How do I increase my Twitter following?
How do I get followers faster?
How do I build an authoritative Twitter profile?
How do others get huge followings in a very short time (that are not celebrities)?
Help! What am I doing wrong – I need Twitter Followers?

Sound familiar?

This is something I get asked all the time. Namely how do I build up my Twitter Followers. Now there is a best practiced rule of thought here. That thought is you do it organically by engaging , conversing, promoting (your profile), and becoming a part of the community that other would WANT to follow. However, there still is the interest in marketing that wants quick results for appearance or authority sake. The following methods are ways in which you can elevate your Twitter followers

For clarification though I’ve divided it into 2 lists that distinguish the approach, both work under different principles.

BEST PRACTICES: (White Hat)

01- Thought leader
Become a thought leader by introducing compelling articles, others will take notice if you apply this to your niche or market

02- Engage | Interact | Add Value
(by commenting and following others, you can increase your exposure on “their” Twitter pages and to their followers

03- Self promotion 1
(Add your Twitter url to your email signatures)

04- Self promotion 2
(Add your Twitter url to your direct mailers or printed materials)

05- Self promotion 3
(Add your Twitter url videos, webinars, TV commercials, ads)

06- Self promotion 4
(Add your Twitter url to your press releases)

07- Self promotion 5
(Add your Twitter url to your FORUM signatures)

08- Add your Twitter url to your social profiles (About me, Bio, Description)
(Add to FB, Linkedin, Myspace…)

09- Post Twitter URL to your viral Youtube video “Descriptions”
(Example: http://twitter.com/simpleinbound – The tutorial demonstrates best practices as a Twitter user…….)

10- SEO your profile
(Fill out your Twitter bio, web site URL and description with rich relevant keywords

11- Add your business to your profile name (your user name in SETTINGS)
Example: Joe Taylor – Mechanic Parts

11- Button or callouts
(Very effective – if you have a popular blog, adding a Twitter button or widget towards near the top column can be one of the most effective methods)

12- Call to Action in articles (relevant anchor links)
(Either your own published articles or articles you submitted elsewhere – relevant anchor links are great ways to provide traffic and followers

13- RT (Retweet)
By retweeting things and articles of interest you may gain followers just by a “pay it forward in return” approach
(Its ok to retweet others once in awhile, and there is likely a chance they’ll return the favor)

14- Ask once in awhile
(Whether you are on Facebook asking for Twitter followers or Twitter asking for Facebook followers, its still ok to ask your audience once in awhile if you don’t abuse it.

15- Be a resource provider – Tweet useful articles, ebooks or sites that apply to the topics at hand.
(This is share and give approach – you should not always point to your own sites but others as well)

16- Follow Less and Follow smarter
(It’s ok to clean up your list once in awhile of those you are following and weed out deadbeats)
(You also show a better ratio and can in return follow more targeted accounts that you trust and actually like)

17- Say hello once in awhile rather than being an observer – Remember engaging is taking action

18- Target a routine of tweeting
Best time to tweet, and how often – Usually the recommendation is 3 times a day morning, noon and night – once a day or once every other

19- Interesting Tweets gain notice
(Quotes, lists, jokes, sayings, metaphors, How to’s, clever quibs …use your imagination)

20- http://wefollow.com/
(This is a free site that gives you an opportunity to get followed based on your 5 interests – you have nothing to lose – signup!)

21- http://www.twellow.com/
(Another opportunity to set up a profile and get found – note as you rank higher in popularity – ranking followers will take notice – also by category)
(Hint: add your URL to your extended bio!)

22- Website Home Page – Twitter Icon
(I’m still surprised at how many businesses don’t include this simple little icon on their homepages to invite others to visit there Twitter page

23- Additional Twitter Sites (profiles)
(They’re free, and while you should have 1 main business Twitter account, there is additional opportunities with additional Twitter accounts that focus on more specific areas

24- Auto feeding your RSS content into your Twitter account
(This provides an easy way for others to see, and take action on your articles published, plus provides link juice)

25- Opt-in List (Twitter Field)
(why not provide a opportunity to have your opt-in leads also follow you on Twitter)

26 Article Call out
(Write an article about Twitter (such as this) with a Take Action call out at the footer)

27- Use Hash Tags!
– I recommend this often. Use hash tags that others can find based on relevant markets like so: #SEO, #Marketing, #news, #InboundMarketing (in case you aren’t familar with this simply place them at the end of your tweet – space providing

28- Make an interesting background and avatar
– Common sense here, if you take a few minutes to photshop up your own custom background, users might be more willing to follow you based on professionalism alone.

