When it comes to Twitter, gaining followers and following others is the entire point,
right?
The truth is, just having followers is not enough, because it really comes down to the
quality of your fan base.
Are your fans interacting with your content?
How do your posts effect your audience?
Are there some things that turn people off from following you?
In this video we cover some things you should avoid when trying to maintain a valuable audience:
Not Enough Information Twitter allows you 160 characters to fill
out your bio information, so use it.
Space is finite on this "about you" section so make it really count.
People will be seeing this information when they are deciding whether or not to follow
you.
Make sure your statement says something relevant about your business.
No profile picture One of my major deciding factors about following
someone is if they are using the default profile picture.
Someone that can't bother to put up a photo usually does not get a follow back because
they either don't know what they are doing or they are a spam account.
Your Account is Private Unless your account is marked as public, people
who may be interested in following you will not be able to see what you tweet about.
If someone can't get a feel for what they are getting into with following you, they
are more likely to pass.
Make your account public to get the most traffic.
CAPS and #Hashtags You don't want to annoy your followers, so
avoid using all caps to make your post stand out in the feed.
If your content is good enough, people will engage with you, so don't resort to teenage
antics to draw attention.
Also, the character limit is set to 140 with tweets.
Make sure you aren't using more than half of that for hashtagging or people will think
you don't have the content to fill a whole tweet.
You have no Focus If your sole goal is to get followers and
all you tweet is "Follow Me" or #followback, you will rapidly lose your audience.
People want substance and content that is engaging, or else they will get tired of you,
as well they should.
Focus on putting out information that is useful and relevant to what your audience is interested
in and what you have to provide them.
You Don't Follow Back Following a legitimate account back on Twitter
is like giving a handshake.
It acknowledges that you notice when you have new followers and appreciate the new fan.
Stay on top of your new followers to make sure you don't miss any opportunities.
Never Engaging This should go without saying, but take the
time to respond to messages, mentions and comments.
People follow accounts on Twitter that they have a connection with, so encourage that
by reaching out to your fans and let them know you are listening.
Not Tweeting Regularly Stay active or the dead air could cost you.
The best accounts to follow are the ones that are sharing fresh content often, but not so
often that they flood the feed.
There is a fine line between under-tweeting and over-tweeting so be sure to be aware of
how often you are speaking to your followers.
Again, keep the content engaging and steady.
No Original Content and Too Much Repetition Retweeting relevant tweets is a good way to
stay engaged in the conversation on Twitter about your industry, but only retweeting and
not posting original content yourself can hurt you.
Your followers want to know what YOU have to say, not just other people that they may
already be following.
Keep your content relevant to your interests and those that share them.
Not Making Sense This is another thing that should go without
saying, but re-read anything you are about to tweet before you tweet it.
Does it make sense?
How will your followers respond?
Will they know what you are talking about?
Always proofread to prevent confusing anyone.
You Are Always Selling Something Obviously it's important to your company or
brand to have a following on Twitter because it increases your visibility to potential
consumers.
However, you don't want to annoy your follower base by ALWAYS trying to sell your products.
Instead, approach tweeting as a way to inform your audience about their interests as it
relates to your products.
How-to videos, links to more information, and pictures of products in use are much more
likely to engage your audience than constant sales pitches.
Bad Follower to Followed Ratio Following way more people than follow you
shows people that you are either too aggressive or unpopular.
Following way fewer people than follow you tells people you aren't very engaging.
Keep this number more balanced to reflect an active and watchful account that is interested
in audience involvement.
Your Content is Disproportionate to Your Following Have you ever seen an account that has several
thousand followers but no tweets?
A name without content may gather you followers at first, but why should people stick with
you if you have nothing to offer?
Similarly, having only a few followers and thousands of tweets tells people that you
oversaturate people.
A good rule of thumb is having no more than 2 tweets per follower, for example if you
have 10,000 followers it's okay to have 10,000 tweets.
Keep your tweets in check and make sure they are adding something valuable to the feed
of your followers.
Ultimately, there are no set rules to getting and keeping followers on Twitter or any other
social media site.
The best way to maintain a healthy social media following is by taking an organic approach.
Consider the value of what you put out there and how it will be received by those who share
your interests.
For great social media management, the best tool you have is your ability to listen and
respond.
Good luck!