growth

How to Get More Followers on Twitter (without buying them)

Summary

Building your own Twitter audience is an amazing way to open doors and sell products online. With the right Twitter strategy, you can generate content ideas, earn impressions, and get more followers.

Twitter is a powerful social media platform that can help you connect with like-minded people, share your ideas and thoughts, and even promote your business, brand, or newsletter. However, to fully leverage Twitter's network effect, you need to have a good number of followers to maximize your reach. But how can you get more followers on Twitter without resorting to buying them?

Why write on Twitter

Before diving into the strategies to grow your Twitter following, it's important to understand why writing on Twitter is important in the first place. Here are a few reasons:

Twitter is a great platform for sharing your thoughts and ideas. You can use Twitter to share your opinions on a wide range of topics, including current events, politics, technology, and more. By writing on Twitter, you can engage with like-minded people and build a community of followers who share your interests.
Twitter is an excellent way to connect with influencers and experts in your field. By tweeting and engaging with people who have a larger following, you can get your ideas in front of a wider audience and potentially attract more followers.
Twitter can be a valuable tool for promoting your business or personal brand. By tweeting about your products or services, you can reach potential readers and customers and showcase your expertise in your field.
Twitter can help you build your professional network. By tweeting and engaging with people in your industry, you can build relationships and open up opportunities for collaboration or networking.

How Twitter works

Before you start tweeting and building your following, it's important to understand how Twitter works.

Twitter is a microblogging platform that allows users to post short messages, called tweets, of 280 characters or less. Paying users can write up to 4,000 characters. Users can follow other users and see their tweets in their feed. When you follow someone on Twitter, their tweets will appear in your feed in reverse chronological order. Users can also like, comment on, and share tweets. This interaction helps to spread ideas and content across the platform. Twitter has a number of features that can help you grow your following and engage with your audience, including the ability to use polls, share photos and videos, and create live streams.

What to write on Twitter

Now that you understand the basics of how Twitter works, it's time to start thinking about what to write on the platform. Here are a few tips to help you craft effective tweets:

Keep it short and sweet.

With a 280-character limit, it's important to be concise in your tweets. Use clear and concise language to get your point across and leave room for people to comment and engage with your tweet.

Engage with your followers.

Twitter is all about conversation and engagement. Be sure to reply to comments and direct messages, and retweet and like other people's tweets to show that you're listening and participating in the conversation.

Share valuable content.

To attract more followers, it's important to share content that is interesting, informative, and valuable to your audience. This can include links to articles, videos, or other resources, as well as your own original content.

Twitter growth strategies

Now that you know why writing on Twitter is important and what to write about, it's time to focus on strategies to grow your following. Here are a few ways to increase your Twitter presence and attract more followers:

Tweet regularly.

To keep your followers engaged and attract new ones, it's important to tweet regularly. This doesn't mean you have to tweet multiple times a day, but aim for at least a few tweets per week to keep your followers interested and engaged.

Use Twitter analytics.

Twitter has a built-in analytics tool that allows you to track the performance of your tweets. This can help you understand what types of content are resonating with your audience and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Engage with influencers.

As mentioned earlier, engaging with influencers and experts in your field can help you get your ideas in front of a larger audience. Be sure to follow and interact with influencers in your industry, and consider reaching out to them for collaborations or partnerships.

Share multimedia content.

In addition to text-based tweets, consider sharing multimedia content such as photos, videos, or live streams to increase engagement and attract more followers.

Collaborate with other users. Partnering with other users, particularly those with a larger following, can help you reach a wider audience and attract more followers. Consider joining Twitter chats or collaborating on a tweet thread or social media campaign.

Shaan Puri’s Tips to Writing on Twitter

Target an emotion

The most important factor is targeting a specific emotion in your writing. This can be laughter, shock, amazement, frustration, understanding, happiness, or agreement. You want your writing, whether it's an article or a Twitter thread, to strongly evoke one of these emotions from the reader.

Use powerful hooks

These are what stop the reader from scrolling and get them interested in your content. Mythbusters can be particularly effective hooks. For example, you can start by stating a commonly held belief or opinion and then presenting a contradicting viewpoint. Or, you can write about an average person taking on a larger authority or the opposite, an authority crushing an average person. This David vs Goliath format is always interesting to readers.

Also, don't be afraid to use gimmicky titles if it means more people will read your work. The most important thing is that your content delivers on the promise made in the title. If your content is good, it's your responsibility to make sure as many people as possible read it, even if that means using cliched or gimmicky titles.

Timing matters

Write about what's currently trending or timely, such as a recent event or a famous person's opinion on a popular topic. Choosing polarizing or under-discussed topics and creating a narrative arc also helps keep the reader engaged.

Simple and accessible

When it comes to the actual writing, it's important to keep it simple and accessible. Don't use fancy words or try to show off your intelligence. The goal is to entertain or educate the reader, not flaunt your own intelligence. Instead, aim to write at a second-grade level so that anyone can understand your content.

Check out more writing tips from Shaan Puri.

Should you buy Twitter followers?

While it may be tempting to consider buying Twitter followers to boost your following, it's generally not a good idea. Here are a few reasons why:

Buying followers is against Twitter's terms of service. Twitter strictly prohibits the use of third-party services to artificially inflate your follower count, and violators risk having their accounts suspended or banned.
Buying followers won't necessarily benefit your business or personal brand. While a larger follower count may make you look more popular, these fake followers won't engage with your content or contribute to your reach and visibility.
Buying followers could potentially harm your reputation. If it becomes apparent that you've bought followers, it could damage your credibility and reputation, particularly if you're using Twitter for business or personal branding purposes.

In conclusion, while buying followers may seem like an easy way to boost your Twitter presence, it's not worth the risk. Instead, focus on creating valuable and engaging content and utilizing strategies like tweeting regularly, and engaging with influencers.