47 Twitter Power Users’ Secrets To Getting Many Followers

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How do Twitter power users get thousands of people following them?

47 Twitter Power Users’ Secrets To Getting Many FollowersPhoto Credit:  Sue Waters

I asked a long list of popular experts for the secrets of their Twitter success.

Here are their tips and insight to gaining so many followers. There are also many more ideas in the comments below.

Enjoy!

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Lindsay Olson Lindsay Olson, @PRjobs: Share information that is relevant and will interest your target audience. A good mix is 80% on topic / 20% personal.
Robert Scoble Robert Scoble, @Scobleizer: Make every tweet magic!
Dan Schawbel Dan Schawbel, @danschawbel: Poll your audience. I do “Twitter Poll: How much do you love Jacob Share’s blog posts on Personal Branding Blog?” and get answers from many people, which builds my own Twitter readership even more.
Alex Shalman Alex Shalman, @AlexShalman: It’s a numbers game. Follow many people you find interesting, and chances are that many of them will follow you back.
Tom Raftery Tom Raftery, @TomRaftery: #1 tip? Tweet interesting stuff! #2 tip converse
Heather Huhman Heather Huhman, @heatherhuhman: Be relevant to your followers and give, give, give. I’ve grown from less than 200 followers to nearly 1,200 in the last month doing this.
Laurie Ruettimann Laurie Ruettimann, @lruettimann: I think people follow me because of my blog. Fresh content on the blog, fresh contact on Twitter, but the two are connected.
Michelle Lentz Michelle Lentz, @writetechnology:  

  • Don’t be afraid to join in the conversation.
  • You only get out of Twitter what you put into it. No one will follow you if they don’t know you’re there, so chime into conversations using the @reply feature. Once people know you’re there, and that you are insightful or funny or worth following in some way, the followers will come.
  • I see so many people try Twitter, follow people, and then sit back and wait. Those are the folks who “quit” Twitter and don’t get it. Without participating, there is no conversation. And the tool, well, it just facilitates – amplifies – the conversation if you use it correctly.
Peter Shankman Peter Shankman, @skydiver: Relevance, brevity, and knowing when NOT to tweet.
Kevin Grandia Kevin Grandia, @kgrandia: My best tip would be to regularly re-tweet articles, blog posts and other links that people send you that you find to be genuinely interesting. It’s good karma that will come back to you as you build a reputation as someone who is willing to pass on information from one twitter network to another. This type of behavior also has a multiplier effect in that if a link is re-tweeted enough times it is potentially exposed to thousands of people across various networks on Twitter, which is also very appreciated. A re-tweet reputation is a long term strategy for building a nice steady stream of followers over time. And, of course, a group of followers more inclined to re-tweet your links.
Dillon Burroughs Dillon Burroughs, @dillonburroughs: Join SocialToo.com. It has over 6000 people on it. Many will auto-follow you back. I was able to add over a thousand people with this method. Of course, I follow each person back too so we help each other out.
Michael Gartenberg Michael Gartenberg, @gartenberg:  

  1. Despite Twitter’s “what are you doing?” question, most people aren’t that interested in the mundane.
  2. Share information. Post links to what you’re reading or things you’ve written. Add some commentary and insight as to what’s being said. Ask good questions and talk with those who answer you.
  3. Engage others in dialogue. Send @messages to other users who may not be following you yet. Their replies will be seen by their followers who might notice you as well.
  4. Who you follow is still more important than the number of people following you.
Rick Abbott Rick Abbott, @TheDigitalLife: “Massively engaging every possible user, fresh fun content that is retweetable, lots of humor!”
Dave Saunders Dave Saunders, @madmain: Be yourself and be funny. People like people who make them laugh, so I will see a trending comment and then make a snarky remark, then watch as it gets re-posted and people want to connect. Last night, I heard about the Christian Bale tape, heard it and saw that everyone on Twitter was talking about it. I posted this and wham, 50 followers in 20 minutes. A few days after posting Top 10 Really, really bad Realtor Headshots, I increased follower count by over 500.
Ben Yoskovitz Ben Yoskovitz, @byosko: Have a strong blog. Focus on a niche. Follow smart people. Follow A-listers. Tweet valuable resources.
Kirsten Wright Kirsten Wright, @kirstenwright: Be honest and compelling. The more that you are yourself and participate in the twittersphere, the more people will want to talk with you. Get involved with #followfriday, attend local tweetups, find ways to combine twitter with all your social media and your followers will grow.
Charles J. Orlando Charles J. Orlando, @charlesjorlando:  

  1. Don’t go for quantity… know who follows you (check them out before you follow them back… and respond AFTER you’ve seen their tweets and know something about them)
  2. DO NOT USE auto-followers/auto-replies (This is SOCIAL NETWORKING, you know?)
  3. Contribute. Don’t use ONLY as a mechanism to publicize your services/blog posts… and try to stay away from tweets like “Just got up… brushing my teeth now”, because no one really cares about that. Engage people about you, yes… but also about the world around us.
Meryl K. Evans Meryl K. Evans, @merylkevans: Interact with a diversity of twitterers by providing witty, honest and informative tweets and linking to interesting content that’s not your own. Follow the right people, not just anyone who breathes on twitter. Don’t make it about building up followees. It means genuinely taking advantage of twitter. Participate in twitter chats like #journchat.
Mia Chambers Mia Chambers, @MiaChambers:  

