MY BLOGGING: How to Increase your Twitter Followers

1. Target Power Tweeters

Begin to target well respected and widely known figures within your industry through your tweets. Grabbing the attention of these figures and developing relationships with them can dramatically effect how many people become aware of your profile and if they like what you say (which of course they will…) and see you talking to people they follow, they will follow you.

2. Utilise Good Karma

Create a list of power tweeters who you want to follow you. Select one a week to monitor and listen to what they have to say, and then be as helpful as you can. It is similar to whoring yourself but the rewards can justify your self loathing and the dirty feeling you have afterwards.
Tweet Deck allows you to create and manage Twitter lists. You can easily create a list of people who you want to monitor that week in order to reply to any cries for help – http://www.tweetdeck.com

3. Tweet During Rush Hour

Ok, well not literally rush hour, but throughout peak times. Studies show that top Twitter activity usually takes place between 10:00 and 16:00pm. Tweeting during those hours will mean you greater visibility on your feed. However, the most active hour for people engaging in the twittersphere is between 1pm and 2pm every day, so put down your sandwich and think of something interesting to say…. and no not about what sandwich filling you have gone for today.
Twaitter is a very useful tool for scheduling tweets. This will allow you to send informative tweets throughout the day, every day without having to worry – http://www.twaitter.com

4. Follow Other People on Twitter

Yes you did read that right, following other people can lead to you gaining more followers. Following other people within your industry lets them know you exist and gives you a platform for them to hear your voice. It increases your exposure and if people like what you say then will follow. Similar to the Hollywood catchphrase “if you build it they will come”, “if you say it right they will follow.”

5. Interact with your Followers on Twitter

Twitter is a social tool so you need to be social. Status updates are good but interaction between people will have a greater effect.
Tweet Beep is a very effective tool that sends you alerts for a range of specified keywords. This will ensure you never miss an opportunity to join or reply to a conversation - http://tweetbeep.com/

6. Be a Resource on Twitter

If you really want people to follow and continue following you, make it impossible for them to leave by providing them with high quality and interesting updates. This can be via linking out to an informative article or by giving a thoughtful opinion in a wider discussion.
Twit Doc allows you to upload a document, image or video and share it across Twitter – http://www.twitdoc.com/

7. Follow other People with the same Interest

By following other people it lets them know you are online and it can initiate conversations. If you can begin to communicate with users who have a large following it will build up brand or (personal awareness) and their followers will start to follow you.
Twitterrel allows you to find people who have a similar interest as you – http://www.twitterel.com

8. Make people Aware

Put links to your Twitter profile everywhere. Link it on your blog, Facebook Fan Page, email signature, and everywhere else you have a presence online.
Selective Twitter Status will sync your tweet with your Facebook page every time you add #fb to the end of a tweet; this is handy for choosing which tweets show up in your Facebook status updates and a very useful application if you want to tweet away from the office on an iPhone or BlackBerry app - http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=115463795461&ref=appd

9. Utilise the Twitter Hash Tags

Utilise the #hash tag. Some people search twitter through categories, so if you tweet about ‘fashion advice’ use the hashtag #fashionadvice. If others enjoy similar content in which you have posted on they might follow you for more updates or even a conversation.

Twit Scoop displays in real-time the words which are buzzing right now on twitter so take advantage and utilise the hash key for relevant trending topics – http://www.twitscoop.com/