How to engage with your fans and customers on Twitter
First, let your current mailing list know you’re on Twitter. If you use any other social channel, tell your followers there that they can connect with you on Twitter as well. That will give you a good base of potentially interested followers.
From there, simply start tweeting! We know – it sounds too easy, right? But it’s just like riding a bike – you’ve got to start pedaling in order to keep moving!
You can tweet about things happening in your industry, cool things you’ve learned, conferences you’ve attended, resources you use and love, or about any number of relatable things that happened to you throughout your day.
People will show more interest in your business if they feel a connection to you, so be your best self, be kind, be helpful, and have fun!
There’s really no wrong way to get started, as long as you remember that tweeting is just another way to have conversations with your followers and customers.
You can even use Twitter as an outlet for customer service – allowing you to respond to issues quickly and in real time.
How to find more Twitter followers
Start by searching for relevant accounts and hashtags. Follow other companies/profiles whose products, services, or interests relate to your own – without being direct competitors. These accounts will be more likely to be interested in what you tweet… and also in following you back! (Psst. Never follow more than 400 accounts in a day. Twitter doesn’t appreciate that)
Then, be sure to Retweet and @mention fans of your business and the accounts that you follow. An added benefit of following like-minded accounts is that you’ll have plenty of material to Retweet to your own followers – so you don’t always have to come up with brand-new talking points.
Better yet, retweet tweets with a comment. Simply retweeting is good, but retweeting with a comment is better. And for good reasons. One, it tells the person you retweeted the content from that you’re interested in their content. This makes them likely to check you and follow you back (remember the law of reciprocity we talked about above?).
Two, adding your thoughts when retweeting shows you as someone authoritative in their field. And, three, your comment adds more value for those already following you. That’s three birds with one stone. Woo hoo! 🙌
Just be sure to only retweet things that are relevant to your followers and your business.
Want more followers? Edgar’s got you covered with more tips to grow your Twitter followers in the next chapter.
How to keep your fans coming back for more
We researched some of the key stumbling blocks to building a strong Twitter presence. You can read all about them in more detail here. Basically, here’s what we figured out:
- The majority of your followers don’t check Twitter on a daily basis.
- The ones that DO average just 60 seconds on the platform each day!
- The “half-life” of a Tweet is incredibly short, and most people won’t see it – even your biggest fans!
If you’re feeling discouraged… stop! There’s a TON of opportunity to make a splash on Twitter, you just have to follow a few simple rules to make the most of your Tweets:
- Figure out when YOUR best times for posting are using Twitter Analytics. (It’s free!)
- Write your Tweets in advance. This saves time and builds a library of content you can use quickly.
- Be sure to engage with followers in real time, and don’t be afraid to start conversations!