So You Want 5,000 Followers on Twitter! Then What?

August 9, 2009

social-networksSo you are a small business owner, service provider, sales person or other professional looking to leverage the power of Social Marketing by developing a following on social networks like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.  Great idea, now what?  With this question in mind I want to focus on Twitter.  The fact is that most people who register an account on Twitter have no idea what they are doing or why they are doing it, other than everyone else is doing it.  My hope that this post will help give you some simple strategies that will enable you to experience both success and fun on Twitter.

Let’s Start With How To Get Followed… The Right Way!

Every day I get hundreds of Twamming Tweets (Twitter Style Spamming) that tell me I can get you 5,000 followers in 5 days by clicking this link.  I don’t click the link and usually stop following them, but even if they had a magic formula, what then?  What do I have to offer them once I get them to follow me?  An even bigger question is why do I want them to follow me?

Chris Brogan (who I highly recommend that you follow and read his blog at www.chrisbrogan.com), in his post August 6th Get More Twitter Followers TODAY, touched on the craziness that surrounds the desire to develop a following on Twitter.  Chris received a huge surge in traffic because everyone wants to find the secret to more follower’s and he was going to share it.  His tongue and cheek post basically made it clear that to generate a true following you need to work at it and he listed the following:

  1. Find great stories from other people and share them with a link (and/or attribution). Do this 3 times or more a day!
  2. Share useful information that others can use, too! example: “I’ve discovered that Blip.fm is very useful for sharing my musical interests.” (Bonus points if you provide the URL).
  3. Participate in online events that use #hashtags, because others in the event will find you and appreciate you, too!
  4. Respond to OTHER PEOPLE using the @reply method. This is advanced, so here’s an example: “@glendawh – Is it true you were out all night last night singing karaoke?”
  5. Use Twitter Search (http://search.twitter.com) to find people talking about the things YOU talk about, and follow them!
  6. Add your Twitter URL to your signature line in your email! (Easy to do!)
  7. Don’t overtweet (more than 20 a day is a bit spooky to most people).
  8. Don’t talk about your food (unless you’re me!)
  9. Don’t use Twitter like IM (use direct messages for that)
  10. Don’t tweet all about you: tweet all about them.
  11. And never, ever, ever invite your friends to be part of your Ninja dojo (unless you’re @cspenn), your mafia family (unless you’re @jgottinotdead), or to participate in a “what type of piercing am I?” quiz.

Go read the complete post and his follow up posts of the last few days. Get More Twitter Followers TODAY

Now What Do I Do?

follow-twitterNow that you have learned that there is no magic formula to getting followed.  There is just some simple common sense guidelines and a little effort.  To this I want to add that there are some great tools out there that can help you systemize and automate a lot of what Chris describes above.   The thing is, that you can either use these tools to enhance your networking efforts and build a loyal following, or you can abuse them and annoy your Followers on Twitter, lose them and achieve nothing.

First things first.  If you are looking to use Twitter for general  social interaction, have at it and follow Chris’s guidelines above (and make sure you follow me personally @BS2Sense Click Here ).  If you are looking to use Twitter as a Social Marketing tool to identify, interact with and capture prospects and customers, you need to start with a plan, so that you do not waste your time or your followers.  Check out Social Marketing Essentials, but here are the four questions you need to ask yourself:

  1. What is my Goal? -It is driving people to your website or blog, selling a product or service, build a marketing  list
  2. Who is my Target? -Who am I looking to attract to follow me – who is my target prospect, customer or follower?
  3. What is my Capture Plan? -how am I going to get their contact info and get their permission to communicate with them?
  4. Now What Do I Do? -Unless you are into catch and release, you better have a site and a plan to market to followers once you get their attention.

Take Effective Action

  1. What is your purpose for logging onto Twitter?  Is it Social Interaction or Social Marketing?  Maybe it is both….
  2. If it is Social Marketing then begin to develop a strategy based on the above, to enhance your efforts and not a waste of time.
  3. Visit Bssential Solutions for more information on Social Marketing training, tools and strategies.
  4. Follow Bssential Solutions on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/smbizsolutions

Bill Sifflard -  With over thirty years experience as an entrepreneur, an executive, an author and as a business consultant, Bill Sifflard has a long history of experience bringing innovation, efficiency and success to large and small businesses adapting to evolving markets. As a premiere Sales and Marketing Innovator, Bill is changing how business integrates traditional marketing strategy with the power and potential of the internet utilizing his "Velocity for Success" matrix. To learn more about Bill and Bssential Small Business Solutions you can visit http://www.bssentials.com and register for his Free eNewsletter or follow all of his blog posts by clicking on the RSS feed button above.

Tagged as: facebook, linkedin, social marketing, social networking, Twamming, twitter

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