After reading this recent post from @paddydonnelly, Not Another ‘10 Tips to get more Twitter Followers’, I felt compelled to write what I think is the best way to use Twitter for getting more followers.
Follow this surefire guide and you’ll have hundreds (or even thousands) of more followers on Twitter in no time.
1. Follow everyone
How do you get noticed on Twitter? Follow everyone else. Literally go through as many Twitter profiles as possible and click follow. Do this 1,000 times and you’ll get around 900 follows back.
2. Retweet like mad
Retweet every link that comes from your friends. First of all your friend will be thankful for the retweet and secondly your followers will be thankful for the shared link.
Be sure to retweet in the format “RT @friend:” and keep any other RT @friend references in so they get the credit they deserve.
3. Constantly tweet about what you're doing
Nobody will follow you if your Twitter stream is lying static so make sure you constantly update it, every 15 minutes if possible.
If you’re not doing anything interesting, talk about the food you’re eating, what you’re watching on TV or who you’re talking to and meeting e.g. “Eating sushi with @myfriend while watching Family Guy”.
4. Auto DM new followers to welcome them
You want your new followers to feel welcome so setup an auto welcome message via DM to say “Thanks for following me”. This is also the perfect time to list your sites that you want them to visit.
5. Link to your MySpace, Facebook or Bebo page
Twitter is a social networking site so when listing your website it’s a good idea to link to another social networking site that you’re on so friends can connect with you on that site also. Enter your MySpace, Facebook or Bebo site here, not your website or blog.
6. Ask people to Digg, Retweet, Bookmark, Float etc.
This is the true value of Twitter. You can use it to gain significant advantages like asking people to digg your posts. If you have 500 followers and you ask them all to help you digg a post, you’ll more than likely get at least 400 diggs and be featured on the Digg homepage.
7. Ask people to follow you
Milestones are important on Twitter. There’s a big difference between someone who only has 99 followers and someone who has 101 followers. You want and need to hit these follower milestones.
If you’re at 90 followers, tweet “nearly at 100 followers” and before you know it you’ll reach the 100 mark because your friends will retweet it. Likewise when nearing 1,000, 2,000 etc.
8. Use all 140 characters
Don’t waste your tweets. There are 140 characters up for grabs so make sure you use as many as possible. The more information provided for your friends the better.
9. Don't give away your secrets
If you find a good link that helps you achieve something extraordinary in your field, it would be silly to share it on Twitter. Don’t forget, your friends on Twitter are also your competitors so don’t be giving your secrets away.
10. Don't reply to nobodies
You want people to think that you’re really big and popular so only @reply to people who are famous or have thousands of followers. This will make you look like a Twitter big gun and people will feel the need to follow you.
What do you think?
Are these effective ways to use Twitter? Do you have any other recommendations?
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