Wikipedia reports Twitter now serves 322 million active users as of January 2016. However, within a social network with so many users it can sometimes feel difficult to gain a following.However, here are some tips to help you gain more followers.
Over the past few years, I’ve gained over a thousand followers on my own Twitter account. Here are some tips to help you gain more followers, that have worked previously for me.
- Follow everyday people, not just celebrities. Sure, it’s fun to follow Kanye West’s rants, but he won’t be the ones favoriting and retweeting you — or even follow back. That’s why it’s important to follow non-celebrities. As a writer, I follow tons of other writers and editors, especially ones that work for publications I’d like to be published in one day.
- Ignore the bots. You might find yourself being followed by accounts that don’t seem like real people. Don’t follow them back or engage; they’re probably bots. You might also find them tweeting the same responses to different users. That’s an example of their algorithms. Twitterbots always seem to find me!
- Participate in discussions about current events. Is there a presidential debate or major sporting event coming up? Whatever you’re interested in, engage in a discussion via Twitter using the event’s specific hashtag. I do this every time I attend a professional conference and successfully gain dozens of followers over a weekend.
- Join weekly Twitter chats. For instance, every Tuesday at 12 p.m. EST, Femsplain hosts #LetMeFemsplain chats. Previous topics have included books and embarrassing moments. I gain a handful of followers every week through this specific discussion.
Did you find this story helpful? What other strategies do you use to gain followers? Tweet @decorcione with your thoughts and ideas!