  1. Be real; don’t JUST talk shop. Dare to risk saying what you feel.
  2. Engage others by responding to their Tweets. Make it about other people, not just about you.
  3. Provide links that you know your followers will value. Your tweets will be re-tweeted and you’ll pick up followers virally (Sounds nasty!).
Ari Herzog Ari Herzog, @ariherzog: provide value. If you’re not providing value, then why would someone follow you? You can see a recent blog post of mine referencing an academic study on this.
Daniel Flahiff Daniel Flahiff, @bigfigdesign:  

  1. Pimp your Profile – post an ‘I’m nice’ picture, and a blurb that’s friendly and mentions ‘sharing’
  2. Post things you can ‘share’
  3. Go to TwitterGrader and follow the leaders in your industry.
  4. Don’t forget to ReTweet often
Drew Gneiser Drew Gneiser, @axiompr: Good content paired with patience.
Cheryl Harrison Cheryl Harrison, @cherylharrison:  

  1. Don’t follow more than 300 people than follow you at any given point. People take the followers/following ratio very seriously on Twitter – no one wants to follow someone who only looks like they are trying to attract a ton of followers.
  2. Find 5-10 new people a day to follow based on similar interests or location. Use Twellow to find these people. Also, register your Twitter account on Twellow to select 13 categories that you fit into so people can find you.
  3. Join some Twitter groups that fit your interests so that people with similar interests can easily find you through these groups.
Marc A. Pitman Marc A. Pitman, @marcapitman: Be interesting. The more interesting and informative your tweets are, the more likely they are to get retweeted to other people’s followers.
Holly Homer Holly Homer, @Texasholly:  

  1. Find an online group that you would like to be a part of that also has a twitter group. For me that started with Twittermoms and branched out into #gno. I was one of the first that regularly “attended” #gno and got a lot of solid follows from that group. They run a twitter link list prior to each Tuesday evening event @ http://mommygossip-gno.blogspot.com/.
  2. Tweet @ others on a regular basis. These tweets show up to that person’s followers and often those followers will be interested in what you have to say.
  3. Regularly tweeting things that are funny and non-controversial.
  4. Follow others.
  5. Once you have some followers, getting listed on an online special interest list will help get you to the next level. That happened for me when I was listed in the top 50 on TCOT.
Melissa Cassera Melissa Cassera, @casseracomm: Work on branding your Twitter page – a page with personality lets followers make a stronger connection to you, almost as if they are meeting you in person.
Jon Berry Jon Berry, @jonberry:  

  1. Be honest and transparent (i.e. be yourself 100%, DO NOT try to impress)
  2. Link out to additional information about what you are tweeting about, making your tweets more valuable
  3. Link using a trackable URL shortening service (I use http://tr.im which allows me to track click-thru’s)
  4. Re-tweet good and useful information and always give credit to @YourSource
  5. Follow like-minded people with common interests (which will get you re-tweeted)
  6. Allow your tweets to update your status on various social networks (MySpace, Facebook, etc.) for this I use http://ping.fm
Matthew Ebel Matthew Ebel, @matthewebel: What I’ve been doing to gain not just followers but fans and email signups is simple: reply to people talking about your subjects. My music sounds like Ben Folds, Elton John, and Billy Joel. So I’ve set up three Twitter Searches in Tweetdeck for those specific names. Whenever someone tweets about Ben Folds (and I’ve got something worth responding with), I reply to them. More often than not they’ll follow me back and maybe, just maybe, we’ll have a meaningful conversation too!
Tiffany L Berryman Tiffany L Berryman, @tiffy643: Bottom line is that to be actively followed, you must actively participate. The sharing of information sparks conversations but unless you are contributing to those conversations- no one will pay attention.
Julie Gallaher Julie Gallaher, @juliemarg: Actively look for ways to connect with your current followers. Reply & Retweet their tweets, comment on & Stumble their blog posts. etc. The stronger your connection to your current followers, the more likely they are to recommend you to others.
Lani Rosales Lani Rosales, @LaniAR:  

