5 Interesting Ways to Increase Twitter Followers

Special thanks to Joshua Uebergang for writing this article.

You don’t need to roar like Katy Perry to reach 89 million Twitter followers. Justin Bieber’s annoying yet lovable aura is his secret to reaching 82 million followers and that is something too difficult for a normal person or business. Influential individuals that represent a business like Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres are way too big to copy so you probably won’t have millions of followers like they do.

Since social media has taken over our ways of reaching out to people, marketing our business, reuniting with loved ones, and even expressing ourselves, it has become an indispensable part of our daily routine. Tweet here, post there, update here, like there, comment here, and share there. These can be frustrating if you feel that no one listens because you have only a few followers.

In addition to Facebook, Twitter has become a popular venue for both celebrities and ordinary people to be themselves. Here, opinions are expressed, heard, re-tweeted, replied to, and even become sources of issues and controversies. How then can we attract more followers? Here are some interesting ways gleaned from celebrities on how you can gain more followers for your business:

1. Be First

Be the first to post controversial but factual photos, videos and updates – be it political, social, or in the field of entertainment, health, science, and more. Don’t just post, you may add truthful stories or even commentaries that make everyone who stumbles upon your post like and re-tweet your post. News publications love to share cheeky Tweets by people on a hot topic they report on.

Please remember you can’t satisfy everybody. Be ready for not-so-nice comments, derogatory statements, questions, and even ugly, foul, and violent reactions. Nothing beats the first and the original.

2. Be Radical

Hannah Montana didn’t make it to the limelight in the same way that Miley Cyrus in her “mature” wrecking ball image did. Would you love Katy Perry for her songs alone even if you haven’t seen how pretty she is with her violet hair or how stunning she can be as a head-turner in most events as she exposes her sultry skin in her revealing attire? I don’t mean you should become a good-girl-gone-bad or be someone you’re not. The people mentioned above are celebrities that no matter what they do they will always be the center of people’s attention.

You can at least comment on current affairs in an educated manner. Express your feelings as a concerned citizen or netizen. Do not be afraid to disagree, dislike, or pose questions that may or may not solicit a debate. You’ll gain more followers and you can filter out haters. Post sensible comments or tweets on current issues. Your followers will like, and more likely share your point of view which can mean wider ground for you to be seen by many others who are not yet your followers.

After all, it feels good and liberating to be someone who is skeptical and radical at times and to be miss-who-cares at other times.

3. Be Extraordinary

Just because you’re an ordinary netizen does not mean you can’t be a celebrity. Try something extraordinary that will make you a celebrity in your ordinary world. The more you can garner attention elsewhere, the more your following will naturally build.

Honest Tea is doing something extraordinary by conducting a social experiment. Brand director of Honest Tea, Ami Mathur says, “Honest Tea is doing a social experiment in cities all across the US to see how #RefreshinglyHonest consumers in each city are by giving them the opportunity to donate $1 when they take a drink from our pop-up Honest Store.”

Post never-before-seen photos of your place. Highlight institutions or establishments where you’ve had wonderful experiences. Go offbeat by talking about social issues related to your company, and challenge yourself to be more interesting in whatever way possible.

4. Be Sociable

Now there are lots of ways on how you can do this. The possibilities are countless which can mean unlimited ways for you to beef up that number of followers.

• Follow and be followed. People love to follow back.
• Pay attention to trending hashtags. React to social trends such as #noshavenovember.
• Promote your Twitter account. Include a link to your Twitter account in your blog and you can even add a live Twitter feed there. You might want to bring your tweets to the real world by including them in your calling cards, business promotion, and in other gatherings.
• Reply to users who engage with you (or start a conversation with them) by keeping their @ handle tag first. This leads us to…

5. Be Techie

No, this doesn’t really require programming experience. All you need is your basic understanding and knowledge of the internet.

Hashtags. We’re pretty sure you’re familiar with this. Know the trending hashtag and join the world in making it trend locally or worldwide. Try creating your own hashtags, too, out of controversial and top stories.

Know how to re-tweet and use the Direct Message features intelligently to your advantage. Comment from the heart. Reply to messages formally.

Complete your Twitter profile without necessarily adding sensitive information that may call for identity theft. A black profile page can be both unattractive and intriguing to many followers. Unless you are constantly boggling the minds of your followers with interesting tweets, you might want to introduce yourself first to the world before they become interested in you.

Be smart enough to tweet only during peak times. When most people are out there enjoying their vacation and you are busy in your virtual world, any of your posts and tweets may become unnoticed. Timing is key.

The number of ways on how to grow your Twitter presence is unlimited. The best begin by having something interesting to say.

Bio:

Joshua Uebergang is an ecommerce marketer at Digital Darts where he grows online stores through marketing services like social media, SEO, and conversion optimization. You can follow him on Twitter.