How to Build a Loyal Following on Twitter
Twitter though not as popular as Facebook, is one of the most referenced social media applications when it comes to public opinions.
Twitter first became popular thanks to celebrities like music artists and actors who wanted to connect with their fanbase. In recent years, businesses have started to use Twitter to gain exposure for their brand. To be successful with Twitter, you need to have followers and the more followers that you have, the better because you have will have more leads.
But how do you get followers on Twitter? And how do you build a loyal following on Twitter?
Well this is what this blog post intends to answer.
Start with Your Profile
In order to have a large following on Twitter, you need to have an appealing Twitter profile. Here are the key characteristics that make up a successful Twitter profile:
An Eye-Catching Cover Photo
A cover photo should be treated as a billboard but also as a reflection of your brand. Your cover photo should contain key attributes which relate to your company’s mission statement.
To get a good idea of what your cover photo should look like take a look at similar companies and see their profile. Sometimes, it is good to invest in a highly reputable graphic designer.
A Nice Profile Photo
It is crucial to have to have a nice profile photo. For businesses, it is important to look professional yet friendly. Consumers tend to not like things which are too corporate.
Profile Bio
The profile bio is really important. It is one of the first things people read when they notice they have a new unfamiliar follower.
You only have a limited number of characters to talk about your brand/profile (140 characters), so it is best to keep things short and sweet and say what you primarily do and what you tweet about.
Learn of the Art of Twitter-esque
Common mistakes many businesses make when it comes to social media marketing is simply using social media to just sell their product without putting in any effort to build customer relations.
If you scour through Twitter and see what your competition is doing, you will notice that most their tweets are mainly about selling their product and they make zero effort on building strong customers relations.
It is important to harness the art of tweeting. In doing so, your tweets will be of high value and it will help you gain more followers. Here are some topic ideas you should tweet:
Current Trends
When you log-on to your Twitter account and see your profile home page you will notice a list of current trends (some of these start with a #hashtag symbol). These current trends tell you what the majority on Twitter are talking about. Your business can raise its profile by sharing your views on the trending topic and then add the trending topic as a hash tag.
To give you an example, you own a Spanish restaurant and you notice the trend #SpainVItaly. As a Spanish restaurant owner, this is your ideal opportunity to show your support to the Spanish national team.
Interactions
Twitter has given your customers a voice. They have the power to say both good and bad things about your brand. Rather than praising the good and brushing the bad under the twitter carpet. A really good brand acknowledges both the good and bad.
Successful brands turn negative criticism into a positive by reviewing if any improvements can be made on their service.
Other forms of interactions are asking your followers a general question. You’d be surprised at how many people are happy to respond to your tweets, especially if you have a loyal following.
Sharing Useful Content
By making your Twitter profile a valuable source of information, you will encourage your loyal followers to look out for your tweets. So share any interesting articles or videos that will be of interest to your followers.
Automate your tweets
Sending out tweets can be time consuming. So it is smart for you to automate your tweets, especially the ones where you are sharing content that will be of interest to your reader.
Thankfully, there are many free tools such as Buffer and Hootsuite which can help to automate your tweets.
Making Lists
Twitter gives you the option of creating a list of Twitter users who share similar interests. Making and managing a list provides a great platform for you to share knowledge and experience amongst similar minds on Twitter. This will help you raise your profile and gain leads.
Follow Users Who Are Interested In Your Niche
The above methods will allow your Twitter profile to slowly gain some followers, but the main way to gain followers on Twitter is to follow users who could potentially be interested in your profile. In order for this to be successful, you would need to know your followers. You need to understand them through their interests and predict what they will be tweeting about.
You can find your followers through recent tweets or by what has been written in their profile bios.
Obviously, manually following your target market will take a great deal of time. Thankfully, there are some software systems like TweetAdder that can help increase the number of followers you have.
There you have it, that ’s how you can build a loyal following on Twitter.