How to Get Followers on Twitter
How to Find People to Follow & Get Followers Too!
Building a network on Twitter starts by finding people to follow. While you want to build a list of followers that is comprised of people in your target audience, you should also include a variety of other people as well.
Twitter is an amazing place to connect with people for new ideas, joint ventures and partnerships you may not find in your other business activities. By following people in your own industry, you can find inspiring ideas, opportunities to help others and the camaraderie of connecting with people who understand the ins and outs of what you do. Every field has specific highlights and lowlights that only others in that same field can relate to and understand. When you get to know people who struggle with the same issues you have, you have the opportunity to encourage each other and offer suggestions for working through the tough stuff. Many people in business online work in a solo enterprise, which can become extremely isolating and stifling. Twitter can be an excellent remedy for this affliction – which can lead to greater productivity and success.
There are several ways you can find people to follow on Twitter. Starting from your home page, you can look to your right and find the link that says “Everyone”. This is called the public timeline and it will show you tweets from absolutely everyone on Twitter. Read through these until you find one that interests you. Then simply click on the username or profile picture to go to that person’s home page. Read through some of their tweets, go to their website, and read their bio – whatever you need to do to get a sense of who they are. If you like what you see, click the follow link under their picture and voila, you are following someone!
Another way to find followers is to use the “Find People” link. This is at the top of your homepage, in the navigational links. There are four different options in the Find People section.
• Find on Twitter: Here you can search for people by their user name or their real name. This is great for searching out specific Twitter users.
• Find on Other Networks: This feature lets you import names from your Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail or MSN accounts. You do need to enter your email password, but it isn’t stored and you won’t be spammed by Twitter.
• Invite by Email: You can enter email addresses here and send them a pre-written message inviting them to Twitter.
• Suggested Users: This little feature will offer you some possible users to follow. Many of these names are celebrities on Twitter – it may not do a whole lot for your business networking goals, but then again, you never know. You might just enjoy what they have to say!
On the bottom of your home page is the “Search” function. You can use Twitter Search to look for a username, a topic or a keyword. Type in your search word and you will instantly get a page of results containing that word. This is a great way to find followers in your niche. Again, when you see a tweet that resonates with you, go to that person’s homepage and look around a bit. If you like what you see, add them to your following list.
Once you are following a few people, you can check out their followers! Go to their home page and check out their followers. On the right side of their page, you see a link that says Following, with a block of photos underneath it. Click on the link or on a photo to go to the profile page of that Twitter user.
Finally, you can get followers by adding those who follow you. As you start tweeting and interacting with people, you will start gaining followers of your own. Many people follow everyone who follows them. Other people are more selective and only choose to follow back those who are in their niche. The choice is yours, but don’t limit yourself too much. You may miss out on some great new friends, colleagues and customers.
