Should I Follow People To Get Followers On Twitter
How Do I Get More Followers On Twitter?
This is a question that I get asked a lot. What’s the best way to get followers? Should I follow lots of people and then they’ll follow me back? Should I put out good content and then people will naturally follow me?
Of course we’re assuming you’ve thought about what you want out of your relationship with twitter. So, setting that aside for now, let’s dig in to this follow / not follow question.
Now there basically two schools of thought here – the “no you should wait for people to be attracted to you” school and the “yes you should follow people to get more followers” school.
The No School
This is the strategy of quality over quantity. A bit like having a private party.
Where you’re advised that it’s better to put good content out and your audience will find you. Or better to find your audience elsewhere (offline for example) and then bring them to twitter to ‘hang out’. Use it as a way of engaging and staying in touch with your crowd. Better to have fewer, closer friends than many people you don’t really know that well.
Who’s This For?
This is a strategy used by a lot of the ‘big guys’ (and of course celebrities). They are already ‘famous’ in their world. Or they’re content to build their following slowly, on the back of referrals essentially.
The Good?
This has the advantage of positioning you as the expert, the authority that people queue up to listen to.
I know people who have used this really successfully to build up a loyal and raving fan base. And I know people who have recently cleaned out their twitter accounts and unfollowed most of their followers. It’s a solid, tried and tested strategy.
And you’ll definitely avoid some of the issues inherent with a medium like twitter. You don’t see a lot of unwanted tweets in your tweet stream – you just see the ones you really want to see. You also don’t get a lot of direct message spam – people can only send you a DM if you are following them. Twitter or your twitter client (if you’re using tweetdeck or hootsuite for example) will run faster. Especially when you get into tens and multiple tens of thousands of followers.
The Bad?
But then there’s the downside. It’s slooooow. And, I’m going to stick my neck out here, it’s much slower way to build than even just a couple of years ago.
Twitter is a busy and noisy environment. It’s hard for people to find you. Where are those loyal followers going to come from? Are your followers also trying to build up a following in which case they may unfollow you if you don’t follow them back? And there are many automated tools that allow them to do this. If your followers don’t have followers themselves then the ripple effect of twitter – where RTs and conversations get seen by the followers of your followers – won’t work.
And you can manage some of the downsides like following a lot of people by using lists – group people who’s conversations you want to see and put them in list. And don’t follow spammers and bots just to play the numbers game – you still want to be a bit choosy about who you follow.
The Yes School
These are the guys who say it’s better to follow a handful of people a day and see if they follow you back. They do, you stick with them. They don’t you decide whether you want them in your stream or you unfollow them.
Who’s This For?
This is for you if you want to make connections – to be friendly with people you don’t know yet and see how it turns out. It’s like being at a cocktail party – you go over and say hello and see where it leads to – maybe you strike up a conversation, maybe not, but you’re making that first move.
The Good?
If you don’t have followers you don’t have an audience. This of course comes back to why you’re on twitter in the first place!
And twitter is essentially a social environment so why not be polite? If someone follows you then follow them back? Likewise there’s a lot of churn – people following and unfollowing. Again it’s the cocktail party analogy – you say hi, you have a short conversation, the person’s not someone you want to get to know so you move on.
This is a bit more of a lucky dip approach. You’ll find some interesting and unusual connections this way – and who knows, maybe some will lead to customers, joint ventures and new friendships?
The Bad?
But there’s a big downside with all of this. The spammers and the bots use automated tools to build up their following – so this whole “following people” has got a bad rep. And then of course there’s the DM spam. If you follow a lot of people you won’t be able to distinguish genuine messages from auto-DMs and pure virus-ridden spam. And of course you’ve got to ask whether you’re opening yourself up to a higher risk of account hacking?
So….Where Does This Leave You?
Well, the thing with two schools of thought is that neither one is essentially all right or all wrong.
You need to weigh up what’s right for you. What’s your strategy. Go back to that fundamental question – why are you on twitter? What do you want to get out of it?