  1. Be a connector and always look for ways to be of value to your network. Help people find jobs, find good restaurants, good copy writers, good stylists and as you become a resource, people look to you and tell others to look to you as well.
  2. Pretend you’re walking around with a cocktail in your hand. Sure, you have a business card in your pocket, but let’s talk about your golf game and your favorite shoes first.
  3. Introduce new friends to old friends and watch your network grow exponentially.
  4. Be timely. There is nothing worse than a week between direct messages and there is nothing more sinful than not following someone in return in a timely manner. Twitter is the fastest moving network online and if you can’t operate quickly, you could offend more than you may reach.
  5. Use your Twitter handle on your business cards and email signature (like mine below), in blog footers and in print media. For other twits, they’ll instantly connect and for those who don’t know about Twitter, it’s a great conversation starter!
Derrick Hayes Derrick Hayes, @Encouragement4u: I’m still learning how to Twitter. The first thing I did was to just start following people. After that I learned to search for keywords and find people in my industry. What has allowed to be unique on Twitter is where I offer a free Derricknym. Anyone who Twitters me their first name will receive a positive message in return.
Lisa Martin Lisa Martin, @blm03: Be authentic. Don’t try to hard. I have found that as long as you treat twitter as a conversation, it is not hard to get followers. Join in conversations, don’t just have all of your updates be links to your blog or website.
Julie Maloney Julie Maloney, @Momspective: The key to getting a lot of Twitter followers is moderation. I don’t auto-follow people, but I do follow everyone who follows me and I send them a quick Direct Message. I typically say, “Thanks for following me, I’ll follow you back!” and I always reply to any direct messages people send unless it’s obvious SPAM.Don’t try to sell anything to anyone and if you’re promoting something, don’t overdo it. No one wants to log on to their page and see 15 ‘Tweets’ in a row by the same guy. If I see multiple tweets, I’ll stop following that person.You’ll also want to watch out for people who follow you only to have you follow them back and then they unfollow you. There are people who just want to be followed but not return the favor, so signing up with a social mediating site like Socialtoo.com is handy for sending you updates on your Follow/unfollow status.
Lyn Mettler Lyn Mettler, @WebPRGirl: Participate in a Twitter party! You’ll make lots of new friends, get lots of new followers and have fun to boot!
Lisa Dilg Lisa Dilg, @pprlisa: Find someone you respect in whatever market you are in/interests you have, someone you think is already “doing it right” and then look at who is following them. Check out some of these followers, follow those you find relevant (not hundreds at a time!) and then engage them in the public timeline – NOT through DM. Either comment on something they’ve recently said, or something you’ve seen interesting about them in their bio or on a site they link to from their page. Also effective is to re-tweet something interesting they’ve said or answer a question they have asked. This is time consuming, but this is a more effective way to not only get follow backs, but to start meaningful dialogue with people who could become valuable to your work/life. In addition, using sites like Twitter Grader and Twellow can help you find people to follow in your area, or in your market or an area of interest that you have. Then follow the same advice as above.
Allison Nazarian Allison Nazarian, @AllisonNazarian: It’s not enough to say you are “real.” Be open about your faults, mistakes, accidental discoveries and what I like to call ‘DUH!’ moments. I have found that when we are really real, flaws and all, then the response and ultimately the connection you make with others is amazing.
Greg Cangialosi Greg Cangialosi, @gregcangialosi: Be active and engaging – don’t be shy! Talk to others and share content worth sharing.
Aruni Gunasegaram Aruni Gunasegaram, @aruni:  

  1. Get your panel idea selected for SXSWi. My panel is called “Building A Web Business After Hours.”
  2. Put out a ‘if X number of people follow me by Y date/time, I will donate to XYZ or do something crazy” challenge.
  3. Connect with people offline, speak at events and mention your twitter name.
Nate Long Nate Long, @theprguy: What goes around comes around. Help others before asking for help. Want to promote yourself on Twitter? Promote others. Think about how you can help both your followers and non-followers and do it! Remember, people hang out with people who make them feel good.
Monica Hamburg Monica Hamburg, @monicahamburg: List yourself for your location or niche in Twitter Packs. Also find and follow people listed in the same city as you. (Find via Twitter Packs or Twitter Local etc.) It’s always fun to follow interesting people who live in the same town.
Rachel Levy Rachel Levy, @bostonmarketer: Compliment people with retweets, praise and thanks.
Wendy Limauge Wendy Limauge, @Sweetiesswag: Give some of value away for free. This works to both boost Twitter followings but also blog readers. If you help people in some way they will follow you because they want to see what else you will offer in the future. I help people with anything I have knowledge in like blog design, SEO, web design, and I also point them to articles on my blogs that might help them. Don’t always send them to your own blog but also give them links to help directly on the Web through other blogs and websites. When people see that you genuinely want to help them and want nothing in return you end up with a not only a lot of followers but a loyal following as well.
Dave Saunders Dave Saunders, @davesaunders: Don’t be a billboard: No one is joining social media to read your marketing messages. They’re there to connect with other real people. Engage other people and bring value to the party by sharing your interests, tips, and insight. As you do, people will follow and connect to you.
Steve Kayser Steve Kayser, @stevekayser: Provide good content – ideas, useful information – with links. That will attract people to you. The coin of the realm is your content. A more important question might be “who should you follow and why?” And “who do you want following you?”
Sarah Lewitinn Sarah Lewitinn, @ultragrrrl: I found that initially, the best way to gain followers on Twitter was to follow people who were following other relevant twitterers. Then, and I think the most important thing I did to maintain those followers was to tweet about things people would be interested in — cool new songs, cool concerts, cool parties — as well as super personal things going on in my life.
Connie Bensen Connie Bensen, @cbensen: monitor your topic or niche on Twitter & Retweet items that have links or helpful information. (people will appreciate your increasing the mindshare & your followers will grow. Those that are retweeted will be pleased & follow you too)

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This Post Has 147 Comments

  2. E_Nolan_Brown (E. Nolan Brown) December 31, 1969 Reply

    A bit dated but a diverse list of tips from everyday users on building ur Twitter following http://tinyurl.com/d7pte2

  3. John S. Rhodes March 18, 2009 Reply

    Stick to a theme. Don’t be afraid to post the same information — and the same URLs — several times. Lot’s of people need to be reminded. Still others might not see what you wrote the first time.

