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 Twiiter 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

Follow everyonef

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 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

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

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

Facebook

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.

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

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

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

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

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?

Freshbooks
Lee Munroe
About the author

Lee Munroe is a freelance web designer from Belfast Northern Ireland. Like this article? Feel free to follow Lee on Twitter.

Comments

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  1. Gravatar

    If this is an April fools joke I have to say well done sir.

  2. Gravatar

    Nicely done!

    Unfortunately, a lot of people will read the first few hints and be really grateful for your MLM-like hints.

    Killer conclusion!

  3. Gravatar

    Nice post Lee :-) I agree with all of the points you mention, even though if some “twitter gurus” are against some practices like following back to every follower you get.
    Cheers

  4. Gravatar

    Oh man! I love this post.

  5. Gravatar

    APRIL FOOLS!!!!!

    I read till 3 before I got it. Nice one.

  6. Gravatar

    I also agree with the tips, altgough I hate posts like “went to the bathroom”. Anyway, these were great tips and I loved the blog which by the way I found on Twitter :)

  7. Gravatar

    April Fools? Must be.

  8. Gravatar

    Nice post. Are effective? Well lets see..

  9. Gravatar

    Ok. This is silly. #2 If you retweet EVEYTHING YOU WILL ANNOY PEOPLE #4 Auto DMs piss people off. #8 If you use all 140 characters no one will be able to retweet for you or you will make it such a pain in the ass no one will bother. #7 - If I see someone trying to get to a specific number of followers I know I don’t mean crap to them and will usually unfollow. Richard Branson thinks you are a nobody so if he is following rule #10… who are you going to chat with?

    Insincere participation is BS and if your ego needs that much stroking go back to MySpace.

  10. Gravatar

    God, I really hope people don’t take this literally, although I know they will…

    Funny stuff :)

  11. Gravatar

    I always cringe when I read the biters’ comments!

    Good stuff. Unfortunately, some of these things might actually work for some people…

  12. Gravatar

    Makes a great read.

    Hard to believe some people will take it literally!!

    Great work!!

  13. Gravatar

    haha - good work

  14. Gravatar

    Brilliant lol …

  15. Gravatar

    Very good :)

    You should rename this post “A Twitter spammer’s manifesto” or “How to lose followers and alienate people”.

  16. Gravatar

    @some_of_these_commenters: Pleeease, remember today is April First…

  17. Gravatar

    I think the comments from people who fell for it are funnier than the post itself.

    Nice one Lee ;)

  18. Gravatar

    Mindful! I like #5 and #9 & 10. Thanks for sharing and definetely i will put in parctice these recommendations.

  19. Gravatar

    April Fools.

    Particularly liked tip 7

    7. Ask people to follow you

    epic.

  20. Gravatar

    Um, ok. Now I feel silly. File this under “Posting While Intoxicated” with a cross-reference to “Gullible April Fool’s Victims” (hangs head in shame.) :)

  21. Gravatar

    aaah, finally, an April Fools that’s actually hilarious!

  22. Gravatar

    There’s always a few.. ha!

  23. Gravatar

    I was thinking… this doesn’t sound like what I normally read on this blog… very funny…

  24. Gravatar

    Awesome!

    Nothing better than irony that shows you a couple of things you’re doing wrong! LOL

    -Perry

  25. Gravatar

    This TOTALLY WORKS!! ;)

  26. Gravatar

    Just finished writing a similar article last night for April fools day and was going to tweet it. Now I don’t feel excited about posting it. I was rolling on the floor when writing it. Dammit! Should I post it or not.

  27. Gravatar

    Haha, ya got me. Well done on the article

    @marvin - post it, let’s see what other ‘tips’ will help enhance twitter

  28. Gravatar

    Hopefully by now you’ll have realised this is an April fools post. Sorry but I couldn’t resist ;-) In all honesty I would recommend doing the opposite of everything I stated above for an effective Twitter experience (although to be honest you never know what might work for getting followers).

    This is a tongue in cheek look at Twitter and how people use it. I hope you found the list entertaining :-)

    @Marvin: Of course, post away and share with us

  29. Gravatar

    That was a good laugh - thanks!

  30. Gravatar

    Good list of crazy ideas ;-)

  31. Gravatar

    Crazy great ideas.. but believe me, many of the tweeters follow all these to get ‘more’ followers!

  32. Gravatar

    that’s a crazy list, but I would skip the 9th step.. I guess sharing is one more way to have more followers (at least that’s how and why I follow other people, because of their ’secrets’).. though it’s nice list! :)

  33. Gravatar

    this is a joke right - 9. Don’t give away your secrets
    missing the point to say the least - haha

  34. Gravatar

    Excellent post Lee and reading the comments is almost as funny.

    Those “n tips to get more followers” lists always remind me of a Ricky Gervais quote when he was asked by a journalist “What advice would you give to someone who wants to become really famous.” he replied: “Murder a prostitute”.

  35. Gravatar

    @David: lol yes, I’ve heard him say that or similar a few times. Wonder if anyone took his advice

  36. Gravatar

    This post proves that you aren’t quite getting the point of social media.

    Your methods are an “opaque” way of using a medium meant for transparency.