29- Follow those who are relevant
(target users, profiles who talk and do what you do, for instance I may want to target those in the horror market if my profile is called “Horror News”

30 – Join relevant soical communities
(Once you’ve integrated make sure to mention that others may benfit by following your tweets or articles)

31- Start a Contest – Giveaway – Tweet this once or twice a day
(Tweeters love free stuff, and will most likely share the tweet with their friends)

32- Make your contest include a “Tweet” call out
(In other words – To enter to contest, the users must tweet a message of choice to followers – something about your site, with link)

33- Follow top leaders – http://twitaholic.com/
(pay attention to their methods and how they are able to stay on top of there markets, use this as a training tool)

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NOT BEST PRACTICE | OR AGRESSIVE, QUICKER RESULTS: (Black Hat)

1- Add your self to relevant Twitter lists
(you create your own but target the list at like relevant twitter sites)
(This can also be best practice) – Really though if you are a niche, others will start adding you to lists anyways

2- Twiends http://twiends.com/
(This works very quickly and you will see instant results)
(While the idea is aimed at best practice, the notion to expand past that is very tempting)

3- Twiping software (Mass following software) twiPing/ (pay) or Tweetadder (pay) or tweepi.com  (free) –
(Mass follow other Twitter users – the idea is many of them do instant follow backs – so following 300 might give you 100 follow backs…etc)
(Better if you target users with the same interest)

04- Buy Followers
(I’m not a fan of this, but there are several operations that do offer you thousands of followers at a price) (Google search will pull these up)

05- Create a fake profile aimed at trends to only gain followers
(The idea is once you’ve built up a following you change it your profile to your own business)
(Again shadey, spam-like but I’ve also seen used) Example: Start a Twitter profile aimed at Britney Spears

06- Fake avatar
(Much like #5 however this rule of thought is that posting a hot chick will get you more followers)
(This can be both not best practice and best practive depending on the intention and usage)

07- Create a YouTube channel that collects content (such as funny videos, trailers, tutorials)
(place your Twitter addy in the description)
(Also note – its easy to get your YouTube account canceled on this if copyright infringement)

08- Add Instant Follow back to your account (those who follow you)
– Note: You set this up in http://www.socialoomph.com/ account
– “follow those who follow me”
– This applies the “I respect you as well” approach
(The approach is debatable I believe it works to both trains of thoughts) (Other packages offer this in various offerings)

09- Hire an outside firm (to manage and Tweet for you)
(Note this a gray area – but is useful for busy companies who just cant fit in the time for social media)

10- Buy an Twitter account
I placed this here as this is actually a market that you can Google if you’d like. You can buy an account that is already well followed. However, this is cheating and really against all best practices.

11- Follow known accounts who “autofollow”
I read this somewhere, however if you want quick follow backs you can target big account or names who are noted for followbacks.
In fact it looks like a list is already provided here
http://socialnewswatch.com/top-twitter-users/

12- Follow Friday #ff
#ff all the people you see with a lot of followers (This is a gray area – though it can be used as a way to “game” followers quick)

Note the following suggestions were recommended on the following Twitter article. I though they would make a great inclusion to this article as a quick ref tool on more suggestions.

Related Queries:
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Twitter Best practices?
How to build your following overnight?
How to Get More Followers on Twitter?
How To Get Lots Of Twitter Followers Fast?
How to Get Targeted Twitter Followers the Easy Way
Twitter Followers White hat | Black Hat

If you found this article useful please return the favor with by Following me on Twitter

I would also like invite readers to add to this list by commenting below with methods they have found useful. If we approve we’ll add it to the list.

45 Top Ways to get Twitter Followers – The definitive guide