In the first two parts of our "Tactics to Grow Your Twitter Followers" series, we shared valuable tips and best practices that you can follow without investing any money. But sometimes, it takes more than organic tactics to grow your community. In this third part of our guide, we provide you with some additional tips, both paid and free, based on suggestions from over 100 experts.
1. Focus on a niche
Instead of trying to appeal to a broad, generic audience, it can be helpful to first focus your efforts on engaging a niche audience. Once you've built a solid presence within that niche, you can branch out and more easily get noticed among other audiences.
“Having a niche can also help you attract a group with a specific interest. It could be related to business, sports, entertainment, or even global affairs,” advises Nathan Hughes, director of marketing at Diggity Marketing.
2. Diversify your content
People are different, and your choice of content also varies. While some enjoy visual content, others may find text content easier to process. Similarly, many people may appreciate educational and informational content and others may want to consume more entertaining content. So, to meet the different needs of your audience, make sure to cover many types of formats in your Twitter strategy.
“You can mix things up by sharing infographics, podcasts, webinars, events, or even how-to guides, in addition to the usual tweets,” says Divorce Answers marketing director Lauren McKay. "You're in a great position to gain more likes, comments, retweets, and followers if you write great posts," she explains.
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According to Melanie Allen, content developer at Partners in Fire, “There are many different ways to add value on Twitter. It doesn't have to be strictly educational. You can be funny, ask questions, post engaging polls, post threads, and images.” She adds, “Mixing your content with different types of posts will help you reach an even wider audience.”
“It is critical to represent a broader audience. Everyone will feel heard and recognized this way,” says Susan Smith, marketing manager at Velden Engineering. “On your Twitter account, discuss a variety of topics that influence people. This contributes to a higher level of engagement."
"If you don't know something about a topic, don't misrepresent it to others," he adds. “Also, strive to be as inclusive as possible. To improve engagement, different personalities, races, genders, and social backgrounds need to be represented on a regular basis."
Canva's Twitter account is the perfect example of a diversified feed. The brand regularly shares a combination of short texts, images, and videos. They share tips, create challenges, and retweet Canva users' creations to drive visibility and engagement.
To get started with this tactic, you can follow the 80/20 rule like Stacey Kane, Business Development Lead at EasyMerchant. “I follow the 80/20 rule, which means 80% of tweets should be informative or helpful to our audience, and 20% should be promotional,” she explains.
“Not enough marketers understand the importance of this concept, and it's vital to growing an engaged audience. This framework keeps our audience engaged and engages on Twitter."
You can also divide your Twitter content into different categories, as Michel Fortin, director of the search at Seoplus+, explains. "Usually I have my tweets separated into categories, like 'question of the day, ' feedback search', 'quote of the day, 'interesting stocks', 'latest news and 'promotions'."
“The 'question of the day is always the first tweet with a question meant to spark conversations. For example, 'Good morning! What ability do you have that no one knows about?' The one to 'seek feedback ' is specific to my industry (ie SEO and digital marketing), and the goal is to get input or advice from peers or help me brainstorm ideas."
3. Adjust your schedule
Time is just as important as the quality of the content. “With nearly 400,000 posts a day, it's crucial to post at the right time to get the maximum number of users seeing and interacting with a tweet,” explains Rima Shah, director of digital marketing at Technostacks Infotech.
“The higher the visibility, the higher the performance of the tweets. Discover the most appropriate time to tweet based on your industry and location. A post gets half of its retweets in the first twenty minutes. After that, the tweet doesn't matter much anymore. To analyze and use a proper tool to know the best and the worst time for your tweets ”, she comments.
“When it comes to tweeting, I advise you to time your tweets correctly to increase your following. While your target audience is sleeping, for example, posting won't help you attract new followers," explains Teo Vanyo, CEO of Stealth Agents.
“The ideal times to post on social media are typically early and late weekday afternoons. You can use a scheduling tool to queue information regularly without having to continuously tweet in real-time.”
According to Derek Warburton, creative director at Warburtonmedia, “Just like on Facebook, there may be periods of the day or week when users are more active or more likely to engage with your content. You will receive more views and are more likely to increase engagement and clicks if you can identify those peak hours.”
“Some studies have shown that posting between 12:00 and 3:00 PM Monday through Friday is one of the best times, while others have found somewhat different peak times; For example, one week found that 5 pm had the most retweets, but posting between 12 pm and 6 pm had the highest CTR."
“To make sure your users see your tweets, find out when they're on Twitter. To schedule timely posts that won't be hidden in your followers' feeds, use data from Sprout Social, Hootsuite, or Buffer,” advises Jason McMahon, digital strategist at Bambrick.
“The best way to maximize your current audience and expand your following is by making sure you're tweeting at the right time when your users are most likely to see your posts,” agrees Shiv Gupta, CEO of Incrementors. "And the best way to make sure this happens is by using data from social management tools like Hootsuite or Buffer."
The Audience Connect Twitter marketing platform helps you understand when your audience is most likely to be active on Twitter. Analyze the timelines of relevant users and generate the Best Time to Tweet report to show you how to schedule your tweets for maximum reach.
If you're a Buffer or Hootsuite user, Audiense Connect has integrations with these tools so you can easily schedule your tweets at the optimal times.
4. Pin your best tweet
Do you have a great tweet that would make people follow you if they saw it? Pin it so people who visit your profile see it at the top of your page.
Simon Brisk, CEO of Click Intelligence, comments that “you can link to your latest campaign or your best work. Whatever it is, you have to be of sufficient quality that people are willing to follow you."
“Pinning tweets on your profile is basic but can result in more engagement,” agrees SEO specialist Brack Nelson. "If you get new followers and they visit your Twitter profile, the pinned tweet will get a lot more attention."