  37. Gravatar

    Great article, new to twitter myself

  38. Gravatar

    you missed: tweet dozens of pithy quotes day-after-day by famous folks now deceased. Grr…

  39. Gravatar

    Wow. I am slow. I didn’t pick up on the sarcasm until I started to read the comments. Haha. I was thinking, “wow, this guy is so totally wrong.” Haha!

  40. Gravatar

    Wow, I’m really glad I read the comments. I’m new to twitter, so I thought these were serious.

  41. Gravatar

    Amazing April Fools Day Post Lee. Well done :)

  42. Gravatar

    Haha. Nice job.

  43. Gravatar

    is there a way to get more local followers to my site: http://twitter.com/wof_fi

  44. Gravatar

    Great tips. Thanks!

    http://twitter.com/Tater_Nuts

    Follow! I’ll follow back.

  45. Gravatar

    Great post!

    I have managed to reach over 2000 followers in a month’s time and love how it generates traffic to my blog. I started using the super followback list where users are willing to followback. Everyone leaves their name and you can 100’s. I noticed if you content is worthwhile, once u reach 1000 it nearly doubles. I recommend anyone wanting followers to leave their name on that list at http://bit.ly/ffvip Have fun and good luck in the twitterverse!

    #FFVIP
    @FFVIP = masters of follow friday

  46. Gravatar

    …you’re half right and half wrong. ill explain tomorrow.

  47. Gravatar

    I started reading this thinking… “That’s odd, these tips seem to be the opposite of what makes Twitter fun…” haha.

    Best tip: tweet “sitting on the toilet tweeting”

  48. Gravatar

    Oh gosh I read through this thinking…”This guy is way off” till I read the April 1rst comments. :) Well done!

  49. Gravatar

    Hey Lee - You should check out http://www.flashtweet.com to grow your following by using our RSS tweet feature. You can also mass everyone who mentions you on Twitter. Great for connecting with your fans. Email us at info@flashtweet.com and we will hook you up with a free account.

  50. Gravatar

    haha, this is funny but not serious

  51. Gravatar

    Nice tips… DE last was a sort of tricky one

  52. Gravatar

    I think the best way to get more followers on twitter is to join: http://www.getrealfollowers.com
    You will find many interesting ways there.

  53. Gravatar

    LOL what a load of crap! it would take you years to unfollow EVERYONE! plus i have a friend that has almost 1000 followers and she didn’t even have to follow 10 people, only her friends. People follow you if you have INTERESTING TWEETS! They say tweet all the time so you get more followers, yes & no because people get annoyed and UNFOLLOW YOU! so follow who you want to follow and ask people to follow you, quite easy & simple :) Follow me @ http://www.twitter.com/BabyBecca0 <3

  54. Gravatar

    Another good idea is to focus on your interest and niche
    so that you can attract like minded friends and business contacts. By using the search function you can locate
    similar folks.follow me on twitter @fulltracks

  55. Gravatar

    a lot of the “tips” seem more like spam ideas. tweet about everything? i’m shocked people justify it as a way to get more followers as it’s not different for how a spammer works, and they justify that by the nice number in their bank account at the end of the week. in my opinion use twitter how you want to, if there is people to follow that you want to follow, then do so. some users will want to read the posts of someone with only a few people following as they are less likely to be spam, but some others wont, so don’t be false and just be a true twitterer and the real customers will come running soon enough.

  56. Gravatar

    ah silly me, this was an april fools joke. I was linked here from another blog reccomeding i do these tips so was like wtf?

  57. Gravatar

    Thanks so much for these tips!
    They are great and really helpful! Thank You God Bless

    Please Follow Me, Guys!:
    http://twitter.com/PrayMaddyMcCann

  58. Gravatar

    ^ spot the spammer lol

  59. Gravatar

    Lol I’m not spamming!
    Just saying thanks for the tips they honastly did help me and am saying plz add me too!

  60. Gravatar

    I use Hummingbird to get more followers on Twitter. I think this is the link: http://www.hummingbird2.com

  61. Gravatar

    Thanks for these tips.

  62. Gravatar

    Follow Me On Twitter @samlukey, id appreciate it.

  63. Gravatar

    Follow me. http://twitter.com/Chelny
    Spammers are welcomed too unless they unfollow me right away. hahahahahh

  64. Gravatar

    In the spirit of twitter fun this comedy animation explains the one simple rule to getting more twitter followers! Not sure how much use you’ll find it though!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYE9n0D2FiY

  65. Gravatar

    The Very Best Tip I Have Is To Follow Back All The People That Follow You!

    Doing So Builds Your Reputation And People And Alot More Likely To Follow You, Knowing It’ll Be Reciprocated!

    So Follow Me Today As I Always Follow Back!
    http://twitter.com/PrayMaddyMcCann

    Oh And Every Follower I Get Raises More Awareness For Madeleine McCann! Each Follow Helps That Little Bit More!

    http://www.twitter.com/PrayMaddyMcCann

  66. Gravatar

    thing is though, if you follow everyone, the real visitors that may actually want to see your account, will see this and see how you have messed with your results. then how can you measure the success of twitter if all you see are visits from people only looking at your account because they know they’ll get followed back?

  67. Gravatar

    Haha, for a second I thought you were being serious xD

  68. Gravatar

    Oh shoot! I thought these were gospel truths! lol

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