Up until recently, my Twitter follower count was like a snail sliding its way through a marathon. It moved, but slowly.
Over the last few weeks, my following has gone from a snail to a butterfly. It has metamorphosed, and in just under a fortnight, I gained over 100 followers.
Sadly there seems to be something wrong with Twitter Analytics so the audience bar chart isn’t as accurate as it should be, so you’ll just have to take my word for it and try these tactics for yourself.
Here’s how I grew my Twitter following by 100 followers in two weeks, and how you can, too.
I retweeted more
When I say ‘more’ I mean I retweeted four or five times every hour or two. Whenever I had a tea break, I’d get in some retweets.
If it’s an article I’m retweeting, I at least skim read it to ensure that it has something useful to offer my audience.
I also try to add in a comment about why I found the piece useful.
A lot of what I used to retweet was writing-related quotes, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but it was often the same people I was retweeting.
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been retweeting from more people and places.
When someone clicks to view a post, they can see who’s retweeted it.
The more people and places you retweet, the more likely people are to see your posts.
If they see that you’ve retweeted from several people/places that they like, they’re more likely to click through to your account and follow you because you have something in common with them.
I took part in a Twitter chat
I’ve dipped into Twitter chats before, but never fully immersed myself in one before.
A couple of weeks ago, I decided to take part in Janet Murray’s Soulful PR Hour.
I’d been meaning to take part for a while, but as it falls on a Sunday night when I’m usually editing, I usually forget.
On this occasion, I opened Twitter just as it was starting. Perfect timing.
I had SO MUCH fun taking part in Soulful PR Hour.
It was great to chat to other marketers and brands about audience building.
I learned loads, and got to share some of my wisdom, too.
While I didn’t get a huge amount of followers from it (~10), it all adds up, especially when you haven’t even reached 1,000 followers yet.
I tweet about what I’m up to
I regularly tweet about my writing process and where I’m at with my manuscripts.
When I do this and include popular writing hashtags such as #amwriting and #amediting, I often get responses from other writers and increase my following.
I also tweeted about what I’ve been up to during the day (particularly if it’s been a productive one), funny things I/my friends have said, and every day observations.
I also like to tweet funny typos that I find in my writing – it helps to reinforce that we all make mistakes, and that no writer is perfect.
I use GIFs that reflect my personality
I love that you can embed GIFs into tweets.
When I’m commenting on something, or making fun of myself, I like to include GIFs that reinforce what I’m saying.
When people see a GIF in their timeline – particularly if it’s from something they like – there’s a high chance they’ll click it to see what it’s all about.
Then they might click through to your profile…
I often use Charmed, Pokémon, and Marvel GIFs, as they reflect my interests.
I try not to use GIFs that include people/things I don’t recognise, as I don’t know what I’m endorsing.
I schedule posts
I ADORE Buffer. I cannot fangirl about Buffer enough.
It’s not just the product itself, but also their customer service and business model.
Their blog is fantastic, too.
I’ve been scheduling posts using Buffer for a while now.
It makes my life so much easier, because it means that when I don’t have time to post, or I want to go dark, my social media remains active.
I used to only share my own content because I was too lazy to source things from other people, but lately I’ve tried to share more of other people’s content.
I still link to my own stuff, but I pepper it in with the other types of posts mentioned above.
Final thoughts
Nothing here is particularly revolutionary, but it’s worth reiterating.
The average lifespan of a tweet goes down every year.
Some suggest it’s just a few seconds now.
That makes it incredibly likely that your tweets will get lost if you don’t tweet regularly.
Twitter is one of the few sites left where you can post relentlessly and it won’t penalise you. It rewards you for posting like crazy.
However, it’s worth remembering that you’re likely to lose quite a few of the new followers that you gain.
People on Twitter are fickle. Don’t take it personally.
Since my Twitter followers have grown rapidly, my book sales have also gone up.
This is the first time I’ve had an even close correlation between social media followings and book sales.
It’s still too early to really tell if there’s a link, but it’s something I’m going to track over the next few weeks.
I’m also going to keep track of what I do and if these tactics continue to work.
I spend a lot of time on Facebook but haven’t found it to have huge gains, so I may redirect my attention elsewhere.
A caveat
This proved to be an interesting experiment, but I find social media to be a huge time sink. Wasting time on it can seriously harm our productivity, so while I’ve kept up elements of this since finishing the experiment, I just don’t have the time or energy to commit to it permanently.
However, if you do have the time and energy to commit to it, by all means do!
Over to you
What tactics have you found to increase your Twitter following?
Do your measure your success by your followers, or by your engagement rate?
I’d love to hear how you approach things in the comments below!
You can also tweet me at @KristinaAurelia 🙂