15 Jul 2012

The Secret To Attracting More Twitter Followers - 10 Twitter Tactics



By Heidi Cohen at HeidiCohen.com
 If you want to build your Twitter following, take some advice from Spiderman and stay focused, according to research by Carnegie Mellon researcher Yi-Chia Wang. Marketers seeking to increase their Twitter strategy effectiveness should heed Wang’s advice because to increase your Twitter effectiveness, you must attract followers interested in the content you tweet who will then share it with their followers.


By studying 480 non-celebrity Twitter users during their first year after signing up, Wang determined the average user tweeted roughly four tweets per day.

One major Twitter marketing challenge is Wang’s finding that one out of every four Twitter users has no followers. This means no one’s listening to them, either publicly or privately.
Wang found that concentrating your Twitter content on a specific topic attracted others interested in the topic. While marketers may view this approach as limiting their Twitter following, it’ll be a more loyal, engaged group because these followers attract others with similar interests producing conversation and community around the subject. Not surprisingly,

Wang found that when people talked about a specific topic, they used the same vocabulary. Having a strong focal point results in a targeted following that’s self-selecting because they know what you’re going to share.

Wang defined success by how many followers a user attracted and social tie density, the degree to which followers also subscribed to fellow followers, as an indicator of community strength around a Twitter user. Twitter users who consistently communicated a single topic attracted more followers and created a more active community than those who discussed multiple subjects.

10 Twitter tactics

To leverage the power of Wang’s findings, here are ten Twitter tactics to focus your activity to maximize results.
  1. Give your Twitter content a laser focus. While many participants chat about a variety of topics, concentrate your tweets on a specific, well-defined topic related to your offering.
  2. Keep your tweets on target. Your goal should be to consistently tweet information about your subject area so followers know your content’s useful and predictable. The more tightly you define your topic, the easier it is for followers. Ensure every tweet counts!
  3. Speak the lingo. While you need to know the Twitter conventions, you must use the keywords others use when discussing the topic. This isn’t the time to be creative; Wang mentioned in her research that people communicating on a specific topic used the same words over and over.
  4. Include relevant hashtags. Show you’re deeply involved in your topic by incorporating appropriate hashtags. Don’t just guess at the words to use. Search and test the hashtags before you use them.
  5. Create Twitter bait on your subject. Develop information that your followers can’t resist sharing.
  6. Discuss your topic on Twitter. Don’t just blast out your messages. Bear in mind that Twitter’s a multi-directional communications platform. Engage with others by responding to comments and questions on your subject.
  7. Follow people who tweet your content. Build an engaged Twitter following with participants who tweet and retweet your content. To ensure their focus is the same as yours, check their profiles and backgrounds. Are their interests aligned with yours?
  8. Participate in relevant Twitter chats. Twitter chats are great forums to engage with likeminded participants. If a Twitter chat doesn’t exist on your topic, consider starting one.
  9. Spread the Twitter love. Retweet other people’s content on your topic. Everyone wants to get recognition on social media platforms. Share content that’s related to your subject and it’ll incent others to return the favor.
  10. Make your owned media content tweetable. Reduce any blocks that hinder other people’s ability or desire to tweet your content. Include social sharing buttons and make small bite size facts tweetable.
To build an engaged Twitter following, learn from Wang’s research. Keep your Twitter conversation tightly focused on a specific topic.

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