I could’ve written a headline like “Top 25 tips to gain more followers in one week on Twitter”. I really wanted to, but on second thoughts, I thought I’d be real and honest, so here you go !
On Twitter, everything quick is short. Period. Quick sprout of followers ? Possible, but not long lasting. Quick popularity ? Possible, but you won’t be remembered as a friend. Still don’t agree ? Remember @aplusk, that dude made it to the one million mark in just a few days, but he never replied to anyone, did he ? And tweeps were found saying – “now that I’ve helped this guy out, I think its time to unfollow”. So that’s how Twitter is, unless one finds value in your content, people won’t find you interesting, even if you’re a celebrity.
So an alternate and not-so-quick way around is to fetch reputation and respect from the Twitterverse. Like how Reg Saddler (@zaibatsu) managed to. He’s a respectable and popular guy on Twitter today, in fact he’s a power player on almost all the social media channels you can think of. Let me try and explain to you whatever I found interesting in this man. ( Read – Let’s copy him ! )
1. Communicate with people around you
Twitter is essentially a communication tool, so you have a responsibility to reply to questions and engage in discussions with those around you. I don’t mean to reply/answer to anyone, but at least the ones that usually re-tweets you, or the ones you think are genuine. Its a good signal to others that you are genuine. Reg is a master at that. He replies to all the genuine questions asked, no matter who you are. I think that’s a great character I wish was there in many so called A – Listers.
2. Don’t go for the numbers
Number of followers are great to show off, but the crux of the idea is to be a good chap. Look at @zaibatsu, this guy is a super-hero on social media, he’s got followers who will blindly re-tweet anything he says. But I haven’t seen such a humble guy like him with so many followers. Anyone could get carried off with half the amount of followers he has. But he manages them well, in fact he keeps following interesting people daily. So, if you think that you need to have more number of followers always than the number of people you follow, that’s not necessarily right.
3. Bring in quality to your Tweets
If you’ve been following Reg (and other toppers) you’ll see that no matter what their professions/backgrounds are, they all bring in quality tweets. Like breaking news, resource lists and important titbits of info. People really appreciate that sort of help.
4. Don’t forget to have fun
If you watch carefully, Reg has some seriously funny tweets late night. Some people say that he’s drunk while tweeting those, and I’m really not sure whether he’s making it up. But they are really enjoyable and that takes care of the fun loving folks on Twitter. So much to beat resource list boredom.
5. Give respect, take respect
One surprising character in power players like Reg or Robert Scoble is that they respect even the guy who joined Twitter yesterday. They might not listen / read every single tweet from a newbie but they do listen if they reach out and raise a genuine question. I’ve found that such tweeps are loved more. Fair enough.
6. Say No when you have to. Don’t fake
So having lot of followers also will bring in the humungous responsibility of managing them right ? I’m pretty damn sure that its no easy task. You can’t possibly make everyone happy all the time. You have to get in to arguments, disagreements and negotiations. Just that, you have to do it right and fair. So don’t fake your loyalty and respect, say no or disagree when you see something wrong or unfair.
7. Vary your Tweets – Don’t stick to one category
Now when you’re dealing with a whole lot of people, its obvious that not all of them would be web designers or SEOs, and its important for you to cater to all of them. So distributing your tweet type and style over a large chunk of people is a wise decision, but may be you’ll have to figure out what amount of what category fits the bill, later. That requires some time to study. Reg does that beautifully well, however, am not sure if its done cleverly, most probably natural.
8. Follow everyone back
I personally agree to Reg, that following everyone isn’t spam, contrary to what many people think. I think its only fair to follow everyone back. Its not like by following you read their every tweet, but its giving them an opportunity to connect with you. And you can’t under estimate anyone, can you ? There might be that someone who’s popular offline but not quite popular on Twitter, who wants to DM you. Only if you follow. Reg follows everyone back, and he does that reasonably well. I like that.
9. Be modest, say thanks for the favours and help
When someone re-tweets me, I think its like “showing their love to me”. And I can’t possibly ignore it, rather I’d prefer to acknowledge it and just you know, accept it. I normally thank everyone who re-tweets me, and Reg does that quite often when he’s asking for help. There is an awesome number of re-tweets so its not possible to say thanks to all of them but he takes time out to thanks everyone who helps him with his requests. Which is good.
