Hi there and welcome to this here article on how to get more quality Twitter followers for your business. Now, I need to stress some things before we proceed:

  1. This is all opinion based on what we've done here at The Design Loft
  2. The goal is quality followers, not just any old followers
  3. This post assumes you're au fait with the Twitter basics, @replies, #tags etc…

So, here we go.

When we started using Twitter a few months ago I have to be honest, we didn't know the best way to use it. Was Twitter a chat tool? Was is just another fad (and actually, is it still?!)?, can we use it as a selling tool or what?

Well, it transpires that we just use it as a bit of a marketing tool.

So how do we get these quality followers? Here's a bit of a check list, and we'll go through each item….

  1. Make your page look good, make it succinct and do not fill it with spam
  2. Make sure you post quality Tweets yourself
  3. Start following relevant people
  4. Get involved in your Twitter community
  5. Make sure you have the right tools

1 – Make your page look good, make it succinct and do not fill it with spam

This is the first and easiest thing you can do. Create a background for your Twitter page that contains your logo, any relevant contact details and a bit about what you do. Keep your branding in place and do not, I repeat do not treat this as an advertising board. In our opinion people don't come to Twitter to buy, so don't try to sell.

2 – Make sure you post quality Tweets yourself

This the the hardest thing to get to grips with I think. It's easy to post Tweets about mundane, almost self indulgent topics; in fact if you look on our timeline you'll probably see a few there like that from us!

Avoid "We are having an awesome week and have just won 2 tenders!" and go for something more like "Busy productive week, had some tender news and encourage anyone unsure how to write a tender to get in touch"

Why?

People won't read what you have to say if all you say is about either how well you're doing or how many cups of tea you've had today. This is not the Facebook status box! Of course mention when something goes well, but do just that, mention it. Don't harp on about it.

Give people something of perceived value, as an example we try to post a few Tweets every week with some free SEO tips or email marketing tips and so on. This way you make your Tweets valluable and more people are likely to favourite them. If you come across a usefull tool on the web, Tweet it! People will start to come back to you. Remember to use the Twitter #tags to good effect too!

3 – Start following relevant people

We're a bunch of SEO geeks from Sheffield, and we Tweet to boot. Sure we all have personal Twitter accounts where we follow people we're interested in, but we never follow (for example) Jon Bon Jovi through The Design Loft.

He wouldn't be interested in what we have to say so he'd never follow us back!

Apply the same to your account; if you're a beauty therapist then follow other beauty therapists or industry related people, people or businesses you'd want to receive news and advice from. Because you're in a similar industry or the people you follow need / want to take an interest in what you have to say, the people you follow are more likely to follow you back.

Remember, Twitter is global. So why not do a quick search or monitor trends for things you're interested / involved in and get following?!

4 – Get involved in your Twitter community

Don't just Tweet and leave. Read what your followers are posting and get involved; re-Tweet things you find interesting or useful, @reply people and generally be a part of the Twitterverse.

5 – Make sure you have the right tools

This is really personal preference. Using the Twitter online interface can be a little cumbersome if you're an active Tweeter, so do a quick Google search and find yourself a quality Twitter desktop client.

We like TweetDeck.

Summary

Some of this stuff is really just common sense, some of it has been found by trial and error and some of it you may disagree with. This is all based on opinion only but we have ourselves built up a nice following of quality and interactive people and businesses on Twitter. If you're successful in achieving a quality following and postign quality Tweets then you will establish yourself as a voice to be heard, and more importantly, trusted in your chosen area.

The worst you can do is give it a go and see how it works for you!

What next:

Well you could always follow us on Twitter! Or why not keep an eye out for the next post which will go into a bit of detail on how Twitter can help your website SEO…

UPDATE: We've now added the follow up to this looking at how you can use your Tweets to help your SEO prospects. Check it out: http://www.blog.thedesignloft.co.uk/post/How-using-Twitter-can-help-to-boost-you-website-search-engine-rankings.aspx

 

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