Last week I hit a milestone on Twitter, reaching 20,000 followers. Plenty of people, myself included, have said that your follower number isn’t as important as it’s made out to be. I think the term ‘follower’ implies that 20,000 people are actively attempting to engage with me. In reality, I would guess it’s only a small fraction, possibly as low as 1%.
But I know many people on Twitter want more followers, so I decided to share what I’ve learned in the last 3 years of using the site:
1 – Be helpful. I use Twitter primarily as a tool to connect with others. As such, I am always looking for ways to share something of value with others. Twitter, most than any other social media tool I use, works amazingly well as a networking tool, and that’s primarily how I use it.
Thing of it this way; what if you were at an offline networking event in a room of 100 potential employers. What if you could show everyone in that room one thing that would make them more productive the next day? At the very least, you would suddenly have 100 potential employers telling each other about what a great guy/gal you were for helping them.
But what’s more powerful than that, you wouldn’t have to go around the room promoting yourself to everyone, they would be telling each other about you.
Sidenote: I swear as I typed that out I switched to Tweetdeck to check my replies, and this one just came in on Twitter:
2 – Connect with people that want to connect with you. I am continually refining and changing how I use Twitter. Currently, I place a premium on following anyone that either RTs or replies to me. Because they are engaging in the type of behavior that I want to ‘reward’. I want to interact and engage with as many people as possible on Twitter, so when people are trying to connect with me, I want to encourage that.
3 – Introduce people of value to your network. One of the things I love to do is meet interesting people and help them connect with the people I already know. One reason is because I am appreciative for this person, and another is that I know my network will value from their insights, so it’s also a way to say ‘thanks’ to my existing network.
4 – Help people get started. I *love* helping people get their feet wet either with Twitter, or blogging, or social media in general. More than once I’ve had someone tell me they were grateful for my trying to help them, that others just ‘told me I was doing it wrong’. We need to remember that we have all been newbies at one time, and if you help someone take their first steps, they will be even more grateful down the road.
5 – Give back to your network. Look for ways to show your network that you appreciate and value them. For me, #blogchat is a good example of this. I try to use #blogchat as a tool to help others become better personal/professional/business bloggers.
6 – Promote others. Complete no-brainer. As I write this post, HootSuite is sending a tweet every 5 mins with links to posts that I picked over the weekend that I thought my network would value. My network is then RTing these posts to THEIR networks, and when I publish this post in a few minutes, it’s probably going to be RTed a few more times by the people that saw me link to their posts, and my network, which is (hopefully) appreciative of the great links I have been sharing with them this morning.
The upshot of all this is obviously, I use Twitter as a way to help others. But there still needs to be a financial gain for me as a consultant, or else this is all a hobby.
Last year I made more income on a yearly basis than I have in my life, and roughly 50% of that income came from sources that I connected with via Twitter. Within the last 12 hours I have received both work and speaking invitations from people via Twitter.
As with most areas of social media, Twitter is a great way to make things happen indirectly. Help others and create something of value for your network, and your network will attempt to return the favor. At least that’s how it’s worked for me.
Those are my tips for getting more followers on Twitter. What’s working for you?
PS: I thought I should clarify the timeline for how I reached 20,000. Simply to make the point that it took me a long time.
As of the fall of 2007, I had about 100 followers. I started really ramping up my Twitter usage in December of 2007, and by March of 2008 I had about 500 followers.
I had almost 7,000 followers by March of 2009, and am at 20K now. I add about 20-50 followers a day, on average.
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Hi Mack
Firsy, congrats on hitting the 20k milestone. Those “followers”, even if only a small fraction engage, that small fraction is able to truly and genuinely engage with you.
It is hard work to maintain a community, whether on a blog or on Twitter. The people who want to engage and who do it expect your attention ; it is not different, in essence, than a brick and mortar network. Collecting followers may be good but more importantly is what value you give them. and this, you detailled it very well in your article.
By the way, #blogchat is an amazing community. In the few months I participated, I was able to share my experience and connect with great people.
Thank you Karima. Yes it is a LOT of work to create and maintain a Twitter network of 20K people, and many people have much larger ones. But I am passionate about meeting and connecting with people like you, so it often doesn’t seem like ‘work’ 😉
Great advice Mack. As I was reading this article I was thinking that it all makes sense and that I already understood these principles but when I look at my activity, I haven’t doing as much of these as I would like. I’m inspired to apply these principles more thoughtfully.
On another subject, I’m starting to get calls for speaking engagements. Do you have any previous articles on pricing? Thanks.
Great stuff Mack. I’ll pass this article to my network. 🙂
Victor
http://www.twitter.com/VictorCanada
Thanks Victor! As for speaking, there’s really no ‘one size fits all’ pricing model. At minimum, I would ask for all your travel covered if it’s an event, then you can decide if it’s worth also asking for a fee, and what that is.
If it’s a company or organization that wants you to speak to its members, then definitely charge for both travel and a fee. And you can usually ask for a bit more in these circumstances.