Okay that’s all I can think of. Hope they helped you. I just took Reg as an example for a popular and interesting guy on Twitter, I’m sure there are a lot more that I don’t know of. If you’ve been stalking power users like Reg, I’m sure you’d also have tips to share. Please feel free to share it here in comments.
|
SEO Auditor Features - Complete SEO audit - Competitor Analysis - Report generation Try it today ! |
Link Assistant Features - Easy Link Building - Finds link partners - Get backlinks regularly Try it today ! |
Rank Tracker Features - Rank Check reports - 558 Search Engines - Keyword Research Try it today ! |
Possibly related SEO & Social Media Articles
- 8 Habits of Successful & Popular Twitter users for Inspiration
First off, being popular on Twitter isn’t everything. There is nothing glorious about it, its just a temporary thing and it feels nice when you’re on the ranks, but that’s about it. I’m not of the opinion that ranks alone bring success and popularity on Twitter. Ranks do mean numbers. So that’s a lot of tweeting. [...]... - 9 Tips to build your reputation on Twitter like Guy Kawasaki
I respect and love this guy for his sheer intellect and skills. He does things in style and every word he utters make sense. He might be controversial in his (some) remarks, but he’s a marketer who does things, the way they should be. And he has the number to show off always, so who [...]... - 4 Simple ways to show love & respect to your Twitter followers
I’ve been making lots of friends on Twitter recently and I admit that its very flattering. For the record, Twitter has been the most successful social media tool ever for me. I mean I haven’t enjoyed this kind of growth and exposure on any other social media channel so far. While I must agree its [...]... - How to get more followers on Twitter – 10 Aweomse Tips from Experts !
You know what’s funny with this question ? Its one question everyone asks on Twitter..yep everyone ! Right from the guy who just started off on Twitter to the guy who’s sitting there right on top. “How to get followers..more followers on Twitter ?” Followers are like money. The guy who has a couple of them wants [...]... - 10 Ways to maintain a healthy, likeable Twitter profile and enjoy a fun Twitter life
First off, I’m no Twitter expert, and this is no ultimate guide to Twitter bliss. Just like you, I was amazed by the power of Twitter (still am) , and unlike the early days, where I struggled to find out what was going on, today I have a pretty active Twitter profile where I’m following [...]...
DSB Sponsors
-
Recent Comments
- back linking guide
on How to find .edu backlinks pointing to your site?
- backlinking guide
on How to find .edu backlinks pointing to your site?
- Dave -nibbleanibble
on How to get free backlinks
- Blogger Den
on 3 Effective Ways to block Google from crawling parts of your website
- SEO Web Analytics
on How to find .edu backlinks pointing to your site?
- back linking guide
|
Hi, I'm Mani Karthik, SEO, Blogging & Social Media Enthusiast. I primarily blog about SEO and Social Media on this blog, basically How-to articles and tutorials to help the SEO learner. Feel free to have a look around and drop comments. Hope you enjoy your stay.
>> More about me |
© 2009 DailySEOblog.com Privacy policy
Good Compilation Mani… thanks I just discovered @zaibatsu
Reply
I really can’t understand why we have to follow back ? It really don’t make a sense.
Reply
Mani Karthik
Replied:
Hami, I see it as a fair chance given to the guy who’s following you to connect. Its totally okay for not following them back, some people do find it difficult to manage so much followers. So its up to you and how you want to see it.
Reply
cocutzamisca
Replied:
Because following back gives to the follower the oportunity to share what you tweet.Your tweets can be interesting to your followers.
Reply
Great points – there are some people I don’t follow back if their content offends me.
Reply
cocutzamisca
Replied:
I agree with you.I have followers that promote porn sites,and I didn’t return the follow.
Reply
Hey Mani, good list but the follow everybody back does not work in the long run!
Reply
Thanks for the good, solid advice. I agree with Lynn as well…I don’t follow back if someone’s content is offensive.
Reply
I try to follow everybody back for a few weeks at least, obviously some people are just spamming but for the rest of them it’s a great place to meet new people.
Reply
cocutzamisca
Replied:
You can unfollow the spammers and report them.
Reply
Very good information.
I too, do my best to thank people for favors done, but I will take it to the next step like the Body By Chocolates team is so keen on doing.
