It being Follow Friday, the great big international holiday on Twitter where users give shout-outs to the folks they follow that they think complete strangers and anyone within tweet-shot should also follow, it seems appropriate to write a post on how to get more Twitter followers. Think what you will about the platform, but it's here for now and is very popular and influential. In some cases, Twitter has been proven to be the direct catalyst for large groups of people spending exorbitant amount of money on products or services. And since it's a free service itself, you have nothing to lose but 140 characters and a minute or two of your time.
Welp, ZDNet has a very insightful and helpful five-item list on how to boost your Twitter follow count. Some of these I'd think would be common sense, but you can't assume anything nowadays. I'll disregard the glaring ones and zero in on the ones that are most often missed.
Twitter sometimes gets a bad rep because many of its users are just letting people know when they go to the dentist or are at the mall. It's a powerful tool, though, and since you have so much freedom on it, it's up to you to figure out how to make yourself worthwhile for others to follow. If you're bombarding users to retweet you or to make lame jokes, why not offer some insightful comments or, even better, links to insightful articles or to businesses your followers might appreciate or have a need for? People can read about dentists and the mall whenever they want. But finding out about something cool on the Internet you didn't know existed? That's a major part of the Internet's appeal. Always has been and always will be.
Another good point is to follow personalities that are the big players in your arena. It's a little like the expression of dressing for the job you want, not the job you have. If you're a hatchling on Twitter without an established identity or any cred at all, find out what the tycoons and influencers in your corner of the world are doing. If you're a restaurateur, follow restaurant critics. Sit down and think about it. Really think. Don't just click randomly and follow whoever you can. The numbers are great to brag about, sure, but you're better off with a higher quality of followers than just a higher number of them.
To read more tips, check out this article at ZDNet. And while you're at it, Excel4Marketing's list of 10 tips for businesses on Twitter, too. Who loves ya, babies?
David Wolinsky is a freelance writer and a lifelong Chicagoan. In addition to currently serving as an interviewer-writer for Adult Swim, he's also a comedy-writing instructor for Second City. He was the Chicago city editor for The Onion A.V. Club where he provided in-depth daily coverage of this city's bustling arts/entertainment scene for half a decade. When not playing video games for work he's thinking of dashing out to Chicago Diner, Pizano's, or Yummy Yummy. His first career aspirations were to be a game-show host.
