Like every wide-eyed college student, I managed to get an internship. Mine is at a small Web Design company in Hamden, Medium Well , and one of my main duties is running the Twitter feed. And with today's technology age, it's surprising how much time and effort goes into making these run smoothly (social media strategists get around 70K a year).
Thankfully, things have gone pretty well. Despite only being an intern, I managed to boost his follower count from 12 to 350 in about 5 weeks. And all the small tricks I used, I shall share with anyone who may want the same.
Use a Twitter platform
The first step is to get your bearings organized, and this is best done with a separate party app. There are plenty to choose from, one popular choice being Tweetdeck for the Mac, but I personally prefer Hootsuite. It’s free and works on a web browser, and it lets you do two very important things:
Organize related streams – Set up several topics related to your business. For example, my streams relate to web design and online marketing, specifically links or just casual conversation. It makes it easy to find places to get involved and find people who are interested in your tweets, so they’ll want to follow you.
Spread your tweets throughout the day – People check their feed only several times a day, and they only scan so much of their list. The solution is to schedule your tweets gradually, at about three every hour. This lets you use time more efficiently, and make it more likely for your followers to see and spread your tweets.
A Personable Profile Pic
Don’t use your logo - use a picture of yourself. Logos are for large companies that are just tweeting links to new content at all times. Personal pics are for tweeting a mix of links and personal tweets: thoughts, questions, links, and whatever else you want to send. It lets people know they’re talking to an actual person. If possible, you can create a GIF image which will cycle between your photo and your logo. This can easily be done with an online site like this.
Make your tweets readable (funny, informative, interesting, or unique)
Don’t just constantly advertise your site – do that three times a day at most, at various points in the day (especially in the afternoon). If you just advertise, people will have no reason to follow you. Choose one of the above angles and keep it consistent. If people like your tweets, they’re retweet them and possibly get you more followers.
On a side note, keep the length of your tweets in mind. You have 140 characters each. Either use almost all the space, or leave at least 35 characters free. This allows people to retweet you but add a personal comment as well, a great way to engage and spread at once. And don’t forget to do this yourself!
Engage Similar People
Use the streams you set up to your full advantage. If you see people happily talking about your focused topic, don’t be afraid to jump in and join the conversation! It only takes a second to tweet to another person, and the more you send out to others, then more of them will start to follow you. Retweet their links, give some input, even just offer some congratulations. Be a pal.
Keep the Conversation Going
If you get something sent to you, don’t just be happy and move on. Always be sure to keep some connection to the people you do find. Follow them back, keep conversations going, and never forget to tweet with the people on your home feed. At least once a week, go to the Follow Friday site, find the usernames of people who’ve contacted you, and send a thank-you tweet. It’s easy and one of the best ways to keep followers from leaving you.
Be persistent
It takes time, effort, and at times will feel like you’re not getting enough done. Just be persistent and keep going! After you begin fine tuning your craft and reach out to enough people, you’ll have a strong following you can keep reaching out to.