After thanking them I will also look at their profile and think of something interesting to ask from what they have put together. This often leads to interesting conversations that I encourage to be taken offline into the DM side of Twitter. Reason: No one wants to be forced to listen to two people getting to know each other.
Reply
jwewrite
Replied:
Thanks, Guy. That was good advice. I like it. I’ll do it.
Reply
I completely disagree with point 8. Yes, it’s not spam. But it’s not honest either. If you follow someone it should be because you want to. Because you find them interesting, amusing et al. To my view, that’s the best thing about Twitter—follow relationships can be one-way.
I’ll take an example. One of my followers, @Naomi_InHamburg, is amusing and fun, so I read her replies. But I don’t follow her back, because I gain no value from most of her tweets. That’s how it works for me.
And DMs are private. I don’t want any old person DMing me. If it’s really important they can @reply me and if they look genuine I’ll DM them my email address. Simple.
Reply
Mani Karthik
Replied:
Makes sense. I think thats the whole idea, you could use it how you want it to. Works either way, right ?
Reply
Beth
Replied:
I disagree with not following someone back- if you’re reading their replies. You’re obviously gaining something, or you wouldn’t bother reading at all. How can you gain no value, yet read the Tweets? She is giving you the courtesy in following you- you read her replies, to me that’s deserving of a follow-back.
I try to give everyone a chance, except the porn spam and a lot of marketers. We all have something to offer, which is why Twitter is a SOCIAL network. Too many focus on the number of followers- I don’t care what anyone says, this is the goal of a majority of the “elite” Tweeters. Try engaging- maybe you’ll find someone interesting learn something. Reciprocate instead of being one-sided.
@TheRealBeth
Reply
I agree with #7. Vary your Tweets – Don’t stick to one category
I’m a web designer, and I love connecting with my fellow designers with helpful design links/news.
But… I have so many followers that won’t care about that info, so I always have some general good tweets that everyone will love. Just be aware of your follower demographics.
Good article.
-Jen
Reply
Your blog is a rich source of information on IT topics. Liked it, will bookmark it for later!
Reply
Nice article
Reply
I still have second opinion on Follow every1 who is following you.
How about bots and profile set up just for spamming and affiliate sales?
How you going to deal with it?
IMHO give a quick look at the profile if it seems to be clean, feel free to follow.
Reply
Mani Karthik
Replied:
You’re right Harsh, I dont want to follow bots. Id suggest that you follow your gut feeling when deciding to follow others. I generally take a look at the profile and make out whether to follow or not. Bots are easily recognizeable.
But I don’t keep away from following someone just because they have very few followers. I think the number of updates is also relevant. I can’t possibly ignore someone who is following me. That’s all. Though it takes time to scan through profiles and make a decision, I think I have to find the time to do that.
Reply
I like meeting new and interesting people on twitter. I have fun conversing with a few of them.
Reply
In my opinion its not a good choice to follow everyone because when u follow a bunch of people the possibility of spam tweets increases and it is a chance that you might miss a good tweet by any genuine person.I follow labnol who is following very less numbers of genuine person, so its very necessary to manage your own identity by giving some very nice tweets and then after your number automatically increases.
Reply
I do follow back everyone except spammers.. why just 9 tips? make it 10 man… please add the 10th one as stop annoying followers with auto DM!! lol… nice post!
Reply
Finally somone who get’s it. Too much people let their percieved popularity get in the way of their tweeting. Like people who follow 100 people but have 100k following them, it’s like disrepect to me, they don’t even give their followers a chance, I follow everyone that follows me, you show me love, I show you love. But great post.
Terrance Charles
http://twitter.com/TerranceCharles
Reply
When it comes to communcation, no other than respectfulness, thoughtfulness, humbleness that will make people appreciate your existence. It involves alot about ethics, even just a simple 140 characters gadget like Twitter. You’ve given some great points there, some are quite subjective but a little try might make a difference in our tweeting experience. Thanks for sharing.
@wchingya
Social Media/Blogging
Reply
I agree with the following back thing, no matter how difficult it gets, otherwise its like someone giving you a present and not saying thank you!…
Reply
Great post w/ some good tips that are helpful in making Twitter better for us all.
Thanks for posting!
