When you first launch a Twitter account, it can feel like there’s an audience waiting to devour your feed. It can also feel like there are so many followers that your tweets are being retweeted for miles.
But in all reality, while having a lot of followers might help you get noticed and reach a wider audience, it’s not enough to be successful on Twitter. You need followers who are committed to following their friends and sticking with you through thick and thin.
Make sure your followers follow their friends back by starring them in their own tweets and showing that they care about them as well. You can do this by:
1) Promoting other people’s posts
2) Creating exclusive content for your followers — such as polls or videos
3) Organizing “Follow the Followers” days where followers come together and follow their friends every day
4) Working with programs like Engagement Manager to keep your followers engaged Content is king when it comes to keeping followers engaged on Twitter.
When you first launch a new account, you probably have no idea how many followers you have or how much attention each of them is willing to give you.
How you handle those follow-back opportunities becomes more important as time goes on — especially if you want to maintain high levels of engagement from your fans and subscribers.
Build a following by starred and showing that you care about your followers
First things first, you need to build a following by spotlighting and showing your followers that you care about them.
On your first day on Twitter, start giving away the town by tweeting about your followers and what they’re doing. Ask them where they are, what they’re doing, and what they’re eating.
Let’s be real: Even if you only have five followers at the moment, they’re your followers, and you care about them.
When you start to tweet about them often, you’ll notice that they’ll start to notice you, and soon, you’ll have a community of followers. Build a following by spotlighting and showing that you care about your followers.
Build a following by showcasing your engagement with your followers
Once you have a decent following, the next step is to build a following by showcasing your engagement with your followers.
By this, I mean that you should be regularly replying to their tweets, sharing your posts and videos with them, and putting them in front of your content regularly.
This will help your followers feel as if you’re keeping up with them, and that you care about them as well. If you have a large following, this will take very little effort on your part, but it’s the little things that make a big difference.
You can do this by creating a schedule where you share content regularly, and then tagging your followers when you do (along with the post or video you shared).
Store your followers’ attention with trending topics
While you should be posting content on a daily basis, it’s also important to keep your followers’ attention. This can be done by creating trending topics of your own.
By creating your own topics, you’re able to get in on the ground floor with all of the hot topics that are currently buzzing around your followers.
You can also go the extra mile and request the latest headlines from your followers since they’re likely paying attention to your timeline anyway.
Take advantage of followers’ “likes” and “retweets”
After you’ve given your followers something to talk about, take advantage of their “likes” and “retweets” by replying to them and sharing your posts with them.
It’s likely that if your posts get a lot of likes and retweets, your followers will be more likely to come back for more.
Organize “Follow the Followers” days where your followers follow one another
All of this engagement, and more, can lead to lots of new followers. But how do you keep them from retapping to their own accounts when they’re done following you?
By organizing “Follow the Followers” days, where your followers follow one another and then you can follow them all over again. This way, you avoid getting overwhelmed with the amount of new followers that are coming in.
Don’t be afraid to step away from the traditional model and encourage manual follow-backs
One of the most exciting things about Twitter is that it’s not only easy to get started but also extremely easy to stop.
You can focus all of your efforts on growing your following and achieving your growth goals, or you can take a step back and allow your followers to “step into your shoes.” You can encourage them to organize “Follow the Followers” days or to invite their friends to do so too.
This will allow you to show off your content and interact with your followers in a more human way.****
Conclusion
The number of followers you have can be a great boost for your social media efforts, but it’s not enough by itself. You’ll need to make sure those followers are actively engaging with your posts and accounts.
By following their friends, creating exclusive content for your followers, and organizing “Follow the Followers” days, you can make sure your followers are getting the most out of their social media experience.
