Fridays with Vicky 72
About 8 months ago, I decided to give Twitter a real try.
I wanted to see if it was possible to create a following and to get some more traffic to this site, itsVicky.com.
I have gone from under 1000 tweet impressions to over 600 K tweet impressions monthly, and finally earlier this month…
I got to 10K Twitter followers. A milestone that I wanted to reach.
In this post, I share with you how I got there, how I got to 10K targeted and engaging Twitter followers.
Let me just make one thing clear…
This is NOT one of the “Buy 10K Twitter Followers” posts, in fact, I would stay far, far away from them. I see no point in purchasing followers. The real key lies in “targeted” and “engaging” followers, you will never get that with paid followers.
What About All the Noise and Offer Promotions on Twitter
There are a lot of non-social people on Twitter, they are there to push their own offer with no intention of engaging with others.
It can be overwhelming opening your inbox filled with “buy this” “click here” “don’t miss this…” or one of my favorite “as a token of my appreciation…” lol they all scream “sign up to my list and purchase my offer”.
It’s sad how many take out the social in social media.
But, the good thing is…
Once in a while, you run into people that are there for the same reasons you are, to connect, to engage and to create long term contacts. These are the people that you will happily help, that you will work closer with and bond with.
These people, I want to engage with and they are the reason I’m still on Twitter.
So let’s see how I got to the 10K…
5 Things That Got Me to 10K Targeted and Engaging Twitter Followers
1. Engagement
Act like you would around your “real” friends. Be kind, tell somebody that you like their content if it’s good if they share something funny leave a comment. Be present and ask how people’s day is going. Share both your own helpful content and others.
What about automated welcome messages?
I’ve been very torn about using an automated message. I see this feature being so abused by many, sending out spam messages.
I have found a great way that works for me though. I use the paid Crowdfire subscription service, that will remove the @crowdfire stamp. I send a friendly message, asking how things are going. No link, no offer, just a friendly hello.
This helps me start a conversation with people that are open for one. I have even gotten responses saying, Thank you so much for your friendly welcome, refreshing to not just get a sales offer”.
It’s a great way to start a conversation.
2. Be Helpful and Friendly
If people ask questions, help them out. Search Twitter for related questions in your niche. It can also be statements like “I want to…” I want to lose weight, I want to take a painting class, I want to teach my dog to sit… whatever your niche is, find what people are looking for and help them with that.
People will thank you for helping them.
There are many ways to help. You can help by answering a question, by sending them to one of your posts that will help them, even to send them to an offer IF it is a good solution to their problem.
3. Follow Relevant People
Follow people that are relevant to what you do. I look for people who enjoy blogging, affiliate marketing, content creation and things related to that. Who do you want to connect with?
Do you unfollow if somebody doesn’t follow back?
I give people some time to follow back, if they don’t I usually unfollow them unless I get great value from the person.
I also follow back if the person following me is relevant to what I do. Now if you are selling Twitter followers, if tweets are inappropriate or if you are a company with the only reason being on Twitter is to sell, I will not follow back.
4. Continuity
Continuity with both engagement and tweet submission.
I usually take a few minutes each and every day, to reply to direct messages, to answer questions and to comment on retweets and likes.
I also make sure that I have my tweet submissions in order.
The question is what’s the ultimate tweet frequency?
You will find suggestions of everything from 2 tweets daily to multiple tweets/hour. This is something you will have to test out with your own followers. I started out with a couple of tweets a day and worked myself up to about 1 tweet hourly.
I use the tool, Crowdfire, to schedule my tweets, it saves me a lot of times and it allows me to post even when I’m not available.
I also include a nice image with most of my tweets. Using a nice image has given me a lot of great feedback, it’s a great way to connect with people.
If you think about it, you will tweet… you have a few seconds to catch the attention of your followers to keep the tweet going by retweeting… If not, it will disappear into the Twitter clouds.
Now I will say this, I have unfollowed people because they filled my Twitter feed with tons of tweets, 10 tweets/minute, is just too many.
Best way is to try things out and find your own tweeting sweet spot!
5. Commitment
Getting 10K real, engaging, targeted followers will not happen overnight. It took me about 8 months to do it, it might take you longer or you might get it done quicker. It depends on how much time you have to spend on Twitter.