    Follow me @ http://twitter.com/webword

    ~ John

  4. Anna Sabino March 18, 2009 Reply

    don’t tweet what you eat (unless it’s something special about it) or that you’re folding laundry, provide value to your readers with insightful info including links, spice it up with some links to funny stuff

  5. David Weedmark March 18, 2009 Reply

    Concentrate on who you follow, not how many followers you have.

    Read and learn from others before trying to promote yourself or grow a following.

    Pay compliments when they are deserved by re-tweeting (RT) and directly telling people what you think.

    Ask relevant questions, and answer questions others have asked.

    Make only 1 in 10 of your tweets about you, your website or your business.

    And your network will grow.

  6. mrthanki March 18, 2009 Reply

    keep it real. Be good! Make every tweet count! Join the conversation and the conversations will follow you. If that made sense!? .)

  7. Alan Underkofler March 19, 2009 Reply

    Remember Twitter is just like any live party or networking group!

    No one likes a drunk person standing on a chair yelling at the top of his lungs at a party! (unless everyone is drunk!)

    No one likes people that just sell to you at a networking event!

    Join the conversation, engage, enjoy!

    @alanunderkofler

  8. Leonid S. Knyshov March 19, 2009 Reply

    I would add refrain from using TwitterFeed.

    It lumps all your new updates into one block. I just scroll right past them. 🙂

    Get listed on http://www.wefollow.com in your niche. While many are too large to be useful, the smaller niches are quite neat.

    Full disclosure – don’t have 1000 followers, but do have interesting conversations with the few that I do. 🙂

  9. Greg Matthews March 19, 2009 Reply

    everyday follow the new users being followed by @socialtoo since @socialtoo autofollows all new users who register for their autofollow service. In other words, follow who they follow, since the people they follow autofollow. It works!

  10. Mike Figliuolo March 19, 2009 Reply

    Be you. Period. When I started using twitter I thought “I’ll be sure to only post really great article links, etc. etc. etc.” After my 6 followers fell asleep due to boredom, I decided to be me. Sure sometimes I talk leadership. Others social media. Other times I’m blipping heavy metal via Blip.fm. Others about how the little kid on the plane next to me sounds just like a cat in a blender. Bottom line – I’m me. It makes tweeting easy. And for some bizarre reason, a bunch of people find me remotely entertaining. I think I give all my followers something they’re interested in at least a few times a week. I’m eclectic. My followers are eclectic. It works.

  11. Anthony Casas March 19, 2009 Reply

    To get friends you need to be a friend. Friends help each, share stories and information, and enjoy the experience. In that regard, twitter is no different than life!

  12. Jagjit Johal March 19, 2009 Reply

    bottom line, you got to connect with people on different levels. Just advertising your business sometimes works for short term but, for long term results, be helpful and develop good friends.
    As someone said before, don’t send too many updates in a single block..you will get unfollowed.

  13. DPBKMB March 19, 2009 Reply

    Try Re Tweeting any cool, interesting or useful information, even the mundane. A dog drooled on this guys laptop, I retweeted it and it got an immediate RT of its own.

    Use the slice of life, what some call mundane, information, if it’s interesting or amusing to you, it will be interesting to someone else. Only those who have too many followers to keep track of or those who’s interests are strictly business might object.

    I also recommend finding followers via Wefollow. There are many 1,000’s of people there in various catagories and you can easily see their bios.
    Find a dozen or so that interest you and see how many follow back. Give then 2 or 3 days, if they don’t follow back delete them, unless you really like their tweets. (If they don’t follow back it will only be a one way conversation.) Do this every day and you’ll learn a lot, and accumulate followers. You can also put yourself in three of the catagories. Pick people that interest you and also those in catagories that interest you.

    OR, get the automatic follow /unfollow software the pro’s use. I don’t recommend this, unless you’re in it strictly for the numbers.

  14. Jay Thompson March 19, 2009 Reply

    It’s not about the number of followers, it’s about engaging with your followers. Join in the conversations, don’t be afraid to get personal or share your emotions. And for the love of God, don’t get salesy or too into yourself.

    @PhxREguy

  16. Andrew March 19, 2009 Reply

    I am fairly new on Twitter but, I have noticed that people are not personal. I see a lot of Posts but, I never get any personal DMs. That tells me most are tooting their own horn. I have to admit, I have been doing it and it’s not working so, I intend to get more personal with my followers and yes, If those I follow don’t follow me, I will delete them. I will try finding the right people to follow and see how it goes.

  17. Andrew March 19, 2009 Reply

    I want to thank all of you for your comments. I’ve read most of them. I believe they will be helpful in my tweets and followings. At least I know more about who to follow and using advice on getting to know your followers on a more personal level. Thanks

  18. Jon March 19, 2009 Reply

    Be curious, passionate and relevant.

