Increase your Twitter followers in 3 easy steps

I continue to receive a lot of questions about how to increase Twitter followers. I am planning a webinar for my Indie Beauties on the topic. In the meantime, here are some tips everyone can use. These are short and sweet. And they work. I have 2,434 Twitter followers as of this moment. Following this method, I will have at least 10 more by the end of the workday. Here's how you can do it too.

1. Help

Who are you helping by posting a Tweet? If it's yourself, that's legitimate. Just don't help yourself all the time. Help others. Did someone post their good news? Reply to them with a congratulatory note. Did someone ask for help in an area of your expertise? Offer it. Is someone new to Twitter? Welcome them. Did someone ask for retweets? Retweet! Is your new blog post helpful to other Indie Business owners? Share it, with a request for comments. And remember to comment back if you get any blog visitors.

Every helpful Tweet results in new followers.

2. Share

What can you share? If it's your new product or service, that's great. Just don't be obnoxious about it, sharing, re-sharing and recycling your same ol' stuff over and over again. Is there a great post in Digg or StumbleUpon? Share it. Did you read a fantastic newspaper or magazine article? Share it. Did you discover a new blog plugin, online tutorial or helpful business or household hint? Share it. Just like in the sand box, don't keep the good toys to yourself. Share them with others. And when you share, remember to share the link to the post, picture, video or whatever. (Nothing is more annoying than a Tweet that says, "Hey, great video! Thanks for sharing!" and there's no link for people reading that Tweet to click on to see the great video.)

Every sharing Tweet results in new followers.

3. Entertain

That's right, entertain people. Share a laugh, make folks think, help them get their creative juices flowing. Did you hear a good joke (that's suitable for public dissemination)? Post it. Did you find an entertaining video on YouTube or at someone else's blog? Post that. Did you do something fun? Take a photo and post it using Twitpic. Are you live on UStream? Spread the word so others can join you. Make people smile as you also inform and enlighten them.

Every entertaining Tweet results in new followers.

Twitterer Beware!

Oh! And while I'm at it, remember the 08: second rule, which I learned here, as a result of James Andrews' (@keyinfluencer's) recent "Twitter Situation":

“Does this need to be said? Does it need to be said by me? Does it need to be said by me now?” When in doubt, ask yourself these questions before Tweeting. If the answer to any of them is "no," it's probably better left unTweeted. (And if you screw up and Tweet it anyway, if you catch yourself fast enough, you can always trash your post before too many people see it.)

Question: OK, try this today, slipping in and out of Twitter and posting about 15 to 20 times. Let me know what happens.

Comments

[Donna Johnson]

It's 2:31pm, about 4 hours or so after I posted this article. I now have 10 more followers than I did when I posted the article. I have Tweeted 8 times as follows:

- 1 personal Tweet (about my daughter's hair) (entertain)
- 2 replies to other Tweets (share)
- 1 Retweet (help)
- 1 kind of funny question seeking input from others (entertain)
- 1 Tweet of this blog post (help, share)
- 1 Tweet of an NPR article about the inauguration (share, entertain)
- 1 Tweet of an IBN member video (share, entertain)

Have you tried it yet?

[Cheri Tracy]

Great article, dM. I'm curious...How many times a day do you tweet on average?

[Donna Johnson]

@Cheri: I Twitter (or do I Tweet?) about 20 times a day. I think that's a fair average for me. Are you going to try this method? Would love to know how it works for you if so.

[Sarah Powell]

Why does one want so many followers? Just as a kind of increase in publicity for your business? I guess this is just another marketing tool?