Twitter is a great platform for building your brand. Since it is such an expansive network in terms of numbers of users and the material they tweet, it can be tempting to resort to nefarious means in order to grow your following on Twitter. However, it’s best to take the authentic approach. Here are some helpful tips and tools of the trade to help you on your way to Twitter stardom.
Don’t: Get Your Account Locked
This first “Don’t” is the segway to other “dont’s.” If Twitter locks your account, there is likely something (or several things) that you could have avoided doing to get locked out in the first place. The big picture consequence and general ways of avoiding the consequence are helpful in understanding the smaller steps you should take in between.
Correlation is not always causation, but sometimes it can hint at the underlying factors behind why something happens. While Twitter does not explicitly state its reasons for locking or limiting accounts on a specific case by case basis, a few common activities can result in a lockout. Twitter’s own explanation for why someone is locked out of their account is because the user infringed Twitter’s rules or terms of service, or because Twitter suspects the account has been compromised.
We hope this doesn’t happen to you, but if it does, you can take precautions to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Knowing how to avoid getting locked out and how to increase Twitter followers safely is key to your online presence.
After a user violates Twitter’s rules, they may be temporarily locked out of their account; but repeat violations could result in permanent suspension. If you’re striving to keep your account open for use, don’t make these following mistakes.
Don’t: Follow Recklessly
It can be difficult to get a new account going. We get it. However, Twitter is suspicious of accounts that immediately start following copious amounts of other accounts. This behavior could potentially earn you a locked account, especially if you haven’t verified your account to Twitter. Once your account is more established, you can follow as many as new 400 accounts a day.
Don’t: Immediately Unfollow Other Accounts
Yes, you can follow lots of users relatively quickly. However, you should avoid unfollowing accounts directly after following them. Not only is it suspicious, but it’s also ungenerous to the accounts that might’ve assumed you followed in good faith.
It’s also a good idea to follow accounts that share an interest with your account. You can have a symbiotic relationship with each of your followers this way, and they will be better at spreading your posts as well. If you were to follow hundreds of bots or fake accounts, that’s potentially hundreds of lost likes and retweets.
Don’t: Clog The Feed
We all know someone who overshares. It doesn’t really matter the content or the length of whatever it is you’re tweeting if it’s simply happening too often: Too much is too much. Try to limit yourself to one tweet an hour, and keep it under twenty times a day. Keep yourself on your followers’ feeds, but don’t tweet so often that you’re the only account they see in their feeds. Moderation is key.
Don’t: Spam
There are ways to promote yourself that don’t involve blatant advertising. After all, your very account is a form of promotion. This isn’t to say that you should never cue your followers in to what you have to offer, but be smart about it. Space these promotional tweets between other substantive tweets for a well-rounded feed.
There are, of course, even more ways you might be holding yourself back from getting more followers, but these are the major ones. While most of them are not inherently suspicious activities to Twitter, they are suspicious activities to the very followers you are hoping to impress and keep around.
Do: Play By The Rules
Firstly, you should verify your account as soon as you create it by adding and verifying your email and phone number. Next, you should add a real location and photo, so that not only Twitter can tell you’re the real deal, but your followers have a grasp of who you are as well.
After you’ve proven that you are who you say you are, you should make sure to uphold Twitter’s rules and terms of service. While this sounds like a no-brainer, it can be easy to fall out of compliance with Twitter’s terms when you’re navigating how to increase followers on Twitter.
Do: Increase Twitter Followers Through Quality Content
We touched on this a bit already, and we will elaborate on it a little more in the following sections. The gist of it? Put out the sort of content that you would like to see in your feed. If you enjoy tweeting it, that’s a good sign. It engages you, so others will probably react similarly. If it feels like a chore, it probably won’t read well to your audience. You can use your own judgment in this way to determine whether you think a tweet will be effective.
Caution against excessive or overly controversial tweets to a certain degree. Some lighthearted debate can keep things exciting or interesting, but you don’t want to delve into territory where you could lose followers. If you are worried that you might be crossing a line, you should run your tweet past another set of eyes.
Do: Run Polls
This is where you could let things get a little controversial. You likely have an opinionated audience, and there is no easier, anonymous way for your followers to express themselves than through answering a poll. It’s nearly impossible to scroll past a poll when it is thoughtful or new, and it’s such a low commitment to answer. By running polls, you can also get an idea of what your followers value.
Do: Ask Questions
Similarly, you should tweet questions. Many people like to talk about themselves, so asking for their take on something prompts a similar sense of fellowship. They feel as though they are adding value to your feed by answering–and they are! Their interaction with your content can serve to put your tweets in front of more users.
Supposing you put the work into following real accounts, people will probably go the extra mile to comment on your tweet and possibly even retweet your question. Questions are a great way to spread your influence by literally asking something of your followers.
Do: Collaborate
You probably follow some high quality accounts! Give them a retweet or hashtag when they catch your attention in a good way. This enriches your own content by bringing in some variety, and it is one more way to let your followers know that you pay attention to them too.
When your followers notice you doing this, they might be compelled to return the favor. The more effort you put into your account and your followers, the more they will be willing to do for you, especially when they see the mutual benefits of these sorts of collaborations.
Do: You
There are certainly even more ways to get more followers on Twitter, and they all share the simple standard of authenticity. The more transparent you are on Twitter, the more followers will trust you. Be clear about who you are and what you are aiming to represent on the platform, and you’ll be a positive influence and have positive interactions. Do you.
Not all of your tactics have to be (nor should be) time-consuming. After all, you are limited by 280 characters. Even then, Twitter users generally only take up 12% of their allotted characters per tweet, according to Techcrunch. So, while you’ll want to ensure you are producing lots of high-quality content, you shouldn’t stress too much over each individual tweet. Keep the big picture and the overarching feeling you want your brand to evoke in mind.
Again, not every tactic you use to gain followers has to be for the long run. There are also plenty of things you can do to increase your following now. Many of those methods involve resources already at your fingertips. For example, you can follow friends and family members who are practically guaranteed to follow back. You can also use your other existing social media sites to prop up and promote your presence on Twitter.
Twitter’s guidelines serve to help its users grow organically. Although some might find the rules restrictive, they ultimately protect those who are trying to build a genuine, lasting following. As long as you avoid the kinds of activities on Twitter that are likely to limit or lock your account, you should enjoy an uninterrupted growth in followers.
It might seem like a bigger time investment to commit to finding real profiles to follow, but it pays off in the long run. Stick with it, and you’ll be glad that you pursued the honest route to build your Twitter account. By the time you factor in the possible setbacks of a locked account and fake followers, you will come out ahead anyway.
See related post: 7 Ways How Twitter Marketing Will Boost Your Social Signals
[Main photo by Yvette de Wit on Unsplash; Satellite by mmisof, Pixabay]
Zack Chambers is an expert on Twitter Marketing. Zack is a digital marketer with a focus on Twitter optimization and SEO, and he is always happy to help you grow your Twitter following. He enjoys helping his clients fulfill their dreams through whatever marketing approach can best assist them in their particular situation. In his free time he likes weight lifting and reading just about any book he can get his hands on.