- Are you looking to meet new people to promote your business to and make connections with? Do you want to cast your net wide and hope that some of it will pay off for you?
- Or are you happy to treat it as your private party environment where you and your friends hang? If new people want to come along and say hi then that’s fine but you don’t go out looking for them?
Ask yourself those questions and you’ll get a bit more clarity. But at the end of the day, it’s your business – you need to decide!
I would love to know what you think. What strategy do you use and how does it work for you? Please leave a comment below and of course share this on twitter !
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I think you hit the nail on the head about knowing exactly what you are on twitter for and this will then drive your approach. For me it is all about quality of relationships, genuine community and a deeper connection so I don’t go hunting followers. My twitter community is therefore growing organically to fit my objectives and values. I think many folk are on there without that clarity which makes the whole thing more difficult to proactively manage.
Absolutely Ali – clarity is key. if you know why you’re there and how you want to use it then I think it’s a really easy and friendly environment. But if you’re not clear then it seems not to have a purpose.
Good to be in your community
For me, I think initially, I’m following more than I’m being followed. As my follows grow, though, I’ll reach a point where I’ll start paring down so I can listen to those I’m really interested in talking to. When you’re first getting started, following others is a great way to get out there and get known. Interact with those who interest you. You can always scale back as people begin following you.
Yes – it really normal to unfollow, and re-follow people so you can keep your community fresh and bring people in and out of circles.
I like to put people on lists and it looks like Ande who has commented below has really got thie hang of this technique!
Thanks for commenting
Cathy
I’m right at the beginning of my journey to create an online business, but I’m happy to do that slowly and in a reasonably low-key way.
That means that for me, it makes sense to only follow people who publish tweets that I actually genuinely want to read. I’m very slowly starting to get some conversations started with people and seeing genuine people (rather than spambots!) following me back, and that feels right to me… it feels somehow more authentic.
Not that I think there’s anything reprehensible about using the other techniques you talk about, Cathy, but they just don’t feel right for me now (a couple of months down the track when I actually launch my business “for realz”, I might well change my mind of course!)
Hi Tanja – you are completely right to be ‘feeling’ your way in and, just like being at a party, when you have conversations other people will join in or you can join in when other people are ‘talking’. I’ve met so many great contacts this way!
Cathy
I’ve gone for the build it and they will come approach so follow very few and weed them frequently. I always, however, acknowledge new followers and make sure I give them a nod or a re-tweet when they mention me. My brand has been totally built on an image of me which I have to carry through into Social Media … note I say its an image – I’m not realy that posh!! xx
posh AND gorgeous – you have it all! I think you have it just right for your business – move over Kirstie Allsop I say
Cathy x
Hi Cathy! Thanks for the terrific post. I’m very new to Twitter. In fact, for years I thought it was absolutely lame. Then I tried it and fell in love! You’re right, it’s like a cocktail party or networking event. I love meeting all these cool people and learning about what they’re doing professionally… or in their lives… and it’s all about establishing relationships for me. I follow back because I’m here to help, and I never know who that will be, so the more the merrier, IMHO. Creating lists has been helpful and fun – Precious Treasures, You Make My Heart Sing, Shivers Down My Backbone – I have fun with it! I may be crazy, but I also like to DM my new followers – after I’ve taken a look at their profile – and, just like a cocktail party, work it into the conversation. After this connection, it’s easier for me to RT because I know who they are. I may have a new strategy if I ever reach thousands of followers, but this is the plan today. Cheers! Ande
Thanks Ande. I LOVE your use of lists and their names – and that’s so great for twitter – it IS fun (well IMHO as well
) so just dig in and enjoy it?
Cathy
This is a great read, especially for those starting out such as myself. I have tried to balance out the two techniques, follow those that matter and you wish to network with. Avoid the spammers and connect with people who maybe interesting and beneficial to you.
Yes – this will is definitely the way to go!
