Building Your Twitter Following: It’s All About Planning
Getting followers on Twitter is relatively easy, but what is really important in making Twitter a worthwhile experience is the type of followers you get – and the type of “Twitterers” you yourself follow. In the 3rd quarter of 2008, I was resting solidly at 70 followers, and had grown to that level after several months (I joined in January 08). I decided then that Twitter could really be a good tool for me, but I did realize that in order to beef up my presence, I would need to increase the number of people I was following, rather than keep my up-until-then more “passive” approach to attracting followers – listing my Twitter account link in my email signature. I had watched other users randomly follow, follow, follow, getting quickly to one of the Twitter follow limits of 2000. Sure, they did get some follow-backs, and had hundreds more followers than my 70, but to me, it seemed like a “quantity over quality” sort of following that would not add value in either direction.
So I set out to follow people in areas specifically of interest to me, so that when I read their Tweets in my friends’ timeline, I would get information relevant to me, both professionally and personally. First, I made a list of keywords. Here are a few of the ones I listed for my professional interests: Creative, Web, Design, Entrepreneur, Social Media, Online, Blog, Blogging, PR, journalism…all in all, I listed about 25 or so. Personally, I am interested in progressive politics, wine, dogs, animal rights, and restaurants, so I made a list of words in those areas. Finally, I was interested to connect with “Tweeple” in certain geographic areas: New York City, San Francisco, South Florida (Miami, Miami Beach, Ft. Lauderdale), Toronto, Vancouver, Washington DC, etc. Onto the list they went. When my list was complete, I utilized two tools to connect with these types of folk: The Twitter Search feature and Twitter Grader. The Twitter Search tool is amazing; you can search by a single keyword, but what is really helpful is the Advanced Search option. I highly recommend it. I found the Twitter Grader helpful to keep an eye on my ranking compared to other users, but what was very helpful to me was the recommendations of people to follow at the bottom of my “stats.” Some were not relevant, or didn’t have a high enough ranking themselves, but with each “refresh” I found at the very least one person that would be a good “follow fit” for me.
In a few short months, I not only went from a solid plateau of 70 to almost 1000 followers (maybe it will hit the big milestone by the time this goes online!), but – even more important – the tweets in my friend feed are completely customized to my personal and professional interests. To me, that is the biggest part of what makes Twitter such an incredible tool.
Looking forward to connecting on Twitter!
(ps – leave your Twitter address in the comments if you’d like a follow!)
January 10, 2009
I do the TwitterSearch, on all sorts of terms like you’ve done but only sporadically. And I’ve noticed the occasionally relevant recommendations on TwitterGrader but never thought to refresh for more. Duh!
Thanks for echoing my own quality-over-quantity philosophy and for the inspiration.
January 10, 2009
Hi Bruce – thanks for the comment. Yes – refreshing the TwitterGrader is very useful! What is your Twitter address? We’ll follow!
January 11, 2009
When comparing grades between tweeple, don’t just normalize on keywords but specialize and verify that those keywords have a high incidence of relevance in their individual inbound/outbound twitstreams. Don’t be caught blind-sighted by the echo chamber.
January 11, 2009
Excellent job of decoding what makes Twitter work, Julien. I’m going to excerpt on my blog this morning and later will begin following in your tweetsteps.
January 11, 2009
[...] interests. To me, that is the biggest part of what makes Twitter such an incredible tool. Post continues here… Category : Business / Marketing / Social [...]
January 11, 2009
Good points, Rich. One thing I didn’t mention in finding people to follow is to look at Twitter leaders profiles and see who they are following. Typically the elite in Twitter have a ton of followers but a small percentage of those they are following, so I take a look at them to see who might be a good follow-fit for me.
January 31, 2009
Thank you for sharing your tips. I focus my business efforts on all things broadband. Also, my personal passion is for public fairness in communications. Particularly access, technology, and content. I am stuck around the 70 something number but will focus on finding quality like minded people with the methods you have shared. I can be followed at @embertime.
January 31, 2009
http://twitter.com/embertime
January 31, 2009
Hi Clayton – glad you found the tips helpful. They sure did me. Now, I notice, since writing this, now that my Twitter grade is 99.5/99.6, that the Grader is not has helpful as it was when I was below 800 or so. That may be a glitch on their platform, but it was an integral part of my growth up to 1000.
Will be happy to follow you – thanks for leaving your @twitter handle!
March 4, 2009
McGladreyPRGal