How my Twitter Experiment got me to 3K followers

This past April, I did this spur-of-the-moment Twitter experiment to see if I could gather up some new followers quickly.

Twitter Experiment: Part deux
Basically, I offered a CONTROL swag giveaway to encourage new followers. You could get entered into the draw if you RT'd or became a new follower.

So. Did it work?

I don't think so! 

I got a good amount of RTs, but honestly? The trajectory with which I gained new followers didn't seem to change. I hit my 3000 follower mark not that much sooner than I expected without the experiment. I was grateful to the RTers and was more than happy to send the swag prizes to five winners who really RT'd their hearts out.

I used to seek out people on twitter when I first started. I'd follow a bunch of people I thought I had something in common with (mostly in the writing world), and hope they followed back. It worked for a while, but I don't have time to search out followers anymore. Also, it felt icky and weird after a while. So how else to gain followers?

I think the best way to get followers is to do the old fashioned good stuff on Twitter.

Interact with people who reach out to you, and who tweet interesting things. (This I need to be better about. I tend to just look at my mentions and not read my feeds.)
Post some original content once in a while, not just RTs and endless conversations with other twitterers. (Okay, I confess I do that all the time. Have endless conversations about, say, Benedict Cumberbatch, or Doctor Who, or being introverted, or what I'm eating. But I like to discuss what I'm eating!)
Be there. I'm not on every hour of the day, but I'm there almost every day. (And yet! I've gotten social media fatigue and been off for a week at a time. Which I'll do for sanity's sake, but not if I can help it.)
Have fun. It shows, and people want to follow people who are enjoying Twitter. This one is easier for me. :)Get creative. A few others and I write poetry using a single medically-related word prompt using the hashtag #twtpoem. It's so energizing and a great way to be creative on Twitter.
Join some Tweet chats once in a while. There are so many--#yalitchat #Lucky13s #theClassof2k13 are regular ones I participate in, but I'll jump into others that are trending if they're interesting.
Don't just tweet about your book, or promo yourself. There's no quicker way to lose followers than to drown in book narcissism. But the opposite isn't the answer either. A little promo is okay!
Mix it up. I cross tweet my Tumblr posts, and my blog posts, obviously. But I'm on Instagram and often take tweet pics of random things I like. I'd love to add some video via Vimeo or something. Maybe later. And I'm still NOT vlogging!
Write a good book. Still hoping this one will pan out. :) Once your published book is out there, people will find you. And that will be (I hope) pretty cool.


So...are you on Twitter? What's your favorite thing about it? Do you have any Tweet Tips to share?