Cathy
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Thank-you Cathy for this insightful post. I’m feeling my way through at the moment. Still developing a rhythm that’s in line with me and my values. Clarity is indeed key. Looking forward to having fun with lists much later on!
Jayne
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Sounds perfect – just go with what you feel is right. Talk to you on twitter I hope!
Cathy
cathyp recently posted… Grow Your Income Without Working More?
Another vote of thanks from me, I am a relatively new Twitter user and still finding my way. I have connected with some great people and enjoy our conversations and sharing about our new business. I am currently searching and following people that I would like to connect with and hope that in time more connections will flow in my direction.
Ruth
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Hi Ruth – this is definitely the way to do it. Start and join in conversations – some will continue, some won’t. They all have a natural flow to them
Cathy
cathyp recently posted… How To Make Sales Calls Without Feeling Like A Complete Dork
Wow! Nice well chosen top Cathy,
Pleasure to leave my first comment in your blog
Twitter is a tool and as you said depending on one purpose of using it, either of the described school is correct!
I started with being in he first school of surrounding my self with people I know. My purpose by then was to know the daily news about the unrest happened in my country Bahrain but to a person like me who hates news, I fed up getting the daily pessimistic people attitude so I started to ask myself why bother! Then I noticed that Harvard business school’s tweets! I followed them and I found myself obsessed with their management topics (being new to IT management). So since then I started to follow knowledgable people like you to get god tips in management and technology!
But suddenly I saw myself following lots of people and finding out that it’s not easy to read every tweet in my timeline so I asked myself he same question again why bother? Until I read one post talking about managing twitter and I liked hat statement about thinking of twitter as a steam of water flowing nonstop. I then knew hat it’s hard to read every tweet so I decided to just pick whatever my eyes fall on. I started to follow whoever follows me and sometimes I follow people when I like a retweeted tweet of their
My strategy is to favorite any tweet I like bat contains a link so I can read it later just like this fine tweet
I try to finish all my pending readings on a daily basis.
My next step will be to decide on one day of the week to shutdown twitter and be with my self and my family coz I don’t want to be that edicted to twitter and leave away my number 1 priority in life ((((my family))))
Thanks again for giving me the chance to express my twitter journey
Regards,
Khalid
Very wise Khalid. You can’t follow twitter 100% of the time – I come in and out up usually three times a day. I love that analogy about it being like a stream of water – very cool
Cathy
cathyp recently posted… I’m Done With Resolutions!
Wow perfect timing Cathy, I’ve been a little frustated lately because I’m still ytrying to figure out how Twitter can work for my business. I am still educating myself…I haven’t found my following as of yet, someone told me to do searches to lok for my tribe but no luck as of yet. Thank you for sharing this with us all especially us newcomers. Will pass it on.
Thanks Luisa
Don’t worry about people following you – just join conversations that look interesting and follow a few people that look like your kind of connections and the followers will come.
Thanks for commenting!
Cathy
cathyp recently posted… Guide To Starting A Business
I’ve been on twitter for a while, and was using the organic approach to build up my followers for a long time. As you say, this can be a slow process.
What I now do is supplement this with an odd week where I hunt for followers.
I search out and make a list of people in my industry that I’d really like to connect with. I then make an effort to follow, mention and interact with this list during my ‘power week’ (a horrible phrase I’ve just come up with and will not be using again).
All of this does take a lot of effort, especially as I don’t want to do it at the expense of the regular fresh content I’m creating, hence why I restrict it to just an ocassional week.
That’s a great strategy and it’s actually more or less what I do – spend an hour here and there more intensively looking at new connections and adding people to lists.
We don’t want it to take over and the idea of time-blocking like that is really helpful. Thanks for posting
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Clarity and single purpose is nice, but not always the case. I follow people when I like their tweets. but i follow diverse areas and comment on whatever I find interesting, agreeable or disagreeable. Too much content without a bit of humor is almost as bad as no content and ‘I am going for a walk now’ tweeting. so I follow and comment without reciprocity in mind. Maybe not good for business, but enjoyable.