  19. Stuart Hannig March 19, 2009 Reply

    My advice – don’t follow Joel Comm – the guy’s the WORST twitter user. He overly promotes his horrible services (tinyurl rip off) and he tweets the most inane and boring stupid things like “I think I’m hungry”

    The guy’s a wannabe trump…”Twitter was a huggge success”

  20. Maria Schneider March 19, 2009 Reply

    I think the best way to start out on Twitter is to search out a great network of people to follow in your niche. Watch the conversations flow and soon you’ll find your place in the dialogue.

    Also, keep a high signal-to-noise ratio with links to credible blogs and news sites that are important to your niche. Don’t use Twitter to relentlessly promote your own blog, products or services.

  21. Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach March 19, 2009 Reply

    My number 1 tip – Be a person and not a “handle”. ie, show aspects of yourself to which others can relate (I do that via my undying adoration of coffee, raising kids, wrangling mooses, etc.). Add to that a desire to share without expectations of any returns…and that will get you off to a great start.

  22. Tracey Tee March 19, 2009 Reply

    I started Twittering for my company Delight.com out of our continued efforts to be as transparent and communicative as possible. Advice for Twitter? Be yourself, be honest, be interesting and give readers a reason to read you. In my case, relevant information that makes shopping on Delight.com easier and more fun, along with interesting world-view information that I think our readers would enjoy.
    @Delight_com

  23. Kathy O'Reilly March 19, 2009 Reply

    Be a contributor to the community and Tweet about useful info, entertaining info or breaking news. I’m a huge fan of RTweeting and totally appreciate when peeps RTweet my Tweets. I’m not a big fan of auto follows and auto DMs – too impersonal. Finally, if you’re not involved in #followfriday, then get involved. Each Friday, peeps recommend other peeps to follow. For example, tomorrow I will recommend @jacobshare on #followfriday for his gr8 info-sharing.
    Thanks for a great post!
    @kathyoreilly

  24. akaMonty March 19, 2009 Reply

    Sorry, but a great number of those “suggestions” are more what NOT to do on twitter.

    The only people who like some of that stuff are other people EXACTLY LIKE YOU, and isn’t the point to reach the REST of us regular folks? Social media advice pertains only to other social media people, not those of us OUTSIDE that sphere.
    AND PS those of us OUTSIDE are the ones who will be likely to use your services, so why just play to other people in your game?

    Nobody likes nothing but retweets.
    Nobody likes nothing but LINKS, especially the self-promotion.
    The hashtags! OH DEAR LORD, THE HASHTAGS.

    The best thing to do is have fun with it, be yourself (unless you’re a complete jackass) and always, always reply to people who @ you.

  25. Nate Long March 19, 2009 Reply

    These are some great tips and comments! Thanks for including mine in this list. Amen to knowing when NOT to tweet. I look forward to seeing all of you Twitter!

  26. Mick Russom March 19, 2009 Reply

    Make sure every tweet appeals to the throngs of fat sexless losers who have no life of their own that want to live vicariously through others on Twatter.

  27. Brad Thompson March 19, 2009 Reply

    Just as Google has capitalized from the simple concept of “relevancy” you should too by offering content people are interested in.

    If you are just starting off, search and follow people based on keywords that define your interests.

    The first thing I would suggest would be to make yourself a professional background picture with your picture, what you do, and a few of your interests. This way people can see right away who you are, and what you are doing on Twitter.

    I’d highly suggest you use the following tools:

    http://www.tweetdeck.com/beta/ – Desktop app with great tools to search, monitor and find people to follow.

    http://www.tweetlater.com/ – To setup auto-following on people that follow you. You can make it automatic or manual where you approve new people to follow that follow you.

    http://www.twellow.com/ – Get listed in your respected categories. Also add people from your categories.

    http://wefollow.com/ – Get listed here as well.

    http://twittercounter.com/ – To monitor your status.

    A lot of people tout follower:following ratios as being really important, but I disagree. It’s all circumstantial on the purpose of your Twitter account. The people I found and follow are based on keywords and my interests. I have a very high quality group of people I track. If they follow me or not is not a real concern. The information they tweet is of high quality and interest to me.

    So in reality, it’s a time game. The longer you are on Twitter, the more people will follow you. If you get 10 a day, that’s 3,650 people / year. Don’t be a rush to obtain a superficial number.

    Go for quality, not quantity and you will do just fine.

    Follow me: http://www.twitter.com/DSCEO

  28. Alex March 19, 2009 Reply

    Just like everything else on the internet, getting more followers is all about links.

    First choose your niche and then include links to interesting material in your tweets

  29. Russell Rockefeller March 19, 2009 Reply

    Respond to articles about Twitter that are on the front page of Digg.com with your Twitter handle 🙂
    FYI My handle is Extravagant.

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  31. Tom Clifford March 19, 2009 Reply

    Great info, but no disrespect. Why do you have “Power users” listed here who is following zero people?? Not much power in zero. You have Dan, Rick and Scoble, but wheres mashable, rose or Guy? The computer lady with following no one just kills me.
    @tommytrc

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  34. Fake Magnum PI March 19, 2009 Reply

    Be funny, interesting, and engaging. Respond to people and follow them back. Being a hot chick seems to help too, but not as much as having a wicked awesome mustache!

