisamariedias
I totally agree Christian. And having conversations and connecting with people is, in my mind, way more valuable. Thank you for your comment and nice to meet you!
@skooloflife
Hi LisaMarie,
I have been working on rethinking my twitter strategy and literally have thought about wiping out my followers (most acquired through mass follow tools), and just starting over to get more value out of using Twitter. I think your post is quite timely, and I may actually do just that since I feel like I get nothing out of Twitter, and it probably is for exactly the reason you cited about quality over quantity.
@lisaMarieDias
Srinivas, there are some cool twitter tools out there that can help you clean up your account – ones that identify bots and SPAM, etc. as well as those that aren’t following you (though check the profile – they may be worth following anyway!) Try TwiTip’s archive for tool suggestions or email me at LMD@LisaMarieDiasDesigns.com. Also, take the time to visit profiles and see who may be of interest to follow. Then, once you have cleaned out, use new rules going forward.
Also consider lists (they weren’t avail when I wrote the article) to keep in touch with those that you want to communicate regularly – will improve your experience measureably!
Good luck and please keep me posted!
@rob_callaghan
very interesting article and well worth the read., have you seen the twitter grader that hubpsot do? twittergrader.com really good
@lisamariedias
Yes, Rob, I have seen the Hubspot Twitter Grader – I am pretty proud of the fact that I have a 98 out of 100!
Glad you liked the article! I have written a few others, you can find them on my website and in the TwiTip archives.
Thanks!
@printedproof
Great read LisaMarie. I think this is important to new Tweeters. Its the first thing I hear – how do i get a ton of followers OR how many do you have. After using twitter for a year its like you said, truly the quality not the quantity.
Follow great people, and great people will find you.
@joe_carney
If you find an interesting person to follow, look at who they follow too as you’ll no doubt find more.
Use a tool to quickly filter the accounts and save you some time…
http://tweetpromote.com is my tool of choice.
Check out who is following you. Follow back the interesting ones.
Not rocket science, you just need a few minutes per day to keep up with it.
Lists have helped a great deal, so make sure you check those out too….
@daveisbell
Great advice! It really does come down to “Dale Carnegie 101″ doesn’t it? What drives me crazy about the concept of networking, in general, is that so many people only turn to it when they need something. I find that in Twitter, it is either a chance to feel “popular” or “important” due to a mass of followers or it is a conduit for Spam. Thank the stars that there are some genuine people, like yourself, who understand the REAL value of Twitter, and social media tools (as well as old school networking in person) and therefore make it a valuable experience. Thanks for the great post. You’ve got me as a new follower and I look forward to reading your tweets!
@omaniblog
Wonderful. As I read your piece I felt a weight lift off. At last someone who sees how Twitter can be used to grow valuable relationships. Someone who appreciates the difference between froth and porter, champagne and bubbles.
I’m now wondering what else you’ve figured out.
I’ll RT the link that brought me hear from Glanmire, Cork, Ireland, Europe etc. I’ll put this in the folder I keep for when I’m asked for my view. Now you’re in the knapsack… Thanks again.
ps: I’ll also go back over all the commenters and have a look at some of them to see if they too are worth following by me. So this has flushed out a lot of valuable people
@LisaMarieDias
Yes, Joe, totaly agree. Haven’t tried tweetpromote, will check it out. Apps abound, finding the useful ones is the hard part!
@LisaMarieDias
Thank you Christian!
And I must ask – is the mis-spelling of Extreme on your bio intentional? If not, you may want to change it – had I not read your comments here first, I may not have taken the time to read further
Have a great day!
@WildWanderings
Great advice here. Love it. I always check their website to see if the information provided could be of any benefit to me. I un-followed a few that tweet too much – it feels and is more spam than info, like somebody mentioned here. I didn’t pay too much attention to the followers, but banned a few since they seemed to be spammers. But now that I read your article I go back and weed my followers.
I made a mistake with my lists. Didn’t pay attention to the fact that I only have a certain amount of lists. I didn’t figure out yet if I can rename a few or delete them altogether.
@battica
great read, thanks for this! I didn’t even think about adding my twitter details to my email signature.. I’ll be doing that right now!
