How do I get the Twitter followers that I want??

[Nicole Hurley]

Hey Everyone,

I am the new Tweeter for my company, we have a whopping 28 followers, and I am just wondering if any of you have any suggestions as to how to obtain the followers that I want to have... I'm not looking for 10,000 people who would have no need for our services, you know?? Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!!

[vangogh]

Twitter isn't really any different than any other way you would network with people. Think about how you would make connections with people offline and much of the same things will apply. If you're looking to get followers from existing customers add links to follow you on your site. If you have a blog (and you probably should) write a quick post letting people know about your account. Add links on other social networks as well. Do you have a Facebook page? Make sure it links ot your Twitter account. Offer freebies to people for following you. A free whitepaper maybe. Run a contest through the site where to win people have to follow your account and tweet something (usually a link back to the site)

Add a signature here with links to your site and your Twitter account. Do the same on any other forums where you post.

Within Twitter set up searches for things you think your customers will search for and start following the people who are tweeting what you searched for. If they ask questions, answer their questions. You can find a lot on Twitter through searching. Start interacting with the people you find and some will follow back. When their followers see their conversations with you some will follow you as well.

Naturally start tweeting things you think the people you want to follow you will be interested in. Tweet links to interesting content.

Give it all time. You won't build up a good following overnight, but of you keep posting things the people you want to follow are interested in they will follow.

[tylerhutchinson]

I built mine by following people in my industry who I feel potential customers may also be following in homes they will come across me. I also put twitter icons and links to all my other social sites, blog, and company website so anyone visiting those knows I have one as well. I am having similar issues with building twitter and keeping people. I am finding I get a ton of connections but then lose them also. I peaked around 500, but have dropped quite a bit. Guess I am not exciting enough!

[KristineS]

Definitely follow selectively. Search for people who are in the same industry as you. Follow them, and see who they follow. Don't follow everyone who follows you, or expect everyone you follow to follow you. Random following won't get you where you want to go, but it sounds like you already know that.

I would definitely echo the advice that's already been given about putting the icons on your sites, blogs, whatever you have. Just putting the reminder out there in as many places as possible can help.

[MostHeather]

Hello Nicole. When you go to Twitter, do a search for the words you're looking to follow. (IE #mobile or something along those lines) and follow people that are discussing the topics you're interested in. Engage in conversations and I'm sure that you'll have no problem building your Twitter. If you want to follow me @mostheather I can give you a shout out or two to my followers.
Hope this helps!

[Nicole Hurley]

@Vangogh - Thank you for your advice, and putting somethings into perspective for me. I am a facebook JUNKIE but have never got onto the Twitter train. Your advice is more than appreciated!!
@TylerHutchinson - what is your twitter? we are a marketing company, and from the sound of your company, seems like you would be a good person to follow, and vice versa - mine is in my signature.
@KristineS - I took your advice, do you like my new signature??
@MostHeather - Following

[KristineS]

@Vangogh - Thank you for your advice, and putting somethings into perspective for me. I am a facebook JUNKIE but have never got onto the Twitter train. Your advice is more than appreciated!!
@TylerHutchinson - what is your twitter? we are a marketing company, and from the sound of your company, seems like you would be a good person to follow, and vice versa - mine is in my signature.
@KristineS - I took your advice, do you like my new signature??
@MostHeather - Following

I do like your new signature. Always a good idea to let people know you're out there.

[vangogh]

Glad to help Nicole. It might help just following a few others and see what they do at first to get a sense for what works well on Twitter. One of my favorite things about Twitter is simply setting up searches. I have a few chosen ones for topics I'm interested in. I also set up a search for every new blog post I write. That lets me see who's tweeting my posts and gives me a sense of which work better on twitter. I tend to follow people who consistently tweet my content or have especially nice things to say about it.

Mostly I post links to interesting articles about the things I talk about on my blog. I don't interact with others as much as I could, though I do at times.

[MostHeather]

Thanks for the follow Nicole. I've given you a shout - hopefully it will help..

[Patrysha]

My following began with people I knew through other places online (email lists for writers, pr pros, internet marketers, and so on plus selected folks from the forums that I was on at the time...copywriting, mothering type, hobby sites, mastermind group and so on) and then I started searching for people by geographic location and then by different interests...more recently I've been picking up followers and connections through Twitter chats like speakchat, writechat, slumber party and so on...