But in general, most people won’t get rich speaking at conferences, but if you can make enough to cover your travel and time, it’s usually worth it. Especially since the conferences can lead to connections that get you work and paying speaking down the road.
Good luck!
Thanks for sharing. I love the engagement of twitter.
I was new to the apartment industry last year and once I got my feet wet with twitter, I met some amazing people who tweeted amazing info that really helped me learn the ropes of the industry. It a great sharing tool.
Cheers.
.-= Ryan VanDenabeele´s last blog ..Click and Help Save Lives, Do Your Part. =-.
Congrats on a very well-deserved 20,000!
.-= Gloria Bell´s last blog ..Upcoming Events 5-11-2010 Edition =-.
Definitely great advice. I was a little apprehensive to click on the link to the article you shared on Twitter. Thinking it was another ‘affiliate’ type of scheme and was expecting the worse. But I was happy to see your article with real world examples, tips, and best practices. Congrats on your 20K milestone.
Hmmm….Andrei I didn’t think of that, but some other people might have had the same thought you did! Glad you braved the link, Twitter has really gotten a lot more spammy in the last few months, hasn’t it? ;(
Wow! 20,000! That’s crazy!
The points you make on how to increase traffic in this article are awesome. While I do use some of them I have also learned a couple of new things to try.
And because inquiring minds want to know: do you have each of your followers, or people that you follow, sorted into Twitter lists?
.-= Heather Villa´s last blog ..Making Ideas Happen: How to Act on Great Strategies =-.
Hey Heather! I only have maybe 2 or 3% into lists, simply because most of the people that follow me don’t engage with me. I am sure they follow me because of the links I share and things I tweet, but only a fraction interact.
Heather ~ to your question on lists, yes, I do have all of my followers sorted into lists (I assign ppl to a list if we mutually follow each other). Then I at least know what type of ‘follower’ it is, and helps me keep track of what they are tweeting, so I don’t get as much ADD when I look at the streams. But I only have 1200 followers 🙂
Still, Twitter lists are extremely useful, I’d encourage you to make use of them.
Hey Mack,
Thanks for sharing this. I was of the anti-twitter school for a long time. It was only when I started to embrace quality relationships over quantity that I started to get more out of it. I was stupid earlier and used a mass follow tool to get as many followers as possible and then I realized what I had developed was not a following of valuable relationships, but spammers. The stuff you’ve provided here is really a great way for people to build both a quality and quantity following on twitter. I’m curious as to how long it took you?
.-= Srinivas Rao´s last blog ..Ashley Ambirge:The Voice Behind the Madness at The Middle Finger Project =-.
Hey Srinivas! Here’s my Twitter timeline…
For the first 6 months I barely used Twitter. I joined in March of 2007, and used it primarily to pimp my links, it drove no traffic to my site (cause I was only following 40 people and was never there), so I decided it was worthless, and stopped using it.
Then in December of 2007 over the Christmas break I decided to give Twitter another shot. For a week I spent about 6 hours a day on there, started following hundreds of people, and saw a completely different Twitter experience. I was hooked, and never looked back.
Here’s a timeline for my followers:
June 2007 – About 100
March 2008 – About 500
March 2009 – About 7,000
Now – About 20,000
So it’s definitely a cumulative affect, I know get more followers in a day as I did in a month when I started out.
Congrats, Mack! I am one of those followers and love your tweets! 🙂 And definitely appreciate the help you offer. For one, love your #blogchats on Sundays. And, of course, truly appreciate your feedback on my blog and several pointers. You rock! – the fact I made very clear to my followers 😉
hugs!
Thank you Ekaterina, you are a very good friend!
Mack, congrats on the milestone. I got to know you through #blogchat ~ so Twitter chats are very powerful in creating a community and driving followers. Chats are my favorite part of twitter, I have to admit.
.-= Ksenia Coffman´s last blog ..KseniaCoffman: #MarketerMonday Fave chats pt 3: #journchat (@prsarahevans) ~ #blogchat (@mackcollier) <- not strictly marketing, but related =-.
Great points – especially the end where you point out how long it took to grow your following. The misconception is that you can build this overnight. Sure, you can find ways to get 20,000 followers in a month, but I doubt it will get you anywhere. Connecting with people on Twitter, or through any medium, takes time, patience and a lot of work.
.-= Laura Click´s last blog ..Which E-mail Marketing Service is Right for You? =-.
Rule No. 6: Promote others. That’s the one I’m going to work harder on following. I’ve done OK with promoting others’ links and work, but now I’ll also promote the Twitterers who deliver the most consistent ideas, links, thoughts or laughs.
I usually see a boost after conferences, because I’ll be deliberate in making sure people know I’m on Twitter, I use it to rapidly respond to people and that it’s a valuable resource for them. So it’s on my business card, my opening slide or my lapel pin/nametag.
Wade
@WadeOnTweets
(Like I did just now.)