5. Promote your tweets
Sometimes organic efforts alone won't be enough to reach the level of growth you're hoping for. When this happens, you may want to consider paying to promote your tweets and reach a larger audience.
According to Gerrid Smith, CMO of Joy Organics, “Twitter advertising is a wonderful strategy for growing your Twitter following because it has a cheap cost-per-click rate and allows you to target your audience based on engagement and keywords. When you promote a tweet, you have a better chance of reaching the right people."
To get more out of this approach, Matt Weidle, director of business development at Buyer's Guide, suggests leveraging ads to promote your best Tweets. “Take note of the topics and ideas that produced the best results and share more content in that regard. You can even run a paid campaign to increase engagement on your most popular tweet."
Samsung Mobile created a survey asking people what they expect from their phones. He then promoted it so that more people could see it.
To learn more about how to take advantage of your paid campaigns on Twitter, check out our bonus tip at the end of the article.
6. Launch a followers campaign
A followers campaign is another type of advertising tactic you can run on Twitter.
“Along with organic growth, I suggest increasing your numbers by running a followers campaign. They allow you to market your account to a certain demographic, and you only pay when someone follows you as a result of your ad,” explains mortgage broker Alan Harder.
“Consider short campaigns to increase your momentum or an ongoing campaign to generate a steady stream of new followers. Increasing your brand's followers on Twitter may require some testing and a lot of patience, but the result will be significant in the long run,” advises Alan.
7. Organize contests and giveaways
Contests and sweepstakes are other strategies that do not require a significant financial investment. This is a great option because your new and existing followers can earn something, which could prompt them to enthusiastically participate. But make sure the prize is something your audience finds valuable.
“You can increase your number of followers by organizing contests and sweepstakes, as well as promoting your products and services. Each entrant is a potential new follower, and each follower has the option to tell their friends about it,” explains Gerrid Smith of Joy Organics.
8. Take advantage of guest articles
Posting guest posts is a well-known strategy for gaining backlinks and establishing your authority in your industry. But guest posts also have benefits beyond that, including helping you attract followers to your social media profiles.
“If you're a Twitter user with a penchant for writing, guest posting on popular blogs and outlets can help you grow your community. But don't forget to include your Twitter account in your author bio,” recommends Ryan Dalal, CEO and founder of Word to PDF.
“Each article you publish in a reputable online magazine will drive traffic to your Twitter profile as a result,” he explains. “There is a high probability that readers will follow you if they enjoy your ideas and insights. While gaining Twitter followers by tapping into the following of popular online outlets or blogs is a gradual and ongoing process, it produces fantastic results for persistent users."
9. Tag people and start conversations
Twitter is one of the few platforms where followers of people you tag can still see your posts. This means that tagging the right people can help you gain visibility with relevant audiences and potential followers.
But instead of tagging random people, use it as an opportunity to start conversations that others will want to join.
“I used to tag multiple people at once to try to create a thread with maximum engagement,” explains Dan Ni, CEO, and founder of Messaged.com. "Overall, I made sure the content was engaging and hooked my target audience."
Dan's strategy is to create content mentioning key companies and tag them when he shares the content through Twitter.
“You can start having discussions with your followers if you have been participating in Twitter chats or if you are active on that network. Asking about your industry or specialty, and then tagging your Twitter contacts to reply is a popular way to do this,” suggests Corporate Investigation Consulting founder Gerrid Smith.
“This will start a conversation topic. The trick to starting a discussion is that you can't do it without first establishing a relationship with other users. People who have never interacted with you before are unlikely to start responding to your queries right away,” she warns.
In addition to your followers, you should also consider tagging influencers to ask them questions and start conversations that can engage others. "Tagging influencers on relevant topics can generate comments and likes, increasing engagement," says Rima Shah of Technostacks Infotech.
10. Be a force of positive energy
Positive energy is contagious, for Will Cannon, CEO of Signature. That's why he recommends using positivity to attract potential followers on Twitter.
“ Haters and others who want to bring you down will try to suppress your views and use social media to do so. As a result, you should make your personality stand out among your fans by exuding optimism,” she advises.
“You can do this by discussing relevant or taboo topics and asking for feedback from your followers. Let your Twitter account serve as a forum for your followers to interact with you and share their stories. This helps in developing a larger fan base and gaining new followers. You can also use Twitter to talk about a hot topic right now like mental health, and how your followers can promote it at work and at home.”
“Bonus Tip”: Make the most of marketing platforms for Twitter
Our own advice is: Take advantage of advanced Twitter marketing platforms like Audiense Connect to uncover effective opportunities to grow your Twitter community. Audience Connect gives you tools to manage your community and create a Twitter strategy that makes a difference.
Audience Connect has robust competitor analysis features that allow you to identify potential audiences to target with your campaigns and which strategies are working.
The platform also allows you to create chatbots so you can improve the way you interact with your potential customers or followers. Use it to greet profile visitors with a welcome message that encourages them to continue engaging with your brand.
One of Audiense Connect's standout features is Tweet Analytics, which provides audience insights that you can no longer get with native Twitter analytics. With this feature, you can analyze the performance of your content to see what works with your audience. You can also get community insights like demographics, languages, and interests, which is a great way to find out how to shape your campaigns.
In addition, Audience Connect allows you to create custom audiences that you can use to improve the targeting of your advertising on Twitter, something that will come in handy if you ever want to promote your tweets.
Audience Connect has the best Twitter Custom Audience product in the industry. You will be able to refine your criteria and target the most relevant users. You can get the niche you want and target people based on personality traits, how they've engaged with your account, what they have in their bio, and more.
