Little did I know when I woke up on October 27, 2014 that I would experience the greatest day of my entire life.
It was a brisk, grey morning and I clearly remember having this strange, sensational feeling that something big was on the horizon.
I arrived at work, opened up my laptop and began scouring various digital marketing journals to see what great concepts I could share with my social connections; something I do each and every day.
As I logged into my Twitter account, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that I had hit the coveted 10,000 follower count…I was now Internet famous; the dream of every Millennial!
Ok, maybe it wasn’t so dramatic, but gaining 10,000 followers in one year was pretty awesome.
One of the most common questions I receive from businesses and brands is how to effectively build up their company’s social media handles in a way where they can continuously connect with new audiences and potential customers.
The concept of using social media to drive brand awareness, create dialogue and improve conversions is still relatively new. I personally don’t remember businesses and brands caring about Facebook or Twitter until around 2010. Even then, most people thought social media had only two purposes, which were to offer basic tips and advice or simply update audiences on the company’s internal activities.
We now understand that social media plays a much more significant role in supporting a brand’s ability to appear within premier organic search listings, as well as drive conversions and transactions.
The problem is, understanding the value of social media and actually being able to build up a robust, meaningful follower list to solicit conversions from are two different concepts and can seem rather daunting.
By applying just 15 minutes a week to build up your Twitter followers, you too can grow the size of your connections by an extraordinary amount; allowing you to catalyze top-of-mind awareness for your brand and keep you connected to new and returning potential customers.
By adhering to the following recommendations, you too can experience the best day ever, just as I did!
Grab Followers From LinkedIn
The basic concept behind social media is all about connecting with other like-minded individuals to create dialogue – a concept that is now so prevalent in our society that it feels almost second nature.
However, far too many businesses and brands do not realize that they need to actively engage with other individuals and authorities to generate buzz around their name.
Social media is not just about sharing clever posts about sales or pictures from around your office. It’s also about being positioned in specific communities and areas that are relevant to your industry and services.
For example, even if your business is completely dedicated to a B2C market, you can and should still utilize LinkedIn as an addition to your ongoing social media efforts.
Though LinkedIn is primarily dedicated to working professionals who are interested in sharing experiences related to industry news, you can still benefit from connecting to your competitors and individuals that work in similar positions or environments.
You might not be catering directly to potential customers, but you are still interacting with other industry leaders and authorities. With these connections, you can leverage their social audiences to drive your brand’s identity, mission and goals by reaching out and speaking directly to them.
The same idea can be applied to building your company’s Twitter followers.
After tracking down their personal Twitter handles, start following them and don’t forget to keep track of who follows you back.
Contribute To Your Community
Whether you have a passion for writing or not, it remains a critical component for building your brand’s authority.
As a Director of Organic Search with seven years of experience in the digital marketing industry, I contribute on a regular basis to a number of reputable online journals that are dedicated to my area of work.
Because of the high quality and frequent publications of my articles, I have been able to build up my personal identity and brand to audiences that are completely relevant to my career. I am even considered an expert in my field, despite my personal opinion that titles like “expert” and “guru” are silly in an industry that’s ever evolving.
And, with each piece that I put out comes a significant influx in Twitter followers.
Businesses and brands should do the same thing. Whether it is the owner, the CEO or even one of the employees, your company should have a designated representative to embody your business’s voice and contribute to journals, publications and blogs that are relevant to your industry, services and target demographics.
A great way to find an outlet to submit to is through professional platforms like LinkedIn, which can help identify particular organizations that are inline with your company’s mission, and then simply reach out and ask if you can contribute to their company blog or journal.
There are also hundreds of publications and journals that are dedicated to possible every industry in the world. Perform a Google search to see what journals exist in your specific space and contact their Webmaster or editor to see if they are interested in letting you create content for them on a regular basis.
If and when you are accepted, make sure you are able to include a small description on your company or the author you have chosen, as well as links to your branded social profiles so that readers are able to easily connect with you.
Follow. Unfollow. Follow. Repeat.
Here it is, the tactic so confidential that it could be considered Coca-Cola’s secrete ingredient…
Simply go onto Twitter and check out:
- A competitor’s profile
- A journal dedicated to your industry
- A well-known consumer advocate or industry authority
and…is the anticipation killing you yet?
Follower their followers!
Ta-da! It’s that easy.
Spending 15 to 20 minutes following other brand’s established list of followers is the easiest way to connect with relevant audiences and build your brand’s twitter followers.
Follow as many people as you can and in a week or so, see how many people followed you back.
Unfollow each profile that did not return the favor and continue to repeat the process once a week.
Make sure that your list of those you follow does not exceed the number of connections that follow you; otherwise you stand the risk of Twitter shutting down your profile.
Free Advice Never Sounded So Nice
There it is – the easiest, free advice you will ever receive when it comes to building up your brand’s Twitter connections.
By identifying relevant organizations and groups in professional platforms like LinkedIn, you are able to successfully connect with other like-minded individuals that are interested in what you do and the industry you are in.
Creating unique content that can be hosted on third-party journals and websites gives you direct access to consumers that are interested in what you do and what you have to offer. It also does a great job of catalyzing brand awareness and positions your brand as a true, reliable authority.
And, taking fifteen to twenty minutes a week to follow and unfollow individuals connected to other relevant Twitter handles will allow you to build a robust, meaningful list of connections that can be engaged and converted into returning customers.
Following these recommendations is a sure way to find yourself waking up with a similar gut feeling that I experienced, knowing that your whole life is about to change for the good.
With 10,000 followers, I am now a millionaire and always have people to hang out with on the weekends. There isn’t a restaurant that I can’t get into on a Saturday night and my cell phone is constantly ringing with eager journalists from Time magazine trying to schedule interviews.
Well, not exactly.
I am able to leverage my followers in ways that directly benefit my work, my contributions and my clients’ online visibility.
With 10,000 followers, your company stands to increase its own visibility in search listings, increase its online brand awareness, and create a revolving door of attracting new consumers and turning them into returning customers.http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/how-i-gained-10000-twitter-followers-in-one-year-without-paying-a-dime/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SocialMediaExplorer+%28Social+Media+Explorer%29
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