  35. Adrian March 20, 2009 Reply

    Go check out:

    http://twitya.com/#username

    You can see your friends’ last tweets all in a list and reply. You can also see who’s been replying to you who you’re not following.

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  38. T@SendChocolate March 20, 2009 Reply

    The biggest thing about getting followers: promote others. Not just mindless retweets, but if you see something that really works, give them credit for it. Help others, and they will help you. Be yourself, don’t try to be something you are not. There is value in your expertise, whatever it might be. Join in the conversation, throw your .02 in…and get involved. Use summize or Tweetdeck to keep track of those who @ you, and always respond.

  40. Twitter Power System March 20, 2009 Reply

    Follow relevant people, provide your Twitter community with massive value, make every tweet count, ask questions, answer questions, provide your opinion and never ever be dull.

  41. Neil Duckett March 20, 2009 Reply

    Write about your personal life and don`t use EVERY tweet to flog some affiliate link or make money online scam.

    Also follow more people … use it more as outbound statements and be concerned with the replies not try and read peoples timeline.

    @Neil Duckett

  42. Erik March 20, 2009 Reply

    Great info, but no disrespect. Why do you have “Power users” listed here who is following zero people?? Not much power in zero. You have Dan, Rick and Scoble, but wheres mashable, rose or Guy? The computer lady with following no one just kills me..

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  46. Twitter_Tips March 20, 2009 Reply

    Set a time daily, weekly, whatever and *listen* to what your followers are saying. Use tools to search their updates or just read a lot of updates. Engage with the ones you can help the most.

  47. edwardboches March 21, 2009 Reply

    One way is to tweet about twitter, social media, trends, and how to use it to use it (twitter) to help individuals become brands and brands become individuals. Lots of folks looking not just to use twitter, but to use it to build their personal equity or to help clients build theirs. Oh, and always be helpful to others.

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  59. mark harrison March 30, 2009 Reply

    “tweet interesting stuff…” Wow, what a devastating insight, give me a break people, worst post I’ve seen in a long, long time

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  61. Ovi FARCAS March 31, 2009 Reply

    Hello, nice tips. This article really worth reading and reflecting on. I am not saying twitter will bring you mental order but will help you stand out.

    I am a professional design consultant and creative designer.

    I am on twitter 2: http://twitter.com/JAZIO

  63. Lynne Lee April 1, 2009 Reply

    ask questions
    respond to questions
    respond to replies
    retweet interesting or inspiring stuff
    tweet things worth retweeting
    tweet useful tips

    Actively engage in conversation, show interest in what people are saying, enncourage, inform and inspire.

    http://www.twitter.com/lynnelee

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  69. faithgoddess7 April 8, 2009 Reply

    I believe being authentic in your tweets attracts more follows. I don’t take my followers for granted.
    Therefore, I’m honored to connect with people all over the world by spreading my messages of Love, Faith, and Peace….:)

  70. @CoachDeb April 8, 2009 Reply

    BE Entertaining
    BE Engaging
    BE Emotional – or share Emotion Charged Tweets

    That’s a quick & EASY way 2 Remember how 2 attract REAL Followers & Fans – using the 3 E Formula

  71. Mike Seidle April 8, 2009 Reply

    1. Talk to people. Be friendly.
    2. Don’t be negative.
    3. Have fun. People follow fun.

  72. joe matthew April 9, 2009 Reply

    One or two of the statements have real merit and account for 90% of the growth, while the rest are nice to do for growth matters.

    Too bad didn’t seek research data from people with over 5K followers to collect secrets!

  73. Jonathan Richman April 15, 2009 Reply

    -Become a source on a very specific niche that people are searching for. Reply to any tweets where you can add value in that niche.

    -Give your true opinion. No one wants to hear you agreeing with everything.

    -Share quality, NEW content. Before you post a link, see if 10,000 other people already posted it.

  75. Alexandra Samuel April 24, 2009 Reply

    Don’t be afraid of diluting your followers with multiple accounts. As with blogging, it’s better to have two or more discrete voices, that speak to specific audiences, than one giant feed that speaks to — or annoys — everybody. I’m @awsamuel personally but now use @socialsignal for info and tips on social media.
    Twitter contests are a great way of building follows and mentions, but they need to encourage constructive conversation or it gets spammy fast. Running one twitter contest helped us triple our followers within a week of seriously launching our company twitter feed. We’ve written up some tips on how to run a Twitter contest.
    Make it easy!! Like any communications tool, it only works if you actually use it. Figure out what kind of twittering fits into your workflow; it might be linking (great options for delicious integration), retweeting, or just sharing useful quotations. You’ll develop the clearest niche and strongest following with an approach that is consistent and well-maintained.

  76. Mike Morrison May 16, 2009 Reply

    The key for me in building lists are as follows:
    Plan your niche
    Tweet a piece of valuable information daily
    Build discussion with others
    60% business 20% personal 20% RT others
    Monitor people tweeting your keywords and follow them
    DON’T have a DM with a link to a blog or “how to improve your twitter followers”
    DON’T just promote your products or blogs
    DON’T use txt spk

    Have fun and be honest to yourself and your readers

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  78. Technogati June 5, 2009 Reply

    Twitter is the way to make friends.
    Follow them who follow you.Follow according to your Topic.
    Too much mean the way to Spam.

