So you want some followers on Twitter? Starters Guide

A friend of mine new to Twitter was feeling stuck and asked how to get followers / following and started. So I thought I would post it here as well hoping it will help you.

Here are some tips or at least the way I started out on Twitter.

Tell the world:

• a) I added links from all my websites. (Probably where most of my followers come from)
• b) Tell everyone on your email list you are on Twitter. Ask some questions, people love to respond.
• c) Add yourself to Twitter directories such as Wefollow.com and Twellow.com etc.

Decide some strategy:

• a) Whatever category you add yourself too, click around on others in your category. People will follow you if they see a common interest (at least at first).
• b) You should check to see if they are still using Twitter by clicking directly to their Twitter profile. According to reports, many leave Twitter after a few months. If they haven’t updated recently, perhaps they aren’t coming back. And of course if they are not following many, you have to decide if they will follow you back. I generally only click those who are following over a few hundred folk. Many with small numbers are using Twitter for family and friends.
• c) 2001 / 1000 gap: If folk are following 2001 but are followed by 1500 or less, they can’t follow you back. If there is a gap of 1000 between following and followers they also can’t follow you back. And if they never updated (posted) or only posted a few times, I doubt they’ll add much value to you.
• d) You can send those you are following DM’s (Direct Messages) either by hand or even automatically. It is a great tool to welcome folk and perhaps offer a link to your site. I joined Twitter specifically to help our network find prayer resources, so adding the web link was key for me. Tweetlater.com works great for me as far as auto DM’ing folk.
• e) Speaking of Tweetlater.com, they offer you a way to automatically follow back. Most recommend against using it. I personally am quite picky about who is on my list, so I don’t auto follow. However, it is time consuming to check each person and of course I would have many more followers if I weren’t so picky : -)

Tools (and Tricks):

There are some tricks. I stay away from them, but judging from the numbers of those pushing them, some do work. Still, for most of us who just want to meet new friends and collages, I don’t think the tricks are worth it.
There are also (many) tools. Again, I don’t use them, but then again the Twitter world hasn’t found me yet! Some tools include sites or bots (Robots) which recommend followers based on keywords, geographical status and other combinations. (I still prefer to click through Directories where I know at least someone put in some effort to add themselves.)
Sites which list tools include http://twitter.pbworks.com/ and http://www.squidoo.com/twitterapps.

PS. Here is a quick video about Twitter which still makes me laugh: http://mashable.tumblr.com/post/88576009

Trust that helps! Ron

PPS. Follow me on www.twitter.com/30dp and feel free to add comments to this post.

PPPS. More on the subject of Twitters Direct Messages (DM’s) and much more is here >> A Helpful Guide to Twitter.

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