May 19th, 2010 by Susie

Twitter is a funny old world. Who would have ever thought that uploading a small status update onto a social networking site would have people choose to follow you and comment on what you are writing. The fact is that no matter how ridiculous Twitter seems, it is a social networking phenomenon which people just cannot resist. It is fun and addictive and from a business point of view it gives you an instant audience without you having to leave your desk.

The first thing you might wonder is do you really need more followers? If you have a really good set of quality followers who you can share links with and who provide recommendations to your site, then is it not best to prioritise maintaining these relationships over getting new ones? Well, your current followers are crucial and you do not want to be losing any but gaining new ones can only open up more opportunity and when relevant traffic volume and conversions are top of your agenda, it could be said the more the merrier when it comes to our Twitter followers, as with SEO.

If you are at the stage where you feel you do your utmost to gain more followers then it might be time to come up with some more inventive ways of increasing their numbers. Just make sure that whatever methods of attraction you use, you do not lose sight of your purpose and you do not in any way devalue yourself or what your business stands for.

It might sound obvious, but is your Twitter page link everywhere that it possibly can be? For every blog you write, comment you post or even email you send, include a Twitter tag inviting people to follow you. This is social media marketing in action. If people are not asked to follow you then it may not even cross their minds, so inviting them not only entices them but it also reminds them that you are there. Invite people to join you in as many ways as possible, even within other advertisements if you feel it will work. If you cannot be seen then you cannot be followed, simple.

People like a bit of an incentive or a challenge so consider running competitions or incentives on Twitter and encourage people to enter via the site. This is a great social media optimisation method as it generates a quick and heavy burst of excitement surrounding your site.

You can also try a different angle on your tweets. Of course you will need to remember what you are representing but if you constantly tweet on the same things then throw a few spanners in the works if you can. If your tweets are factual then post something unusual or hilarious. Similarly, if you base most of your tweets on humour then start a factual debate. Obviously with this you do need to remember your company SMM strategies and rules and adhere to these, but pushing the boundaries, as long as you don’t cross them, can sometimes work wonders.

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