The Do's and Don'ts On Growing Your Twitter Following

Many businesses have discovered the power of Twitter due to its low cost, immediacy and viral nature. However, it's not easy to develop a following. The idea is not the number of people that follow you but how many are relevant. Having over 20,000 followers who do not respond to your Tweets is like playing a guitar to a herd of goats. Here are some things you need to do or avoid to create an engaging audience.

Start with a profile picture and make sure it's your photo

The picture has to be big enough and in high resolutions because many people will check your profile before they follow you. After your house is in order, find and follow relevant people. Search for these people from the many Twitter directories out there. Ensure that you find people who are in your area of interest or have followers you intend to target. You can leverage other people's twitter lists.

Tweet interesting stuff

This is easier said than done. To get interesting content try the Google Alerts by signing up for updates about concepts that interest audiences in your field. Share media by posting photos and videos so that you page gets click through and comments. Read what your audience is writing about and comment often.

Interesting subject within a perfectly composed tweet will grab attention and maximize exposure.

Engage your audience all the time

Even if a follower did not comment back on your Tweet does not mean you cannot engage them again. Get involved with chats by using hash-tags. By joining appropriate chat forums is a quick way to build a following. You may schedule your chats so that you can reach a wider audience across the world. Note when people respond to your tweets when scheduling your chats and use a time saving tools when scheduling. Follow people that follow your comments or Tweets.

Promote your Twitter account by using other sources and channels

Put a Twitter follow button or Twitter updates widget in your website or blogs,  and include your Twitter handle in emails. You can also promote in social media outposts. To keep people engaged, try and multitask by Tweeting when in the bus, during commercials when watching your favourite program or when watching a match.

3 Don'ts When Using Hash-tags

• Don't include too many hash-tags because people don't like that kind of self-promotion. Overcrowded tweet looks spammy and may deter readers.
• Don't be too specific because many follows will not see your Tweets according to the search engine. Instead used more general terms like blogging or social media for the engine to place your Tweet on higher priority (hash-tag the terms). 
• A bad habit is in filling in your article with hash-tags. This makes your Tweets unreadable and followers will get bored reading your stuff. The content of your article must be relevant to your niche and catchy enough to arouse a response. 

While you build and grow your followers, Twitter notices you and recommends other accounts to you. Guest blogging is another popular link building strategy that can increase followers. This is a process where your articles get published in high ranking sites and makes your presence known by potential Tweet followers.