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How to Grow a Large Twitter Following
Twitter image from wired.co.uk
Network on Twitter
Twitter is one of the fastest growing networking sites today, so there's no guessing whether it has an audience. This makes it a perfect platform for small businesses to promote their products, for bloggers to promote their sites, and regular users to connect and gain information. Now, your job is to get this audience's attention and let them know you have something they want. So where do you begin?
Strong Biography
You've probably heard this many times before, but it's true. People want to know who you are before reading your tweets. They want to connect with you on a personal level. How do they do this? By reading your bio. You can make a very strong impression if you take the time to create a properly written biography. If you're trying to promote goods or services, don't forget to add a few links leading back to your blog or company web site.
Tweet and Tweet Actively
I don't mean tweet one day and a few days later, add another tweet. You want to smear your presence all across Twitter, so start off strong. Tweet at least twice a day and see if you can raise it to five. The more links you post, the more followers you will get. That's why the quality of the tweet is important. The question is, should you be broad with your tweets, posting links to everything under the sun, or should you refine your search and tweet a niche of topics? Really, that's up to you. Some Twitter users say be specific, while others promote the generality of topics. Here's what I say: try one way, and if that doesn't work, try the other.
"Please Retweet"
Getting users to retweet your content can create overnight fame on Twitter. If you don't find that your tweets are being retweeted enough, go ahead and add "RT" or "Don't forget to RT" at the bottom of your tweets. Adding this to the bottom of a few tweets should suffice, but do not add it to every tweet you compose.
Now you RT
It's also a great idea to retweet links that you find interesting. This isn't just a great idea, but essential for growing your Twitter following. A lot of users have found success in tweeting celebrities, industry leaders and popular bloggers. Why? Because if they do nothing more than thank you for retweeting their comment, this will give you major exposure. On top of RT'ing those who have a large following, retweet what is important to you, and make sure it's relevant.
Promote Twitter Users
You can do this a number of ways. The most common is to retweet, like I just mentioned, and then adding your own thought. You can also find a link, comment on the link, and then add the author's name. Try and sustain one endorsement a day, and slowly increase this number if you can.
Promote your Twitter Links
Post your twitter links anywhere you can; on your blog, on a guest blog, in a video tutorial, in your published article-everywhere. Let people outside of Twitter know that you have a Twitter account, that you're tweeting constantly and that your content is relevant and interesting.
Follow Relevant Users
This may go without saying, but I feel it's a necessary addition. When you follow someone, make sure they share your interests. If you don't share interests, while would they follow you? And vice versa.
Frequently use #Hashtags
Using hashtags makes it easy to connect with people who share your interests. This also increases the visibility of your tweets. Let's not forget that they're easy to use, so why not throw them in? If you're adding a link to a paleo recipe, simply add #paleofood at the end. I would also include #recipe, #healthy, etc. Anything that's relevant to your tweet and a popular trend.
Follow Trends
You'll find popular Twitter trends on the left sidebar. Create a tweet based on these trends, and don't forget to use the hashtag.
Twitter Widget
Add the Twitter widget to your own blog to show people what you're tweeting. If you post interesting tweets, people will see this and follow you. It's as simple as that.
Join Twitter Directories
If you have no idea what this is, let me quickly explain. A Twitter directory is a service that allows you to search for the most popular Twitter users, users who share your interests, your own account, and other intricate Twitter data. Find a few twitter directories and add information about who you are, your interests and how they can follow you on Twitter. I recommend WeFollow, Twellow, TwitterHolic and TwitterCounter to name a few.
Search Tweets
Look out for the tweets that are of interest to you. Comment on these tweets and then begin following the user. In turn, they'll probably follow you. This is one of the best ways to establish Twitter connections.
Celebrity Followers
Everybody needs at least one celebrity follower. It just looks good. Also, if a celebrity follows you, they'll most likely respond to your tweets or, better yet, retweet something you've said. Needless to say, this will bring plenty of exposure to your Twitter account. This trick doesn't work for celebrities alone, but anyone who has a large following.
Use Automatic Tools
You can't spend several hours posting images or links you find interesting. Instead, download an automatic tool, such Buffer or Hootsuite to automatically do the tweeting for you, figuring out the best time of to day to do so. Another favorite is Twitterfeed, which is a very useful tool that automatically sends out tweets from the RSS feeds you enter.
Join Tweet Chats
If you want to jump into a conversation but don't know how, go to TweetChat. By using hashtags, you'll find specific topics to and connect with people who share your interests. This is a great way meet new people and gain followers. When you search on TweetChat, the hashtag "real time" is always added and the chat room is constantly auto-updated. So don't worry, you'll never jump into an old conversation.
Twitter Campaigns
Twitter is a great place to start a social campaign. If you have a product or a blog, use Twitter to tweet prizes, coupons, sweepstakes, special deals and so much more. This will get your current followers buzzed and also attract new fans. Not only can this gain exposure to your Twitter account, but to your product, blog or website.
You're on your way to promoting yourself properly on social media platforms. If you haven't done so already, check out my article on gaining Pinterest followers. This is a site that amasses over 21 million views a month. Trust me, you want a strong following.