Reply
Really enjoyed! Thanks, it was done feeling followers not as tweets but as people with feelings!
Reply
Thoughtful post, but as expected, the strongest reaction is to your recommendation to follow everyone. Although I strongly disagree, It’s almost useless arguing that point since we all define auto-follow differently and thus would be arguing about two separate things – an exercise in frustration.
I especially appreciated #3 Quality tweets, #5 Give respect and #7 Vary your tweets.
Keep up the good work, Mani!
@BaranLLC
Reply
I really enjoy following you, and appreciate most of your tweets and links. However, I take issue with #8 – following everyone who follows you. Some people are just too scary to follow! I checked out the page of a guy that is following me and he had a picture of a burned baby on his background. Scary! Also, if I check out someone’s profile page or blog and they have lewd or inappropriate content then I really don’t want to follow them either. I don’t want a person I really respect to check out who I am following and see something like that. We read about managing your online reputation and I see being a little discerning about who you follow as part of good sense reputation management. Thoughts anyone?
Reply
Mani Karthik
Replied:
I agree that privacy is a great concern here. But luckily, Twitter is a good tool that it has both follow and unfollow options. Its like getting to know new people at a party. You make friends with a lot of people, not on purpose but in the assumption that they’re all good chaps. If the guy you just met is not your kind, then you can unfollow him on twitter. Sadly, that’s not possible in real life.
One more reason to love twitter.
Reply
Shelly Lodes
Replied:
I agree Pam, I am discerning about who I follow also…
I still build my following organically & I never send auto Dm’s. Reputation management…….that’s a great term
Reply
Awesome information – thank you so much for sharing!
Reply
Good post! About following everyone back. I do that too. Unless, of course, they are obvious bots or something I don’t like. I do check out all profiles who follow me. Why follow everyone back? Everyone got something to say, you may not not see most of their tweets, if you follow many. But once in a while you will get some valuable information even from them. And for those that I really don’t want to miss their tweets, I have a separate group on TweetDeck.
Reply
[...] post 10 Tips to Build Trust with Social Media. If you’re looking for more respect then 9 Twitter Tips that will help you gain respect in the Twitterverse (Like @Zaibatsu) would be a good fit [...]
Thanks for this article! I like the clear honesty and the greatest tip is to follow back.
It’s like being in crowd of people and someone giving you an opportunity to share your interests. We’re here on twitter to learn and grow, in different ways, so the chance to find out about what you don’t know is one of the magical things I treasure!
Twitter love to you, Mani!
Reply
I follow many people but try to avoid Internet Marketers who seem to only ever offer get rich quick schemes. I follow people that interest me, I’d be lying if I showed insincere interest in them. It’s not necessary to follow anyone to have a Twitter conversation, but I think it is good to follow people who have taken time to reply just to you.
Reply
Mani Karthik
Replied:
True. You should be glad that Twitter has an unfollow option.
Reply
These were great tips!! Thanks so much….
Reply
Love the tips you shared. I believe these are good points to consider. Thank you so much!
Reply
Really enjoyed! Thanks, it was done feeling followers not as tweets but as people with feelings!
Reply
[...] 9 Twitter Tips that will help you gain respect in the Twitterverse (Like @Zaibatsu) – Daily SEO blog (tags: twitter socialmedia tips microblogging socialnetworking articles networking seo) [...]
Good article.
I personally have found @zaibatsu (Reg) a very approachable down to earth human being, and he has taught me much about twitter.
Well written.
TferThomas
(http://twitter.com/TferThomas)
Reply
I actually found http://twerpscan.com/ to be a useful tool. I use it to keep an eye on my growing list of friends and followers.
It will give me a list of all of my followers who have 500+ . It shows me their avatar, username, bio and last tweet. You can click on their username and check out their twitter page. I scan my followers every week and weed out the ones that Imorally object to. Other than that I follow those who follow me:)
Reply
The dude is black. Did you know that? He’s a black dude. I’m a white supremacist onion. Ain’t no way I’m letting a black man follow me. Ain’t no way.
Oh hang on, you talking about THAT zaibatsu? Oh yeah, he’s ok (for a black man). No he’s cool, you can let him follow you.
