April
2, 2021
4 min read
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
I’ve had a Twitter account since 2017. I hardly used it, and it amassed a grand total of 50 followers.
When I returned to Twitter, nobody was engaging with me. I was speaking into the void.
Within 30 days, I grew my following to 2,500+, gaining 2.5 million impressions with just 30 minutes of usage per day.
Here is how you can do the same.
Community focus
Building a community is the best way to grow an active, engaged, real following on Twitter.
Followers are just a number at the end of the day. Would you rather have 10,000 followers, but still struggle to drive action, or 500 followers on the edge of their seats awaiting your content?
Lead your strategy with a community focus.
In other words: not just tweeting and expecting the engagement to roll in. I flipped the script and started tweeting less, and engaging more.
I set a strict schedule to tweet two times per day of my best, most insightful work. Snippets from online content I wrote, tips on how I grew my business, lessons from being in the startup trenches.
You don’t have to think of content ideas. Just be yourself and share your stories from real-life to business!
Once you have valuable content on your profile, start engaging in specific communities.
Do you want to tweet about startups? Don’t follow startup companies, follow the employees of those companies. Then, look at who is replying, liking, and retweeting their content.
Engage with those people and build real relationships.
As you do this, those who you are engaging with will naturally click on your profile. When they see your valuable insights, they’ll follow.
You’ll quickly build a small community that supports your content as you support theirs.
Related: How I Went From Zero to 380,000 Twitter Followers Without …
Utilize direct messages
One of the most underrated aspects of Twitter is the DM functionality.
And no, it’s nothing compared to LinkedIn. No spam, and definitely no sales pitches.
Twitter is about unique, interesting, engaging content. It’s not about trying to make instant profits from a follower.
In direct messages, welcome new followers and ask them to talk about themselves. Learn about the projects they are working on and where you can help.
Doing so fosters a real bond and friendship. People engage with people who engage with them.
When growing a following, you have to understand that Tweeting is just a small portion of your strategy.
The biggest impacts for growing an engaged following happen in real conversations with people.
Related: Increase Retweets and Improve Engagement on Twitter With These …
Refine your content approach
Content on Twitter has evolved dramatically from the early days of sharing your every random thought to insightful, detailed threads, one-liners that spark curiosity, and so much more.
The content you share on Twitter is a direct indicator to potential followers of how much value you can deliver for them.
Growth via better content requires retweets. Retweets expand your reach infinitely, opening your ideas to new audiences and driving action on your profile.
The best ways to elicit more retweets and engagement are:
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Create detailed threads: be contrarian and hook people in with a hot-take thread on a popular subject
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Tap into relevant news
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Mention users with an existing following (but avoid those with millions of followers)
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Share numbers and success stories
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Describe failures and lessons learned
For example, I wrote a thread curating some of the best threads I’ve seen on Twitter. It received over one million impressions and 59,000+ engagements.
The most interesting content isn’t copied, faked, or forced. It’s from real experiences. Share yours and people will naturally gravitate.
Lastly, always remember: Twitter is about making friends and creating a like-minded community.
Be friendly, be supportive, and have fun with it.