  79. 4northcarolina June 10, 2009 Reply

    Provide benefit & value: Tweets should make a user smile or richer, thought or money. They should want to retweet it! Think contest, rewards, or give great links that help.

    Give guidance & engage: See what your users chat about, join in, & offer help where applicable. Don’t ignore replies, be too opinionated, watch etiquette that relates to your brand or message. And tweet often: 3-5 per day is great, so make sure you tweet at least 5 per week, i said “at least!”

    Follow Friday! If your doing a good job, then friday’s it gets better. You can list lots of great tweeps and most will list you to their followers as well. I use #FFVIP because the guys @ffvip help out and relist you at http://bit.ly/ffvip

    Target Market! Try to spread your message in the area you wish to dominate or have a presence at. If your a auto salesman, find car lovers & others around your region who would possibly be interested. If your a superstar, find those alike & show what makes you a star more and more each tweet.

  80. Staff July 1, 2009 Reply

    We recently crossed over our 1,000 follower mark and offer these following thoughts:
    *we focus alot of time/effort on #ff postings, in which we include folks who have communicated w/us in the prior week.
    *we retreet often and acknowledge those who RT us
    *we look for interesting content as well as promoting our arts & cultural happenings (which we must do to continue thriving)
    *we have begun relationships with folks who live in our Hilo, Hawaii area thru meetups, and twitter conversations
    *we will continue these processes and any others we find helpful
    *all the best!

  82. Captain Jack July 23, 2009 Reply

    I’ve crossed over the 14,000 thousand mark and I have used many of the techniques mention here. Some of the suggestions here did not work for me.

    My simple tips.

    1. Follow like people. I follow about 300 a day. Then I give them 2 days to follow back. I un-follow those who don’t follow back in that time period. Sound cruel but I only get so many slots over my current following per twitter rules.

    2. I try to reply to everyone I can. Even if it’s to post my trade mark smiley face 【ツ】. It’s quick and friendly.

    3. Be interesting and funny. Joke go a long way. Twitting good words to live by. Engage people, and get them to talk about themselves.

    4. Twitter feed, if they are only about 6 or so per day. Helps keep your account looking active when you are away.

    5. Tweet links to interesting article you find. You would be surprised that others have not read it.

    6. Have fun with it. If you’re having fun it will show and people are attracted to that.

    7. Give, give, give. Then when you need something you will get so much more back that you may have to give it to someone else. 🙂

    One more thing. Twitter is a great resources to solve problems you might have. It’s even saved me money and help me acquire things I could not afford. If you focus on the people and not on gaming twitter you’ll find the people are the best secret to getting many followers.

    __/)___

  83. ashleigh August 8, 2009 Reply

    yeah!!!!

  84. Onasis August 13, 2009 Reply

    Share interesting web content, interact with your followers and get tips from posts like this.

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  87. Honey Singh September 10, 2009 Reply

    Targeted and Directive ideology matters a lot !
    Be Quality don’t wait for quantity !
    In the end tweet what you thinks is right and informative for others !

  88. Vince W Baker September 29, 2009 Reply

    When I first started out in the twitter world I honestly didn’t know where to start. So I took about a week to really study this subject like no tomorrow. I found out a few things and when I did my account started to really take off.

    The fact of the matter is that twitter is here to stay and we really need to master it for the generation we live in.

    So here is a few powerful tips.

    1. You need to balance your account ratio of followers to who you are following. You can use either one of these free services. http://huitter.com/ or http://dossy.org/twitter/karma/

    2. You also need a tool to get more followers. This will save you hours. You can use tweetadder, or hummingbird. You will have to pay for one these but it is worth it.

    3. You need a program that will automate your tweets and auto follow those who are following you when you don’t have time. SocialOomph is by far the best that I have found…it is web based so you can walk away and it will keep your twitter running. Here is a link http://www.socialoomph.com/86324.html Try the free trial and you will see for yourself.

    4. To boost your account at the beginning type search for people with follow, follower, or followers and add them as your friends. People will go to them also so your account will get more exposure.

    5. Fastfollowers is a new site that can add a number of friends to you… http://fastfollowers.com/ When you sign up for free you are given credits and people will follow you for free.

    6. Be careful what you tweet. If you don’t know what to tweet…look up sayings of quotes and tweet those.

    7. Statistics show us that the most twitter activity is on Tuesday between 11am and 3pm. Also Mon thru Fri work hours. So, add friends during this time and people will be more apt to be adding you as their friend.

    I hope this helps, and lets follow each other.

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  90. ECRA November 30, 2009 Reply

    Provando si esto de Jobmob realmente funciona. vamos a ver..

  93. Rosa Elizabeth Vargas February 12, 2010 Reply

    Be a selective and consistent Retweeter. Choose great content and Twitter popular pros to RT. Most will return the favor by monitoring you and will RT your valuable content, helping you reach a bigger audience. Plus it is a nice way to network (sharing others’ tweets)
    .-= Rosa Elizabeth Vargas´s last blog ..The Value of Your Tweets During a Job Search =-.

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  96. Zack G March 9, 2010 Reply

    Surprised no one mentioned linking from blog posting, like what I’m doing right now 🙂
    .-= Zack G´s last blog ..47 Ways to Get Twitter Success =-.

