How to Gain More Twitter Followers

As a blogger or online business owner, social media is the number one outlet for free advertising and with over 300 million monthly users, Twitter is one of the most popular social networks out there. (And it’s my personal favorite because it’s accepted–and even encouraged–to post multiple times a day and I just always have so much to say.) However, if you’re hoping to use Twitter as a means of promoting your business or blog posts, then you want to make sure that you have a good following so that you aren’t basically talking to a wall. Here are a few tips on how to gain more Twitter followers.

1. Completely fill out your Twitter profile.

Your Twitter profile is just like a branch off of your business or blog, so you want it to be a good representation. Whether you’re just creating your Twitter profile or you simply haven’t gotten around to finishing your profile, make sure that you fill out your website’s URL & your location for geo-search purposes and then upload photos that go with your brand.

Profile picture: [400×400 // displays 200×200]

For bloggers, freelancers, or self-employed business owners, I suggest uploading a good headshot of yourself. If your clients/readers are going to be working directly with you, then you want them to see your smiling, happy face.

Cover photo: [1500×500]

Keep this plain and simple: your business/blog logo. People want to see a clean image when they click to your profile. However, anytime that you’re running a promo, it would be a great idea to create a graphic and use that as your Twitter cover photo.

*BONUS* Background image:

I’ve seen many businesses use their logo or a relevant brand image as their background and as long as it’s on a transparent background, it works. But for a clean Twitter profile, I would recommend simply removing any background image and keeping your link colors the same as those on your website.

Now it’s time for the hard part–your Epic Twitter Bio: (and when you read this, please put emphasis on each word in the phrase “Epic Twitter Bio” or else it really doesn’t have the right effect)

Creating the perfect Twitter bio is not for the faint of heart. It requires blood, sweat, tears, rigor, and determination. (That may only be a slight exaggeration…you let me know once you’ve finished.) Seriously though. You have 160 characters to explain to people exactly why they should follow you. It’s a next to impossible feat.

But you can do it. Just three rules.

1. No hashtags. Hashtag stuffing is the Twitter bio equivalent to keyword stuffing and we’re not about that life.
2. Get down to the basics. What do you do? Put that into a sentence or two and you’re golden.
3. Give us a taste of your personality. What is something you love or a quirk that you have? (If you put anything about coffee in your bio, then you’re just like 98.3%* of all other Twitter users and we’re done here.)

* Probably a made-up statistic, but also probably pretty close to accurate.

Here are a few awesome Twitter bios for inspiration (and then mine just because).

See? Short & sweet & to the point & we probably all spent way too many man hours on these mother effers.

2. Follow others in your industry. Also, follow clients/customers that you want to target.

Lucky for those of us in the blogging/online business/consulting/social media industry, we just love to follow each other back. Spend a little bit of time each day following new accounts** that you want to connect with and you’ll be surprised at how quickly your following will begin to grow.

** Word to the wise: Don’t follow more than 100 accounts each day or Twitter will begin to suspect your account of spam.

Tools to help you find relevant accounts:

– Twitter lists
– Twitter search bar
– Tweepi
– Followerwonk
– Topsy

You can use a tool like CrowdFire (formerly JustUnfollow) to go back through and unfollow accounts that haven’t followed you back.

3. Participate in a Twitter chat.

This one is my favorite, mostly because of the community that it provides. So far I’ve only had the chance to participate in a couple chats, but I have enjoyed every one. Most Twitter chats occur weekly (although others are more sporadic or based on special occasions/promos), last for an hour, and are typically based on a different topic each week. These give you a chance to introduce yourself and your blog/business, chat with like-minded individuals, learn about how to improve your blog/business, and connect with others on Twitter. If you’re fully engaged in a Twitter chat then you can definitely count on each one you participate in handing you at least a few new followers.

If you’ve never participated in a Twitter chat before, check out my post so that you can rock your first Twitter chat!

To find a relevant Twitter chat, check out these sites:

– My Twitter Chat Calendar
– One Woman Shop’s Calendar
– XOMisse’s Calendar
– This insaaane Google Spreadsheet
– TweetReports

4. Engage with others.

Twitter is a social network, so you need to be social! It’s mind boggling to me how many people think that they can create a Twitter profile, post a few things about their business every now and then, and call it a day.

No. Don’t do that.

There are many ways that you can engage with others on Twitter, whether it’s fellow bloggers/business owners, current clients, or potential clients.

– Tweet other bloggers’ content and tag them in it. Yes, curating is a huge thing, and you might even do it all of the time already. But do the writers of the posts that you’re sharing even know that you’re sharing them? Always tag the author. First, it makes her feel good. Second, she’ll be notified that you tagged her, probably take a look at your Twitter, and possibly follow you. Win-win.
– Favorite or retweet tweets that you like. Again, this will notify the author of that tweet, upping the chances of her checking out your Twitter and following you.
– Put people into Twitter lists. This helps you out by organizing the people that you’re interested in into groups, but again, people are notified when they’re added to a list. (However, you can create private lists, which are great for adding potential clients to so that you know which accounts you want to pay special attention to.)
– Respond to tweets. Whether you’re answering a question that someone asked you about your business or you’re just reaching out because you liked someone’s tweet. It’s a social network so be social as fuck!

Do you have any other tried and true methods for increasing your Twitter following? I’d love to hear them!