You Have A New Twitter Account With No Followers: Now What?
I remember when I first started my Twitter account. I had decided weeks before that I needed to take the plunge, but the truth is I didn't really understand it. Everyone said that I needed to be on Twitter, and I finally said, "What the heck..." and I created my account.
And there it was. Followers: 0. That zero was a big, fat one too.
I began following some people. First I started to use the directories that promised to help you find targeted followers, but I soon realized that I was going down the wrong path, at least for me. I didn't want to follow people just so they would follow me back. I wanted people to want to follow me. So I started following the people I wanted to follow without playing the numbers game. Yes, I wanted followers, but I wanted a very specific kind of followers.
I began to see my follower count trickle up and I asked myself, "How can I attract followers who want to follow me?" Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I had to give them a reason to follow me. Duh! My wife will be the first to tell you that I can be a little slow at times.
So I began tweeting news that I found useful. Guess what? There were others who found that news useful and they shared it with their followers. And the authors of the news began re-tweeting my tweets to their followers.
This was getting cool. I soon saw my follower list start to climb. The more good info I could pass on, the more people started to follow me. Of course, some people who were just looking for numbers themselves started to follow me. But a lot of people followed me because they wanted to read my tweets.
Then, I asked myself how I could get in front of authors who were following other book marketing experts but didn't know that me or my blog existed. I knew if I could do that, many would be intrigued with my blog.
So I had to find a way that encouraged these experts to put me in front of their followers. I did it by bringing value to the experts. One thing I did was tweeting about their book marketing articles and posts. They responded by re-tweeting my tweet to their followers.
Then I realized I had hit on something. What if I could do something to make them excited to put me in front of their followers? That was the birth of my Twitter contests. I designed the contests specifically to make those who donated prizes the star of the show. I highlighted, promoted and marketed them. In return, they responded by introducing me to their followers, the same people I really wanted to be exposed to.
Each time I ran these contests, my Twitter followers rose between 20% and 30% in ten days. And I learned that these were good, quality followers who were interested in the things I had in my blog. They tended to stick around.
From that experience, I wrote the book on how I did it. Conducting Effective Twitter Contests is not as book on creating a good contest as much as it is a book on using Twitter as a marketing tool to find the targeted followers who are really interested in what you have to offer. And thanks to modern technology, I was able to convert this book to the Kindle format and sell it for $2.99. That was down from the $47 it debut at. And Kindle readers still have access to all the videos I embedded in the original PDF e-book.
So, what does this mean to you? Here is how I boil down my own Twitter experience for those who find themselves with 0 followers or far fewer than they want:
1. Start tweeting useful information about things your targeted audience wants to hear.
2. When you tweet someone's post, make sure you use their Twitter ID instead of their name. They will have a much better chance to see it and then re-tweet it to their followers.
3. Follow people you really find interesting and watch for their Tweets. Re-tweet what you find useful.
4. Tweet the title or subject of every blog post you write, whether on your blog or on another person's blog.
5. Make sure that the balance of your tweets are heavily in favor of providing useful content over promotional tweets.
That should be enough to get you started. Of course, you can always download my Kindle title on Conducting Effective Twitter Contests to learn more marketing strategies for using Twitter. At least check out the free sample that Amazon makes available to you.
And if you want to be one of those sponsors I love to highlight, I do have a new contest coming up in April. If you have a book marketing product or service, then check out my post, New Spring Twitter Contest: Call For Sponsors.
Happy Tweeting!
--------
And there it was. Followers: 0. That zero was a big, fat one too.
I began following some people. First I started to use the directories that promised to help you find targeted followers, but I soon realized that I was going down the wrong path, at least for me. I didn't want to follow people just so they would follow me back. I wanted people to want to follow me. So I started following the people I wanted to follow without playing the numbers game. Yes, I wanted followers, but I wanted a very specific kind of followers.
I began to see my follower count trickle up and I asked myself, "How can I attract followers who want to follow me?" Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I had to give them a reason to follow me. Duh! My wife will be the first to tell you that I can be a little slow at times.
So I began tweeting news that I found useful. Guess what? There were others who found that news useful and they shared it with their followers. And the authors of the news began re-tweeting my tweets to their followers.
This was getting cool. I soon saw my follower list start to climb. The more good info I could pass on, the more people started to follow me. Of course, some people who were just looking for numbers themselves started to follow me. But a lot of people followed me because they wanted to read my tweets.
Then, I asked myself how I could get in front of authors who were following other book marketing experts but didn't know that me or my blog existed. I knew if I could do that, many would be intrigued with my blog.
So I had to find a way that encouraged these experts to put me in front of their followers. I did it by bringing value to the experts. One thing I did was tweeting about their book marketing articles and posts. They responded by re-tweeting my tweet to their followers.
Then I realized I had hit on something. What if I could do something to make them excited to put me in front of their followers? That was the birth of my Twitter contests. I designed the contests specifically to make those who donated prizes the star of the show. I highlighted, promoted and marketed them. In return, they responded by introducing me to their followers, the same people I really wanted to be exposed to.
Each time I ran these contests, my Twitter followers rose between 20% and 30% in ten days. And I learned that these were good, quality followers who were interested in the things I had in my blog. They tended to stick around.
From that experience, I wrote the book on how I did it. Conducting Effective Twitter Contests is not as book on creating a good contest as much as it is a book on using Twitter as a marketing tool to find the targeted followers who are really interested in what you have to offer. And thanks to modern technology, I was able to convert this book to the Kindle format and sell it for $2.99. That was down from the $47 it debut at. And Kindle readers still have access to all the videos I embedded in the original PDF e-book.
So, what does this mean to you? Here is how I boil down my own Twitter experience for those who find themselves with 0 followers or far fewer than they want:
1. Start tweeting useful information about things your targeted audience wants to hear.
2. When you tweet someone's post, make sure you use their Twitter ID instead of their name. They will have a much better chance to see it and then re-tweet it to their followers.
3. Follow people you really find interesting and watch for their Tweets. Re-tweet what you find useful.
4. Tweet the title or subject of every blog post you write, whether on your blog or on another person's blog.
5. Make sure that the balance of your tweets are heavily in favor of providing useful content over promotional tweets.
That should be enough to get you started. Of course, you can always download my Kindle title on Conducting Effective Twitter Contests to learn more marketing strategies for using Twitter. At least check out the free sample that Amazon makes available to you.
And if you want to be one of those sponsors I love to highlight, I do have a new contest coming up in April. If you have a book marketing product or service, then check out my post, New Spring Twitter Contest: Call For Sponsors.
Happy Tweeting!
--------
Tony Eldridge is the author of The Samson Effect, an action/adventure novel that Clive Cussler calls a "first rate thriller brimming with intrigue and adventure." He is also the author of the Twitter marketing book, Conducting Effective Twitter Contests.
No comments have been added yet.
