How to get to 10,000 Twitter followers in a year

We can’t all have as many Twitter followers as Kim Kardashian, but you don’t have to be a reality TV star to build an impressive following.

Here are five rules to follow to get you on the path to Twitter stardom:

1. Twitter is self-fulfilling

The more you interact with others, the more they’ll interact with you. But first you need to carefully define your community and follow relevant people – and the following tools can help:

• Twiends – delivers a listing of twitter users to connect with
• Followerwonk – identifies more potential followers and analyses what content is most effective at attracting them

You can also upload your existing contacts, using your email address book, plus add a Twitter account to your LinkedIn and follow all of your contacts on that channel.

Then it’s time to start interacting. Retweet the posts of those you’re following, send messages and ask them questions. Most will be grateful for the interaction and follow you back. And don’t forget to thank them for doing so.

2. Content is king

To be truly successful at building up a Twitter following, you need to be creating original content that your community will want to read or watch. Become a news feed for your industry by tweeting links to top stories, plus post up links to your blogs, case studies, company news and other relevant content. Tweets with links are retweeted far more than those without them, while pictures/graphics/videos increase the chance of a post being shared by 18%.

Make your tweets easier to find and double their engagement potential by labelling them with hashtags relevant to your community. RiteTag is a great tool for identifying the most powerful hashtags for your posts.

Offering a discount on a product or service has also proved to be effective with 94% of Twitter users following brands that do this.

3. Distribution is queen: timing and frequency is key

Work out the best time to post your tweets to maximise engagement. Generally, weekend posts generate 17% more engagement and Twitter’s peak viewing time is between 1pm and 3pm. However, your community could have their own specific habits, so experiment and adjust your tweeting to their expectations.

Avoid going tweet crazy, sticking to two to three posts a day – you don’t want people may get sick of the sight of you.

4. Presentation matters

Make sure you have a relevant, appealing, good quality cover image, a clear and concise biography, and that the style and tone of your content reflects your brand, as this will help to attract the right followers.

Your profile picture is important, too, as personalities perform better on Twitter. Even if you’re representing your brand, consider using a good profile picture of yourself rather than your logo.

5. External influence counts

Show your expertise and share your knowledge and advice through blogs and add social sharing links to them. If they get widely distributed, you can build a big community from one great piece of content.

Add your Twitter account to key touch points with your community, such as business cards, complement slips, signs, shop windows, email sign off, newsletters, etc, along with Facebook and Instagram where relevant, and display your live Twitter stream on your website.

The great thing is that today you can do a lot of this from your smartphone during your commute or free time. Working hard on your social streams will pay dividends in terms of generating a significant number of relevant followers.

By Harrison Williams, CHC Digital