Ways to Get More Followers on Twitter

Creating a Targeted Following on Twitter Growing your targeted audience on Twitter calls for a little patience and a some planning strategy. Twitter is a tool growing in popularity for businesses because of the inexpensive, simple way that they can connect with their customers. Interestingly,Twitter's business use spans all sizes of companies from small through to the big boys such as HP, BestBuy and American Airlines. The reason for it popularity is that you companies can connect with their customers and clients, advertise new products and services, and monitor their online brands. The route to growing your targeted Twitter audience has four basic steps:

First, follow folks on Twitter who you believe to be your target audience. Second, post interesting information and business updates that is related to your brand. Third, don't spam your followers with auto-tweets, or post the same tweet over and over again. And, lastly, follow smart tweeps who are online marketers or who thought leaders in your niche. Here's a quick overview on how to tackle each of these steps:

Finding the Right People to Follow on Twitter: Firstly, Before you begin following others, make sure your Twitter feed has a sampling of interesting posts. If your Twitter feed is empty, most people won't follow you back. Once you've started with some content in your micro-blog feed, start following your target audience. There are a number of ways to do this. Two good ways to start are: a.. Go to Search.Twitter.com and type in keywords relevant to your target audience. For example if you are an exercise instructor - Type in keywords like "fitness" "exercise," "weightloss," and other similar keywords. Follow these people. If you post relevant, interesting tweets, they will be quite likely to follow you back. You can also locate your target Twitter audience by using the "Find People" tool on the Twitter site. Again, try relevant keywords and any relevant industries and geographic areas to discover good people to follow.

Give Your Target Audience Relevant Information: Aim to post a mixed range of interesting industry news and product or services developments from your industry. You can also include some self-promotional links to your blog or website, but don't forget to keep it to small percentage of your overall post. Post interesting news and reviews about your products or services, but don't forget to also post related industry news as well. For instance, if you are a hairdresser, post news about hair health, new hair treatments, products etc. An essential way to gain a targeted following on Twitter is to retweet well and retweet often. If you see a interesting, relevant tweet by another Twitterer, share it by retweeting. Often, these Twitterers will spot that you've just retweeted them and will return the favor by following you. Once they've done so you will have access to their followers-just click on the "Followers" tab, and start following. Be generous with your retweets-it's a very successful method of gaining a following.

Check the Search.Twitter.com site frequently. Seek out your brand name. Are customers satisfied? Follow them and show your appreciation. On the flip side, are you finding dissatisfied customers? Follow them too, and find out what you can do to remedy the situation. There have been many countless cases where people have reached customer service representatives on Twitter, and changing their tweets from negative to positive when the right kind of attention is paid. This is also known as online reputation management and it is a growing area brand management that you will need to pay attention to.

Never Spam Your Twitter Followers: If you spam your followers, they will rapidly disappear. Spammy posts include: putting up identical URLs repeatedly; only posting product information for your own goods; having a Twitter handle that looks like this: SuperProduct2000 rather than: YourProductName; and asking fake questions. ie. if you sell motorbikes, it would be disingenuous to post a question like: What is the best bike on the road today? The Twitter community consists of smart and jaded consumers. They recognise when a brand is being insincere.

Follow Savvy People to Gain a Savvy Following Many online marketers have used Twitter to assist their clients to make more money. Twitter marketing experts like Dave Peck, Chris Brogan and Guy Kawasaki are great names to add to your list of people to follow. Think about adding corporations too. Those involved early on in the Twitter boom are trailblazers and can offer clever ideas on how to get a targeted following. Don't forget your competition. See what types of methods they're practicing to step-up their own targeted Twitter following. Shrewd online marketers track their competition on social networks to catch what they are doing well and if they are doing it better. It's also easier to see where your competition has gone wrong and how that can be avoided. If they hardly post and don't respond to negative posts, its easy to see a quick opportunity to fill the gap for your audience.

Be Patient. Making Money Through Twitter Takes a While: Using Twitter is a long-term strategy. Building a targeted following won't occur instantly, however if you use the the right Twitter strategies, it will come about. Be very mindful with your Twitter following. Don't flog stuff to them. Twitterers can spot a sales pitch from 100 paces and they'll unfollow you pronto. When you have acquired a targeted followers, market to them softly. Don't send out tweets that say, "Buy my great product," write more low key post such us: "Do you need a way to do ABC? Here's a solution." Instead of tweeting "Our latest product now available" announce it via your blog and then tweet it like this:: "New blog post: Why we're so excited" and link to your post. Always respond to tweets your followers send you.

As your Twitter following grows, it may get to big for you to handle alone. Consider outsourcing the work to a virtual assistant and have them handle new tweets, retweets and appropriate responses. Twitter is a two-way street. Being successful means means staying transparent, interacting with the Twitter community and keeping things fresh. The fastest means of losing your Twitter audience is to be dull.

Caroline Wright, The Wright Solution
________________________________
Professional Virtual Assistance
Internet Marketing | Social Media Support

SOCIAL MEDIA SITES  AND HOW TO USE THEM EFFECTIVELY IN YOUR BUSINESS Subscribe to our FREE  10 Part E-Course Twitter | Facebook | Linkedin | and more...

SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING FREE REPORT   Click here to download this short, free Special Report, and instantly find out about… The Key Benefits of Advertising on Social Media