@lisamariedias
Thank u Paul +let me know if I can ever help in any way. On road for a few days so light on tweets but will be in touch
@lisamariedias
Bonita, glad I could help
Keep in mind all other locations like e-news, blog, biz cards as well!
Good luck!
@lisamariedias
Fida, here is a link to a webinar on lists that you might find helpful
http://www.hubspot.com/marketing-webinars/twitter-lists-archive/
Good luck!
Wow, Lisa, thank you so much for that link. Didn’t expect you to do the work for me;-) Wonderful!
@lisamariedias
I practice what I preach – It’s all about sharing
Have a great day!
@mikemost
great post and yes, Chris Brogan’s trust agents is definitely worth mentioning here but for anyone that wastes any time blocking or being annoyed of those followers that are obvious spam or lurkers that never contribute simply run http://www.twitblock.org or http://tweetblocker.com and you’ll be fine.
@vanillacokehead
I have a “catch-all” term for people who use Twitter with little or no apparent intent to engage other Twitter users – I call them “blowhards”. This term includes spammers and others who simply use Twitter as a bullhorn and not as a means to interact with others. My policy is to immediately block blowhards.
When I check my followers list and decide which new followers to follow back, my decision to block or follow back is made in less than 10 seconds. The logic can be summed up in the mnemonic “V-I-P”. I check “vitals” first – what are the numbers for tweets, following, followers? Second I check “interaction” and look at the first page of a user’s tweets – this is where most people get blocked – do people engage or just broadcast – I look for people who tend to reply and retweet? Third, I look at the “profile” – I look at their bio info and sometimes their web site.
Frankly, it’s rather annoying to see people game Twitter for numbers rather than use it for its intended purpose: as a social medium.
@lisamariedias
Yes Mike, I agree – there are a few really useful tools out there that will identify and remove any of your SPAMMY followers and I do suggest running them periodically.
And yes, Brian, vetting followers before you decide to follow back is defintiely a wise way to keep your interactions productive!
@100prayingwomen
Excellent advice. Thank you!
@LisaMarieDias
Nona, you are very welcome
@yanroux
I normally get inspiration on who to follow from Mr Tweet (http://www.mrtweet.com/), it’s a pretty useful app. I also check who my favourite tweeters are following, and that’s about it!
@Mikeachim
Hah – I like Brian’s definition of “blowhards” up there. Spot on.
I’ve also heard them called “broadcasters”, which is similarly nail-on-head. These folk will happily recount the contents of their lunch and answer complex questions with a simple This Is The Answer kind of answers, which is painful to see.
Twitter, at its best, is a chance to discover how ignorant we are about so many things.
It’s a 140-character window to squint through, at the other end of which is the whole length and breadth of the whole world. (In theory).
But some folk seem happy to draw the shutters and then spend hours shouting through them.
One particular smoking gun regarding spammers is identical tweets. Two indenticals is suspicious – more than two, they’re *definitely* of the reformed pork luncheon meat variety of Twitter-user.
Must admit, I use Twitter in two ways – as the numbers game (it’s true – j’accuse moi), but also for the discussion and following of specific groups of people. The new Lists feature is mainly how I do the latter. So I suspect this makes me someone to follow and someone not to follow, all at the same time.
@5minutesformom
I love following tweeps who don’t have thousands of followers… those are the ones who’ll have time to reply.
@LisaMarieDiasDesigns.com
Mike, I would guess that the fact that you bother to initiate and continue discussions will probably help you win that numbers game
Susan, I totally agree!
Hope everyone has a great day whether you celebrate Thanksgiving officially or just personally
@Mikeachim
Hope you had a good one, LisaMarie.
And thank you. Discussion’s the reason I’ve stuck with Twitter, not the slightly daft oooh-I-have-more-Followers-than-you thing that is a fun but thoroughly absurd leveling-up game. The rampant spamming almost scared me off at first – but then I started to see the potential (especially for connecting directly with people at the top of their field -truly democratic, that).
I think in general, the numbers game thing will get worse before it gets better, though. I’m trying not to get too sucked in.
@LisaMarieDias
I do think that when you follow for interest and professional alignment vs just for the sake of the numbers, you find the twitterverse a more valuable (and less SPAMMY) place. Glad you are finding value and happy to have met you!
Have a great weekend!