.-= Wade Kwon´s last blog ..Don’t let your Facebook page die – interact with it =-.
P.S. Nowhere in the post (or even in the sidebar) does it say the following, so I’ll put it in myself:
Follow @MackCollier on Twitter!
A lot of it comes back to the basics. Funny how so many people hopping onto Twitter are looking for these “secrets” when it’s really things such as what you’re saying Mack, simply done on a consistent basis.
.-= Mike Stenger´s last blog ..Leaving Facebook: You’re Kidding Right? =-.
Mack, when you successfully pulled off “live” tweeting a rerun of a 1970s Super Bowl, I knew you were unstoppable on Twitter. (Granted, it was the Steelers so you had great material to work with, but still…) Congrats on the well deserved milestone and keep on leading by example with #blogchat.
.-= Mark Alves´s last blog ..Best Songs About Mary for Mother’s Day =-.
You know I heart you Mack and want to thank you for sharing how you managed this feat. Everything you’ve said is true – just be the real you.
Thanks also for starting #blogchat. I’m always watching the conversation;)
Big Hugs from Louisiana,
@Cajun_Mama
Thank you Mama 😉 You know I love your Southern heart too 😉
7. Or change your name to Oprah. 😀
I’ve seen plenty of people who meet none of the criteria you’ve listed out reach 40K+ (and in some cases, over 100K+) followers. It is worth pointing out that there are schemes on Twitter to accelerate the growth of your follower-count, and I know people who use them to pad their numbers.
Why do they do this?
1. Ego.
2. A large number of followers infers influence/importance.
3. Numbers = appearance of reach = more attractive to publishers. Since everyone seems to want to be seen as an expert and wants to have a book published, a high follower count becomes a relevant element of a Twitter presence.
The sad result of these types of behaviors and schemes for those who buy into them is that their twitter network – while still anchored of a core group of true fans and friends – is mostly composed of bots, spammers and equally self-centered follower-hoarders. Case in point: Ask them how much spam fills their DM column on any given day.
Where am I going with this? Right here: You did it right.
What’s awesome isn’t that you have reached the 20,000 follower milestone, Mack. What’s awesome is that you’ve ONLY reached 20,000 followers.
What this tells me is that you haven’t played the system. You haven’t tried to inflate your numbers with follow/re-follow schemes. You haven’t purchased chunks of followers from eBay. You did it one person at a time, one conversation at a time, by being you, by being here, by creating value in a very specific niche. And for that, Mack, you have my respect.
Two years ago, I made a choice NOT to inflate my numbers. To only follow people who added value to my stream. To ignore how many followers I had and just treat my twitter network with respect instead of treating it as a vehicle to promote myself and my business. When I see the signs of a similar choice in someone of your stature, I know I am dealing with someone I can trust and respect.
Well done. 🙂
.-= olivier blanchard´s last blog ..Some thoughts on time management =-.
And Olivier is too modest to say that he’s reached almost 25K followers by doing this as well 😉
Olivier I have to admit, there is a real business benefit to having more followers, as you outlined in #2 and #3. And as you also mentioned, it is painfully easy to pad your follower numbers.
But in the end for me, as for you, it’s more about creating worthwhile connections and choosing quality over quantity.
Olivier: Wait, you can buy Twitter followers on eBay? How much do they cost? 😉
Mack: I try to take the exact same approach you do–and I’ve been following and learning from you for more than almost two years. For me, Twitter is the ultimate relationship-building platform. Through it, I’ve found business partners, clients and friends. Try putting a price tag on that… 😉
@arikhanson
.-= Arik Hanson´s last blog ..8 PR students to follow on Twitter =-.
Mack,
First of all I want you to know you are one of the few people I follow on Twitter that actually gives me something to think about and apply to my business on a daily basis. Based on this post, I am sure I am not the only one that feels the same way. Your ability to promote others, provide quality, thought provoking content is a true testament to your success. If you treat your clients the way you interact with people using social media, you will never have to truly hunt for business. Thanks for being a pioneer.
Bobby
.-= Bobby Rettew´s last blog ..Blogging is more than just SEO & “Thought-leadership” =-.
Mack, this is a great post. I learned stuff too! I miss #blogchat so much! I’ve been working on a book (aaaaaahhhh) and just finished so I’ll be back soon (not today cuz of fathers’ day) but I can’t wait! thanks for all you do!
.-= Michelle Golden´s last blog ..Vote Clients "Off the Island" To Make Room for New Ones =-.
The complete truth in what you wrote and the essence of what I GOT was that helping others helps yourself! Boy is that true. When I became a big brother, for the first time (before I was married and a parent), I got a wonderful prep course in parenting that came back to me when I finally (at age 40) became an actual parent. It was a classic case of getting more that I gave – but not knowing it at the time. I think your point of helping others is such a win-win! Thanks for the reminder!
There are many ways to increase Twitter followers and I agree to what you did. However , do not forget in engaging with your organic Twitter followers so that you can gain both organic and bought Twitter followers. Great write-up.