How to Get More Twitter Followers

- Evan Williams, Twitter co-founder and CEO

When it was newly introduced, not many people were aware about how to use Twitter. Obviously, as we can see, it probably wasn't meant to be useful. It was only over time that people understood how it worked, and began using it for lots of purposes like information and media sharing, and marketing for business purposes.

What started out as a micro-blogging website, which it still is, Twitter has transcended all barriers and brought the world much closer together, with the variety of uses it has been put to. Whether you wish to gain followers just for the numbers, or for the purposes of marketing your product or business, here's a guide on getting them the right way.

Create an Interesting Profile

Twitter gives you limited space to describe yourself. Use that space well. Be specific about what you do, and your other interests. Also add a suitable profile picture. Research suggests that people tend to take a fellow-twitterer with a profile picture more seriously than those with random images for profile pictures.

This is only the start to getting a good number of followers. While the content you post on Twitter matters the most, your profile also makes an impression on your followers, particularly if you are using the site to promote your business. Just don't lie on it, because it won't take you too far.

Follow Fellow-Twitterers

The next step is to follow those who follow you. That is the general reason why people follow you. If they notice that you aren't following them back in a couple of days, they are most likely to unfollow you. Try to find people who share similar interests as you.

For instance, if someone has mentioned in their biography that they're book lovers, and you are one too, following them will make sense since you have struck common ground. Also, find out what the top-Twitterers are tweeting, understand the content of their tweets, and analyze what gets them so many followers.

For the purpose of your company or product, try to follow people who are interested in your kind of field. For example, if you sell wallpaper, and if you find a Twitterer who says she's interested in home decoration, you've found your market.

Tweet Useful Information

There are several people who provide a minute-by-minute account of what they are doing, on Twitter. Eating, sleeping, reading, walking, traveling, meeting people, the music they are listening to, the movie they are watching, all these details make it to their daily posts.

Unfortunately, only this is not going to get you too many followers. You have to tweet substantial information for people to take you seriously, unless you are a celebrity. Tweeting often will make your presence felt, and get you and your profile noticed. However, don't overdo it - about 20 tweets a day are fine.

You could provide links to interesting subjects, controversial subjects and open-ended questions. Your tweets don't have to be about your business all the time. Add a touch of humor to your tweets sometimes. People can understand the kind of person you are from the substance of your tweets.

Tweet with Pictures and Videos

Putting up interesting pictures, videos and other such media are another great way of gaining attention on Twitter. Websites like TwitPic help with this purpose, and putting a link to a picture associated with a tweet will make it more meaningful and interesting. For instance, if your company has launched a new product, put up a picture so that people get an idea about what it. This will definitely help your purpose.

Encourage Retweets

Asking your existing followers to retweet your tweets is a great way to gain some more followers. However, this largely depends on the kind of information you are tweeting. For instance, you could put up a general inspirational or motivating message, or be the first to put up the latest in the news.

Such information does not even require the request to be retweeted. On the other hand, if it is a company product you are talking about, frame your tweet in a way that makes it interesting, so that people are compelled to retweet your post.

Use Hashtags

Hashtags are a method of adding additional data by using them with important keywords in your tweets. The purpose of hashtags is to create groupings on Twitter, which means data relating to a particular topic is grouped under a hashtag.

You can track hashtags to be used in your tweets by browsing on TwitterGroups, TweetChat, etc. These are mainly used by those who have a common area of interest. Once you find out about the popular hashtags on Twitter, you could create tweets based on those topics. These will definitely help you get more followers on Twitter.

For example, if you are reading an interesting book, you could tweet about it and then use the hashtag #amreading. This is popular hashtag on Twitter that is sure to help several fellow-twitterers find you. You can also use Twitter search and look for hashtag keywords to find like-minded users, who you can follow and who may follow you back.

Use other Websites to Get More Followers

Using your personal website or your profile on a social networking site such as Facebook or MySpace to promote your Twitter account is a good way to get all the attention. Put up a link to your Twitter profile in these places, and you are likely to get more followers.

You could also paste a link to your Twitter profile in your e-mail or on your blog or website. Add the Twitter button on your page so people can share information easily. Also put a statement like join us on Twitter to get our latest updates on your page or e-mail to encourage a greater following.

Do not undermine the use of Twitter as simply another social networking website to share useless information. The many ways in which it can be used are indeed impressive, and being able to get more followers is something that can always be of great help for reasons that you will learn over time.