7 Tips for Getting More Twitter Followers for Your Small Business

7 Tips for Getting More Twitter Followers for Your Small Business
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7 Tips for Getting More Followers for your Twitter Small Business Profile

It is more and more common to see businesses expanding their marketing efforts into social media, whether national chains or local mom-and-pops. Twitter is one of the fasted growing social media networks, and offers small businesses unique opportunities to communicate with prospects and customers in innovative and time-sensitive ways. This 3-part article series on Twitter marketing tips shows entrepreneurs ways they can capitalize on Twitter’s marketing potential. Part 1 offered tips for customizing your Twitter profile to showcase your brand, products and services. Part 2 provided suggestions for what kind of posts you can publish on your Twitter account to engage followers. In part 3, we discuss 7 tips for building your follower list wisely. Of course, there are many follower “farms” out there that promise huge numbers of followers for a fee and with little quality tweeting on your part. However, a more relational approach will allow you to build a follower list of real people who actually might be interested in your products and services. Consider these 7 suggestions.

Follow your followers. If you have a disproportionate number of followers compared to those you are following, your profile communicates that you are not interested in building relationships. There will always be businesses or services you’re simply not interested in or those who specialize in spam or extreme selling tactics. Within reason, however, follow most of the people who are following you. Following those who are watching your tweets just gives you another way to communicate and engage prospects, colleagues and potential customers.

Target followers geographically. There are a number of website services that can provide listings of Twitter users by state and even city. Twellow.com and Localtweeps.com are two great options. These services allow you to search for Twitter followers geographically, which can be very helpful if your clientele is location-specific. Following those relevant Twitter profiles is a good first step in gaining follow-backs.

Utilize twitter searches. Using Twitter’s search feature, you can target key words or phrases specific to your business or industry and see who is tweeting about your topic area. Twitter users “speaking your language” are great choices of profiles to follow. In addition, Twitter searches allow you to join in discussions about relevant products, services or locations by retweeting or using “@replies.”

Participate in relevant “chats”. Industry organizations often sponsor “tweet chats” centered around specific topics that utilize “hash tags” and special chatting services to alert participants of tweets related to the discussion. By participating, you have the opportunity not only to share your expertise, but also to gain insight from colleagues or customers from other areas.

Be patient. Some of the most unimpressive Twitter profiles are those who are following thousands with only a few followers and even fewer tweets. That profile snapshot clearly communicates the message that a user is interested in followers alone and not in relationship-based networking. Building a good set of followers takes time. Be patient with the process and focus on providing consistent and engaging tweets. Reach out to other users by following; just do it slowly, allowing time for follow backs to increase while you fine-tune your tweet topics.

Promote your profile. Just as you promote your website, use all your internet media outlets to list your Twitter account. Whether its your business website, blog, Facebook page, or email signature, your Twitter profile address should be wherever you are online.

Give Twitter daily attention. A Twitter profile is not the kind of internet media outlet that can withstand drought. Twitter is a daily, even hourly medium. Even with some of the sophisticated tweet reader applications out there, the posts that a user sees at any given session are ever changing. Your tweet is only visible for as long as it takes to scroll through one screen shot. Consistency is key to building a follower list.

There is no doubt that Twitter has much potential for small business marketing as you build a follower list with whom you can interact. Follow these tips for undergoing the process with promotional savvy.

Did you miss the tips on Twitter profiles and tweet content? Go back and check out parts 1 and 2 of this series on Twitter marketing tips. Part 1 shows you how to create an effective customized Twitter profile page, and part 2 offers ideas for how to write quality tweets that will showcase your expertise and engage your followers.

This post is part of the series: Twitter Marketing Tips for Small Businesses

Twitter is one of the most popular social media services, and businesses are cashing in on its marketing benefits. This 3-part series offers tips for effectively using Twitter as part of a small business marketing plan, including creating a profile, posting quality tweets and attracting followers.

  1. Creating an Effective Small Business Twitter Profile
  2. Small Businesses on Twitter: What Should I Tweet About?
  3. Gaining Twitter Followers for Your Small Business Profile