Reply
What a cock stroking fluff piece. The guy is self centered and a pervert. You have to be kidding me. I followed him for a week and unfollowed him after listening to his whole look at me crap and a night of his drunken hitting on women on twitter. sad.
Reply
Mani Karthik
Replied:
Well, I won’t expect everyone to follow or like him. Actually you really dont’t need to follow him, but if you can absorb the good things, that might just help you. Filter off the things that you think might hurt you.
I’m sure you already did that.
Reply
As a twitter-noob I appreciated most of your suggestions, but I also am having issues with the “follow everyone back” concept. Of course what you do with your follows depends on why you are on Twitter to begin with. But when someone begins following my new account, and I look at 1) the number of people they follow/are following. 2) How many actual updates they have made and 3) what does their profile blurb tell me about why they are on Twitter 4) does their actual content jive with their profile? and 5) is their repetition, copying (and I don’t mean RT) or just plain inanity in their stream? Do they RT or reply, or just blather their own thoughts endlessly?
By examining these 5 things a huge percentage of follows I get wanting me to follow them show themselves to be
1) narcissists
2) follower collectors
3) MLM
4) con artists,
5) copycats,
6) spammers and
7) affiliate marketers saying the same basic things over and over
What possible value is there in adding myself to their ego trips? I’m just not going to do it anymore. It clutters up any value I could get by trying to read through twitters of interest for real humans.
I’ve heard this same bit of advice again and again, and I am certain now it was invented by someone who is in my list of 7) twitter-bombs above. Much as I would love people to listen to what I have to say on Twitter it’s just not worth playing into their game. They are NOT going to read what I say. They have an agenda that has nothing to do with communication, friendship or ordinary business.
I would love to have someone explain where I am missing something as I am new to this.
Reply
Mani Karthik
Replied:
Hi foundonmars,
Again, following everyone back is something you have to decide for yourself. Sometimes, it could even hurt you, like when you’re following someone with a lot of updates, and you’re following only a few, your updates could just get filled up with this guys frequent updates. Or you might be following someone who talks greek and latin to you.
So its totally up to you to decide whether or not to follow everyone back. What I’d suggest is that you follow your gut feeling. Try following people back, and once if you feel that its doing you more harm than any good, you always have the unfollow button to the rescue.
If you’re unfollowing someone I’m sure many others will also be doing the same, and that also gives a chance for the man to correct himself from whatever wrong hes doing.
Cheers !
Reply
Hi there,
Atlast a very different kind of article on Twitter. I think this one is more helpful than most posts I’ve read about twiitter. I think this one talks more about how I should intereact or react while using twitters. Its from a users perspective and not application. Good work on this one.
Cheers,
Eddie Gear
Reply
I like these helpful ideas.
The follow back is hard for me, because I find that some people tweet out 25 tweets at a time, and it is overwhelming.
Then there are those people who are selling me followers, and porno people, horoscope ladies and so many who send me quotes from the Dictionary of Quotations. I have to unfollow them, as they just take up my time.
People I like, respond, and I’ve made real friendships here with other marketing people, and a lady who has a new grandchild in the midwest, a web designer, a vitamin man @joebees that visited out offices this week.
There’s good things happening here, but we have to findit ourselves, our way.
Reply
zaibatsu – thank you for your consistency in the twittersphere and keeping touch with so many tweeple.
After reading these comments, you may change your mind or way of dealing with ‘follow everyone back,’ since the environment contains ‘unfriendly’ types, spammers, etc.
I have also made some wonderful friends via twitter.
It seems people are developing their own style of twitter, frequency of use, based on their motivation and purpose. This technology is still so new to most of the world.
many blessings
Debby
Reply
This is definitely one of the better posts on one of the better blogs covering Twitter topics. There are so many rules on how to effectively follow and not follow people on Twitter. It’s refreshing to see such insight from Mani and all the others who have contributed to this post with replies. I, for the most part, follow everyone who follows me as well. I welcome meeting and tweeting with new people in and outside of my professional designation.
I am no Twitter expert but I like having the opportunity to connect with one and all. My hat goes off to Mani for the post and all others who contributed insightful point of views.
Steph – http://Twitter.com/Follow_Steph
Reply
Nice article, definitely worth reading.
Just want to add another service which works great; http://tweetsourcer.com
Happy tweeting!