  99. Tim September 5, 2010 Reply

    Follow people who seem interesting. Tweet and RT, but also engage people in @conversation, and tweet more without links than with links. Lots of folks won’t follow back if there are no @comments on your first page. Don’t bang on about the stuff you want to promote — even once a day is a bit much. Absolutely don’t send an auto-DM when someone follows you; more and more, people are blocking tweeters who do that. If you want to make contact, send them an @message instead, and make it personal to them.

    Basically, just behave the way you would at a friend’s party. It’s not complicated. Be a person, not a marketing.robot, and you’ll do fine.

  100. Alastair September 5, 2010 Reply

    A follower is no use to me if they don’t read anything I write. Lots of people above seem to be under the misconception that twitter is all about numbers. Of course it’s great to get lots of followers, but doing that by following many, many people yourself defeats the whole purpose of twitter. Personally, when I see someone who follows thousands of people I know that they will be of absolutely no value if they decide to follow me as well. I ONLY follow people if I’m interested in what they write. If you follow 300 people a day (as one of the ‘power users’ above wrote) how will you ever read anything they put onto twitter? Once you follow that many people, it’s not about communication, it’s just a numbers game and I don’t see the point of that at all. Like anything, quality always beats quantity.

  101. Ann Donnelly September 7, 2010 Reply

    Use lists to organise by topic those you follow, and even those you don’t follow but may want to keep tabs on. I use Hootsuite to view the posts by list in various tabs and columns. Scanning across the columns is easier than scrolling down the full timeline of all your follows, and you can dig deeper in a specific list when you want to keep up to date or seek information on that particular topic.

    I have 1-2 lists for my ‘VITs’ whose posts I don’t want to miss and view them regularly. I really only view the ‘Home Feed’ of those I actually follow when I have some extra time, usually on my mobile waiting in line at a shop or sometime like that.

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  107. Dylan Raines October 18, 2010 Reply

    Tweet things that people care about. Pick one issue that you’re passionate about, tweet about it and you will gain a following.

    -@DylanBRaines

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  128. Ron Rule March 7, 2011 Reply

    Don’t be afraid to share your expertise in whatever it is you’re good at, and don’t worry about trying to monetize your twitter followers.

  130. Alejo March 26, 2011 Reply

    Que buenos consejos, los voy a poner en practica, y para las personas que no solo les guste seguir por seguir, sino también interactuar, opinar e informar, me pueden seguir @Alejandro1R7, muchas gracias

  131. Goddesspower May 26, 2011 Reply

    1. Retweet!
    2. Always thank your followers who RT you.
    3. Enjoy engaging with your followers.
    4. Twitter Karma is fantastic. You know those followers that follow you, you follow and then they unfollow you? Twitter Karma tells you who does this.
    5. Retweet!

  132. Goetzman May 31, 2011 Reply

    I tend to tweet news that that broke out on news.google.com within 5-10minutes that is relevant to my followers.

  133. Mateu August 22, 2011 Reply

    Aprendí a sufrir, de Mateu Carrió. (Ediciones del Serbal)

  135. Marcelo Cardozo May 14, 2012 Reply

    MIS TWEETS SOS DIVERTIDOS , TE HACEN REIR, NUNCA ALGO QUE TE DEPRIMA, SIGANME Y LO VERAN , GRCIAS SI LO HACEN 🙂

  136. Joe Ellis August 7, 2012 Reply

    have a whopping 4 followers…looking to double that this week! BOO-YAH

  137. Anjan Dey October 1, 2012 Reply

    Don’t go behind the followers. As Twitter is a social site use its full potential to interact with people from around the world. Just engage in good conversation and enjoy. Don’t get afraid to ask a question. Regular interact with people will increase your follower count.

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  141. Sandra September 14, 2013 Reply

    Follower. io is another simple technique that can be used to increase your twitter followers. Automate following and unfollowing of people on twitter, called churn, is considered spamming. Follower. io is to help you discover the audience you want to talk to. They analyze the top tweeter’s followers in your space and help you find your potential audience. For more info, please visit: http://www.follower.io/?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=comment&utm_term=sign+up&utm_campaign=ganga

  142. Kate September 29, 2013 Reply

    This is so much better than hiring a service to get 20,000 fake followers.

  143. James December 4, 2014 Reply

    FYI, @dillonburroughs, SocialToo.com is creating new and different tools due to Twitter’s API and rules changes. I was able to add my email to be notified when they are back up and running. Thanks all for sharing their tips.

    I’ve added this post as a revisit to begin implementing as much as possible…along with better content. Thanks.

    James.

  144. David cant March 6, 2015 Reply

    a great tip I find works really well is submit a excellent image with a few humorous comments and follow a few people. When they see you tweet something interesting they tend to follow back.. When they do mention them in a tweet with a comment about their bio or even RETWEET one of their tweets as well. This shows you are interested in what they have to say. But be genuine and add them to a list.

  146. Quamarul Islam Manna February 6, 2016 Reply

    I follow these steps:
    1) Followback Theory
    2) Retweet/Like
    3) Send a greeting who retweeted my tweet.

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