10 factors that resulted in getting more followers on Twitter

Watching the number of my followers on Twitter increase during the past few weeks, I spent some time wondering why it happened. Why did people start following me all of a sudden? By correlating my tweeting habits with the increase in followers, I’ve come to some interesting realizations that I’d like to share with you.

Following is a list of factors that indeed brought an increase to the number of people that follow me on Twitter. I didn’t deliberately try to gain more followers, it just happened! However, the rest of the article is written in a way as to guide you on how to act if you do want to get more followers. It is advice that is coming out of personal experience so it could, or could not work for you.

Here’s the list (items presented in no particular order):

1. Tweet about a broad range of subjects.

   This is because the more diverse the topics you post, the more people get to read them. Why? Because people seem to use the search functionality in order to find tweets about a subject of their liking, thus landing at your own tweets. If they like what you’re talking about, there’s a good chance they’ll follow you, in hope that your tweets will be worth reading (to them).

2. Tweet a lot.

   Simply put, the more you tweet, the more probable it is: to get re-tweeted; to get discovered in search; to be read by your own followers.
   Most Twitter users seem to have the notion that it’s good practice to follow back everyone that follows them (something that I don’t agree with), so they end up following hundreds of people, which results in a very noisy environment. It is highly probable for your tweets to become lost in all that noise, so the more you tweet the more probable it is for them to read your tweets.

3. Engage into existing conversations.

   If one of your followers is in a conversation with other people that you may not follow (so you don’t see their tweets), get in that conversation by replying to that person. It is highly probable that the person will reply back to you, which will result in your @username being displayed to all the other people who are participating in the conversation, making it highly probable for them to click on it to find out who you are. The deeper you get into the conversation with that person, the more likely it is for the others to follow you, so they can read your tweets, which are now part of the conversation.

   (Also, keep in mind that people are selfish, so it’s more probable to get their attention if you get to chat with them, rather than waiting for them to read your tweets and initiate a chat with you. Go ahead and make the first step.)

4. Tweet about trending topics.

   If you tweet about something nobody cares, chances are nobody will give a damn about it. But if you’re tweeting about hot trending topics, it’s very probable that several people all over the globe will be reading your tweets that include the specific keywords of #hashtags for that topic. Many Twitter clients display the current trending topics, and you can always check out Twitter Search or Twitscoop to check them out.

5. Reply to “celebrities”.

   Chances are, you’re following some of the so-called “web celebrities“, or “influentials“. These people have tens of thousands of followers, so it’s a safe bet to assume that they’re getting tons of replies. However, they do reply to some of their followers (some more often than others), one of which could be you. This results into tremendous exposure, since thousands of users will be seeing your @username in their screen, plus they may assume that you’re someone the celebs know (thus you’re momentarily gaining some form of pseudo-fame).

6. Create an interesting profile.

   People won’t follow you blindly; usually they’ll check out your bio and your homepage to find out more about you and decide whether you’re someone worth following or not. That’s why you definitely have to have a bio in your Twitter profile, and if you have a blog or personal site include that as well. If you don’t have one, then link to your Flickr page, or your public Facebook account, or some other source of public information about yourself. (Personally, I never follow people who have a blank bio – I just can’t see any reason to follow someone who doesn’t have to say anything about themselves, because that’s what it means not to have a bio.)

   Try to have an interesting bio and avoid being just “one more guy”. Admit to yourself that Twitter is full of geeks, so “Web developer” won’t make you much more interesting than the rest of the millions of web developers out there. Try to think of something that diversifies you from the masses, something that may intrigue others to find out more about you.

   Using a real photo of yourself is good practice since people can put a face to your name and know they’re dealing with a specific individual, thus increasing trust. However, spend some time into finding a photo that looks good, and that you look good in it. A bad photo may have negative impact on the people who are considering whether to follow you or not (simply put, they don’t want to see that bad photo of yours in their screen whenever you tweet). If you’re a girl, you get bonus points if you use a hot photo of yourself (it will get you hordes of followers, but it’s up to you to decide if you want that!!!)

   Also, keep in mind that using your real name encourages people to trust you even more, since you seem to be not just another Internet user who cowardly hides behind an obsolete username, but a certain individual responsible for your words. On another level, people may even assume that you’re someone who have accomplished something in your life, thus you’re known to the masses by your real name and that’s why you’re using it.

7. Tweet about Twitter, Social Media, Internet Marketing and SEO.

   Twitter is an emerging trend. There’s much hype about it in the blogosphere, and most people use it to market themselves. If you examine the bios of random Twitter users, you’ll find out that perhaps half of them are “SEO experts“, “Internet Marketers“, “Social Media gurus” or some other self-titled masters of social wizardry. All these people are constantly using the search functionality to hunt for customers, so merely including the acronym SEO will get you followed by them (try it out, it works!). Besides, discussing Twitter and social media is a safe bet since it’s guaranteed that people care about that topic — otherwise they wouldn’t participate in social media at all!

8. Follow people from your local community.

   People that live in your area or country, are more probable to want to follow you than others who live in the other side of Earth and share a totally different culture. If you’re not in the U.S. and English is not your basic language, try to get in touch with people from your country. They feel much better when they chat with compatriots in their native language, you have common grounds to share and you can always discuss about local news that seem to matter a lot more than tech stories.

9. Be nice.

   The Internet is full of know-it-all, opinionated smartarses. Actually, the whole world is full of them but the Internet assists them into bringing out the worst of them. For some strange reason, some of those people have become successful just by behaving that way, but please don’t try to become one yourself. Be nice, kind, polite and sympathetic. Not only will people love you, but you’ll make the world a bit of a better place as well. If you can give just a bit of joy to one person with a tweet of yours, you are making the world a better place.

10. Stop trying to get more followers and be yourself!

    Granted, you may want to gain more followers and you may want it badly for some reason, but that won’t make people follow you. So drop that attitude and the hypocrisy, stop being a phony and just be yourself! Express yourself, your thoughts and your feelings, discuss things that you actually care about and let your true self and your true personality shine through your online presence. People will respect your being genuine, true and honest and will love you for that!

Reconsider your goals

Remember that even if you do get hordes of people following you, most of them won’t really care about you, they won’t be reading your tweets and they will never interact with you. Only a few people will actually reply and show that they pay attention to your tweets. Treasure your interaction with these people, and keep in mind that it doesn’t really matter how many followers you have on Twitter. You don’t have to follow back people that you don’t know and don’t care about if you plan on actually reading other people’s tweets.

A great person shall always stand out for their character and their works. Try to become successful first and the followers will follow (if it is fame that you seek), not the other way around.

So why am I writing an article about getting more followers when I don’t believe you should be trying to get more followers? Because it’s a trending topic that so many people seem to care about. It’s up to you to decide how important it is to have people follow you on Twitter.

Feedback!

Did it work for you? Have you got experiences that you’d like to share? Please do so by leaving a comment below.