Reply
@MapleRidgeJazz You may find this insightful: http://tinyurl.com/d5aqbq
Reply
You said: “One surprising character in power players like Reg or Robert Scoble is that they respect even the guy who joined Twitter yesterday”
I used to follow Scoble, until he replied in a tweet to someone he follows:” I only follow smart people.” … And I noticed he wasn’t following me. That’s not respect.
I do like/follow @Zaibatsu. He is real and he’s not on an ego trip.
Reply
I’m a long loving follower of Reg (@zaibatsu) – and agree with all of your article. I don’t however follow everyone back that follows me…. I find there are just too many spammers. I love to RT, (especially Reg’s links) because I know they’re all good.
I’ve been working like crazy to purge my stream of all the spammers so it’s ripe and full of great, informative, fun info I can learn from and pass back to the stream.
Reply
I hope this doesn’t overlap much with what’s already been said but I’ve been compiling data on the different techniques for the past few weeks and thought I’d share…
Reply
I’m a long-time follower of Reg ( @zaibatsu ) as well and I appreciate everything ( @zaibatsu ) brings to Twitter. But, I totally agree w/ maureen birdsall on her comment regarding following everyone back. Twitter is awesome, BUT there spam control needs more work ….
Excellent Tips BTW!
Reply
All very good, bar eight, which is b*llshit, to be honest. Follow EVERYONE back? What add all the ABEGALE’s Kitties, Toothpaste spammers and the rest? Sod that!
Here are 12 reasons NOT to follow someone:
http://milliontwits.com/12-reasons-not-to-follow-someone/
Reply
Nice article, thanks for the analytical point of view and the tips! …
Reply
[...] 9 Twitter Tips that will help you gain respect in the Twitterverse – Daily SEO Blog [...]
[...] 9 Twitter Tips that will help you gain respect in the Twitterverse – Daily SEO Blog [...]
links for 2009-09-04…
Previously on “Primacall gegen Spreeblick” | Spreeblick
OG: Johnny stellt hier bdar, wie der ablauf der Primacell-Abmahnung dar. Ich halte sein Vorgehen für vollkommen korrekt – auch wenn der artikel offline gehen sollt…
Nice post dude.Learnt many things after reading the post
Reply
[...] 9 Twitter Tips that will help you gain respect in the Twitterverse (Like @Zaibatsu) – Daily SE… (tags: twitter tipps how2 ****) [...]
[...] despite all the fancy tools and names for it. With that said, I have seen quite a few blog posts and links to resources lately touting how to improve your Twitter credibility or how to influence [...]
I’ll have to disagree with #8 – following everyone back. I follow people after looking at their tweets, I like to see what they do.
- Do they only have conversations? And do those conversations all look like online drama or negativity? Not following them.
- Do they ONLY post links to things? And do ALL of those links link to their blog/website? Not following them.
- If they are claiming to be a professional… do they have a website link posted? Is the link a “tinyurl”? Not following them.
I’d hope that someone is following me because I pass the “test”. I try to mix it up and prefer to follow those that do the same. However I DO go back through my followers that I’m not following back and see if things have changed. It’s very easy to end up with a page full just convo… so I’ve come across a few people that I ended up Following back later on.
Reply
[...] 9 Twitter Tips that will help you gain respect in the Twitterverse – Daily SEO Blog [...]
Its funny how so many people have advice when it comes to finding followers. but what happens when you build that network and it all comes crashing down when you get spammed over and over again.
how to avoid those spams. there are so many issues with that, i cannot begin to tell how it has hurt my credentials. But good blog. thanks
Reply
Agree with everything you say. NEVER treat your followers like numbers!
I add one more – never go around accusing other victimised bloggers of infringement – even via private DMs – just because you think he/she has infringed on media that are not even yours, or because that your articles were stolen way back in 2006.
Reply
The Very Best Tip I Have Is To Follow Back All The People That Follow You!
Doing So Builds Your Reputation And People And Alot More Likely To Follow You, Knowing It’ll Be Reciprocated!
So Follow Me Today As I Always Follow Back!
http://twitter.com/PrayMaddyMcCann
Oh And Every Follower I Get Raises More Awareness For Madeleine McCann! Each Follow Helps That Little Bit More!
http://www.twitter.com/PrayMaddyMcCann
Reply