I initially found it extremely hard to increase my Twitter followers. Twitter was once a social media platform I didn’t understand, but not anymore. I am now a Tweetaholic, if that is even a word, and I am loving it.

It took me a couple of months to get use juggling the various social media platforms especially Twitter. I struggled with managing and growing my Twitter followers because I just didn’t understand the whole Twitter thing, I found the hashtags confusing, I didn’t bother engaging with the few followers I had, and I just followed celebrities, instead of following people I was genuinely interested. Unlike Facebook where I grew my fan page quickly, I struggled to build up a loyal following on Twitter in the early days. It is still a struggle, but I now have over 7,000 followers and I will tell you how I did it.

Follow People

I follow a minimum of 10 people a day, but usually around 30 people a day.  I follow people I am genuinely interested in, so brands, bloggers, PRs, writers and few celebrities that rock my boat. Following people regularly helps you get more followers as Twitter recommends your profile to others to follow as well. So it has a domino effect which is perfect.

Unfollow Inactive Accounts

I usually have a spring clean once a month. I unfollow people who haven’t tweeted in months, as there is no point following inactive accounts.

Use Buffer

I schedule my weekly tweets using Buffer. I use the free service, which allows me schedule up to 15 tweets a day during the week. I find this so useful, as I can have my tweets published while I am busy doing something else. Buffer also recommends the best times to publish tweets for maximum clicks, likes and retweets, which I find really helpful.

Using Buffer means I can promote my new posts more often, which means more clicks and more followers, but it also means some may find my continuous tweets (every 2 hours) annoying and unfollow me, which is fine. The few who find the tweets too frequent usually follow few followers, so my tweets would always appear on their timelines. There is nothing I can do about that, they need to grow their Twitter account.

With Buffer and scheduling Tweets in general, I find that the pros outweighs the cons massively so I will recommend it or a similar service. Scheduling tweets in advance means I can focus on other things, knowing my Tweets are taken of. It is like having a free personal assistant.

Engage

I engage with people I follow. I reply tweets, retweet, and favourite tweets I am genuinely interested in. This has a domino effect as well, as I find I do get a lot of retweets and likes in return. Twitter is all about having a conversation so as long as you are not spamming your followers, keep having that conversation.

Have a Display Picture

I still see a few Twitter accounts without a display picture and I can’t understand why. People want to place a face to the name, so you are doing yourself a disservice if you don’t have one. I personally won’t follow anyone without a display picture, even if it is a logo, there has to be a picture on it, or I will think it is a spam account.

Twitter Chats

The Twitter chats give you the opportunity to meet fellow bloggers, and also you gain a lot of knowledge from the chats. You need to find the group chats in your niche but some of the popular Twitter group chats at the moment are #BlogHour, #Bloggersdoitbest #bdib and #crazybloggers. I have not participated in a Twitter chat in ages, I need to get back into it in 2016.

Be yourself

Tweet interesting tweets, personal to you. Tweet something worth telling a friend, or tweet about a movie/show you are currently watching using the program’s hashtag (which you can search for), and the followers will come.

Host Giveaways

Host giveaways asking your readers to follow you and retweet the giveaway on Twitter. This tip alone has grown my Twitter following massively, and I have discovered that majority of the people who follow me, continue following me after the competition is over, so you don’t lose them.

Have an Interesting Bio

Your bio is a snapshot of your life, so keep it short, sweet and catchy. Be sure to include anything worth saying, like my bio below:

Freelance Writer, Blogger, Huffington Post Blogger, Aspiring Author. All emails are welcome – fashionandstylepolice@gmail.com