The key is to commit to getting it done, take consistent action with tweet submissions, engagement, and followers.
Use the suggestions above and you will get relevant, engaging followers.
Twitter is time-consuming, but you also meet some great people.
There are no secrets to this, engage, be helpful, stay consistent, commit, follow relevant people and have fun!
More on Twitter:
- 10 Things That Will Help You Grow Targeted Twitter Followers
- 7 Things to Do to Create Lasting Relationships on Twitter
- Help Me Understand Why Some Still Use These Highly Annoying Habits on Twitter
What’s your next Twitter goal, how many followers are you trying to reach? Please share in the comment section below.
Have a productive day!
What a great job you have done getting and keeping followers! Good for you and thanks for sharing your thoughts on how to achieve success in this area. You rock!
Thank you!!
Hey it all started when we were sitting in that conference room… got really inspired to give it a serious go and now it’s paying off 🙂
HI Vicky, thanks for sharing your knowledge about Twitter. Think I need to do more tweets. Have a great weekend.
Hi Wayne,
Build up to tweeting a lot. I started with a few a day and now I tweet almost ones / hour…
Vicky
I get a lot of followers for some reason. However, I can never follow them back because of the imbalance in my account,. John
Hi John,
Hmmm do you follow a lot more people than people following you?
They have different levels where they put your “following” on hold…
Vicky
Thanks very interesting blog!
Thank you Lidia!
Excellent info. Lucky me I ran across your web site accidentally (stumbleupon).
I have got saved it for later!
Glad you enjoyed the post Tobie!
Vicky
Hi Vicky, thanks for a great post full of relevant content. I love your style.
Thank you Karin!
Hi Vicky,
That’s for sharing such a helpful article on how to get twitter followers. I use twitter to market, and use the autoresponder tool, but after reading your post, I think I should change the way I talk to people! I also use a site called Traffup that allows people to follow you, if you retweet or fav their tweet. Do you think I should stop using that site and focus on natural twitter followers? Thanks! 🙂
Samuel
Hi Samuel,
Glad you like the post.
Traffup, I have not heard of before. It seem some what controlled by you though if it’s people you retweet or like… I would say if you do that manually, I don’t see a problem with it. I believe in organically growing your followers. But like I say I do take help of tools to manage my submissions and stuff…
Hope that helps,
Vicky
I really enjoyed your tips! Do you have any thoughts RE: Crowdfire versus Hootsuite?
– ( Also, ‘m not not trying to be a jerk- please don’t unfollow me, I like your stuff! ? But, I have a little OCD when it comes to spelling… “Ones” = (Once) and “Loose”= (Lose”)
Hi Angela,
I was actually going to use Hootsuite this fall, (too busy this summer), to see which one works better. Crowdfire is only for Twitter but Hootsuite includes G+, Facebook, Instagram and a few more… I will be back with a comparison after I try it out.
Thank you, thank you, I really appreciate when people like you point out my spelling mistakes in a nice way. It has been corrected. Feel free to continue to do so 🙂 English is my second language and I will happily accept the help!!
Vicky
Hi vicky :
I have another approach about paid bot followers , even if they are not real people and they will never retweet,engage with your content but they will give you a Nice boost to reach your xx k followers (your goal) becaue people will follow you and want you to follow them back (they like your Xx k followers)
So let’s say that your goal is 10k real followers i will buy 1k and doing what you explain in this article then remove them after getting my first 2k followers
English is my third language so I hope I didn’t make a lot of mistakes
Hi Hamido,
Thank you for your input. I know there are many different views on this topic.
Personally I don’t see the point of purchasing, non engaging followers.
I follow people with 10 followers and people with 100.000 followers, to me it’s all about relevancy,
Vicky
Hi Vicky,
Every time I read a post I realise how much I’m not doing.
But perhaps I’m trying to do too many things at once.
I definitely need something to help engage with followers but i just haven’t found the right one to invest in without having to use something else alongside it.
I look forward reading your other posts.
Jenny
Hi Jenny,
Focus is important for sure. We can not take on and do everything out there. I say when it comes to social media take on one at the time. When you have the ball rolling and a good some what automated system set up, sure move on and tackle the next one.
Vicky