Are you looking for more targeted free Twitter followers?
…but not sure how or where to find them?
Having set up your Twitter account you’re expecting at least a few free Twitter followers, but it doesn’t seem to be the happening.
This is a common scenario and can be a very frustrating experience.
After a few weeks of feeling like you’re only tweeting to yourself you start to see those adverts where you can apparently buy followers. In desperation you’re actually thinking about buying some Twitter followers.
However, anyone can obtain thousands of free Twitter followers who are targeted, interested in what you have to say and who will engage with you. You don’t need to spend a penny.
Before I reveal the different ways in which you can obtain a following of decent quantity and quality, let me say a few words about buying Twitter followers.
Don’t do it! There we go.
Ok, I’ll elaborate a little. I’ve never purchased a single Twitter follower and I never will.
The reasons being that I’ve read reports of those who have and the purchased followers are not targeted, are not interested in what you have to say and don’t even hang around for long.
In a nut shell, there’s no point in buying followers and if you use the methods I’m about to describe then you’ll never need to. The free Twitter followers will soon come rolling in.
How NOT to Obtain Free Twitter Followers
Let’s start with a couple of things that will actually prevent you obtaining free Twitter followers.
- Ditch the Egg – If you still have the default egg as your twitter profile image ditch it now and replace it with a photo of your own happy looking face. The default egg indicates that the user isn’t serious about Twitter and keeping it will seriously reduce the number of followers you can obtain. I don’t follow eggs anymore and I’m sure I’m not alone in this.
- Validation Services – Twitter user validation services like TruTwit are an extra hurdle which most people are unwilling to jump. Unless you’re really worried about SPAM then don’t use these services. They’re just one more thing which puts people off from following you. Again, I’ve never followed anyone who requests this.
What You Really SHOULD be Doing
That’s enough of what you shouldn’t be doing, so let’s look at what you should be doing to obtain more free Twitter followers.
- Use Keywords – many people use the Twitter search facility to find new people to follow. To do this they’ll use keywords or short phrases which they’re interested in. Make a list of the main keywords and phrases which are related to what you tweet about and use them in your profile and in your tweets. Making yourself easy to find when people are looking for the kind of content you tweet about is very important.
- Promote Your Id/URL – you should be promoting your Twitter Id or URL everywhere you can. If you have a website, put it on there above the fold (near the top). Promote it on Facebook, add it to your business cards and other stationary, then add it to your email signature. Basically promote it anywhere you can. This might not bring you a massive amount of free Twitter followers but it will bring you high quality followers who are really interested in what you have to say.
- Be Worth Retweeting – send regular tweets which are worth retweeting. Adding a call to action like ‘pls rt’ at the end of some of your tweets really works to. Twitter related content (like this very article) is ideal for this. People love retweeting Twitter related content and the really good stuff can go viral and expose you to tens of thousands of people in a very short time. If you want to read about when this actually happened to me take a look at this: The Power of Twitter Celebrity Retweets.
- Tweet Timing – this is something that’s often overlooked. Have you considered that most of your followers might be in a different country to yourself? If like me you live in the UK for example, most of your followers might well be in America, in a completely different time zone. There’s no point tweeting in the morning (UK time) when most of your followers are asleep in the US. This has a significant impact not only on the number of new followers you’ll see but also on their engagement and interaction. Use a free tool like Tweriod to find out when your followers are most active and tweet your most important stuff only during those times.
- Follow More People – this last strategy will give you the highest quantity of targeted followers, but use it carefully. Find some key people in your niche who tweet about similar topics to yourself, then follow some of their followers. Repeat this on a daily basis. You’ll often find that around 20% will follow you back. I go into more detail about this in my popular post: Top Twitter Tips to Crush Your Competition. I suggest you read this and download and read the PDF I wrote before using this strategy. This strategy is probably the most effective way of obtaining free Twitter followers but if done incorrectly or excessively it’s also an effective way of getting your account suspended. Read my PDF or do your own research first.
So, by following the above steps you should be able to obtain lots of high quality, targeted, engaging, free Twitter followers and never have to spend a penny.
Remember, it’s a key part of your business mindset to always be looking for high quality, free Twitter followers, not just a high number. This principle applies to email lists and website traffic too.
Before you go, if you’re in any doubt as to the value of using Twitter to improve the way you do business then you might want to read this which I wrote a while ago: The Value of Social Networking for Businesses.
I hope you enjoyed this post and if you have any of your own suggestions on how to obtain free Twitter followers then please leave a comment and share them with my readers.
