Build Your Twitter Base

**slckfielder08** · 01-14-2010 11:46 AM

Twitter is a great way to market your company and connect with consumers. How do you attract people to your Twitter account so your tweets have an audience? I know there are a lot of services out there guaranteeing 200 followers a day, but those aren't quality followers. Any tips?

**karlhadwen** · 01-14-2010 12:10 PM

Just tweet quality stuff and interact with other people in your niche.

**TaraYE** · 01-14-2010 01:04 PM

I built up my Twitter follower base quickly by seeking out those people I felt were my target audience. Once I found them, I took a look at who they were following, as well as their followers. Once you add followers, start making genuine connections. Have conversations, retweet their content, reply when necessary. Like any other networking, a quality "list" is all about building relationships and gaining their trust.

You're right - those "200 followers a day" programs are not effective in building anything of quality. Better to have a smaller number of loyal followers than a large number of followers who don't even know who you are.

Good luck!

Tara

**Wayne Liew** · 01-15-2010 03:10 AM

Stay away from softwares, scripts or services that promises to build your follower count.

Here's a few thing that you can start doing today:

First of all, you should know your business and your target audience. Use the Twitter search function and key in various keywords that are relevant to your business and you should be able to find Twitter users that you might want to interact with. If there's little to no users tweeting your terms, it's possible that Twitter is not the place for you or your business.

Following a few a day will do. Don't focus on the numbers but the possibility of these users interacting and engaging with you in the long run.

Secondly, start tweeting information or links to useful articles that are relevant to your niche or business. Don't overdo this and find a frequency that you think your followers will be comfortable with. If your followers are not tweeting a few times in one hour, you might want to slow down your tweeting frequency too.

Last but not least, engage and interact with your followers. Sending out or tweeting information is just part of the puzzle. In order to make Twitter effective, you need to approach people that you follow. Look at the main Twitter stream, is there a tweet where you can jump in and provide your help, opinions or insights? In case you didn't know, people are always asking for help on Twitter and if you think you can help, please do. This will help you stand out from millions of Twitter users out there.

Practice the few tips above hand-in-hand and I'm sure you'll find Twitter becoming an effective tool to promote yourself or your business. Remember, it's not about the follower count.

**JenniferEscalona** · 01-15-2010 09:23 PM

To add to what others have said, if your business fills a niche, use Twitter's search function to find people who are asking questions about your niche - and answer them! You'll prove yourself an invaluable resource, and even if you can't answer a question, if you've built up a list of knowledgeable followers, chances are you can retweet the question and one of them will know the answer. Social media is about giving, not getting, so if you prove yourself helpful and ready to pitch in when someone needs you, you'll gain a great reputation among your followers and they'll recommend you to others.

**alcglobalpartners** · 01-25-2010 07:09 AM

I would also be patient. I started my twitter from nothing and tweet only once a week - however I now have a significant number of followers. I think key words and good info are king

**TylerWoerner** · 01-25-2010 08:05 PM

I would agree with most of the posts. The fascinating thing about the social media marketing is that only the genuine will survive. People don't want to feel like they are being spammed or sold anything. If you can be a great resource and offer great content and a great product people will follow you. Most importantly those people will be loyal and long term.

**JamesKent** · 01-27-2010 03:35 AM

I've just started using Twitter and tried to make it up as I went along, not wise it would appear! I've followed some wise advice and now I've got a few followers, I follow people I think are interesting and as I sell books every now and then I search for people that are Tweeting about needing a book, I speak to them and askk if they are interested in buying from us, if they're not I leave it, if they are then I ring publishers, other distributors, anyone I can and get them the cheapest possible price, if we don't sell the book i create an entire new page on my site dedicated to them, twitter is about connecting directly with your customers and relies entirely on flexibility on your part. It can be a lot of work but it can be very rewarding.

**GetGrasshopper** · 01-27-2010 11:03 AM

Don't worry so much as the amount of followers you get, but the quality of followers you get. Just like any social network, you get what you give.

Here at Grasshopper, we focused on providing content around entrepreneurship and startups as that is our target audience. We also try to give information about our own products answer any questions people have. Twitter is a great way to reach new customers and more importantly retain current ones.

Start following people in your industry who respect. Retweet their tweets that you think are useful. If you really want to get followers, yes, you can use a service that will get you 10,000 followers but it doesn't matter if none of them are engaging with you.

**slckfielder08** · 01-27-2010 12:47 PM

Thanks for the answers. I guess I understand the quality and sharing aspect. But isn't there a perception that more followers equals more clout? I feel like my growth has stagnated with a few hundred. Yes I'm engaging, but how do you suppose you take your account to the next level? Like from 200 to 1,000 to 10,000? It just seems no matter how many people I reply to my numbers never make a significant jump. If I'm putting in let's say 10 hours a week for 3 weeks, that's 30 hours, and I have 13 more followers to show for it. That's a lot of time for rather insignificant results. Should I just be patient and keep plugging away? Thoughts?

**burnsrunner** · 01-31-2010 03:30 PM

Originally Posted by slckfielder08

Twitter is a great way to market your company and connect with consumers. How do you attract people to your Twitter account so your tweets have an audience? I know there are a lot of services out there guaranteeing 200 followers a day, but those aren't quality followers. Any tips?

A lot of those services to guarantee followers, but statistically they are all on the same service to: get followers

To actually get good business connections through Twitter, stay consistent, networking, posting regularly, have fun, and just be real, (be yourself!)

**timesheets** · 02-03-2010 06:08 PM

You can try tweetadder.com

This is a program for building twitter networks. Basically it monitors the feed for keywords or themes you want to target. It automatically follows anyone who meets the requirements. Those people get an email saying you are now following them.

Good luck!
Peggy
Timesheets.com

**JoshOm** · 02-04-2010 10:25 AM

Originally Posted by Wayne Liew

Stay away from softwares, scripts or services that promises to build your follower count.

Here's a few thing that you can start doing today:

First of all, you should know your business and your target audience. Use the Twitter search function and key in various keywords that are relevant to your business and you should be able to find Twitter users that you might want to interact with. If there's little to no users tweeting your terms, it's possible that Twitter is not the place for you or your business.

Following a few a day will do. Don't focus on the numbers but the possibility of these users interacting and engaging with you in the long run.

Secondly, start tweeting information or links to useful articles that are relevant to your niche or business. Don't overdo this and find a frequency that you think your followers will be comfortable with. If your followers are not tweeting a few times in one hour, you might want to slow down your tweeting frequency too.

Last but not least, engage and interact with your followers. Sending out or tweeting information is just part of the puzzle. In order to make Twitter effective, you need to approach people that you follow. Look at the main Twitter stream, is there a tweet where you can jump in and provide your help, opinions or insights? In case you didn't know, people are always asking for help on Twitter and if you think you can help, please do. This will help you stand out from millions of Twitter users out there.

Practice the few tips above hand-in-hand and I'm sure you'll find Twitter becoming an effective tool to promote yourself or your business. Remember, it's not about the follower count.

I totally agree with you