Keep Your Followers on Twitter
Once you've accrued many followers on Twitter, you'd like to retain them. The best way to do that is to engage your audience with interesting, thought-provoking posts, without posting so frequently or repetitively that you annoy your subscribers. Here are additional concrete tips to help you achieve that.
Steps
- Provide content that your followers are interested based on how you define yourself on your profile. Most people use Twitter as a personal outlet to talk about interesting events and thoughts in their lives, but if you are a professional or if you have specific hobby, you should include that information in your Twitter bio. Subscribers will then know of your passion and that you will sometimes post about it. They can be interested in these things as well. Also, if you post in your summary for About You that you will follow someone back, be sure to do so and this could get you more followers by the minute.
- Interact with your followers by replying to their questions and asking them questions. Keep your follow list small enough that you can interact with a large percentage of them. Offer to help your followers who need help that you can provide.
- You may want to avoid taking a strong stance on controversial issues (e.g., sex, politics, religion) to avoid enraging any followers. However, remember that Twitter is your personal outlet and that you are free to express your thoughts. If someone vehemently opposes your positions and is so unnerved that they can't remain subscribed to you, it's probably for the best. Strike a balance between staying true to what you believe in and not inflaming your audience.
- That said, don't post tweets that are senseless and offensive. For example, being racist or insulting people are unnecessary behaviors that could land you in a lot of trouble.
- Avoid using slurs and inflammatory types of language that can be offensive.
- Don't have long conversations over Twitter with specific individuals. Remember that every time you reply to someone, your tweet is sent to your subscribers and visible to them. If you have many conversations, your subscribers' feeds will be littered with your tweets that have nothing to do with them. If you need to communicate with an individual, privately direct message them instead.
- Do not engage trolls who @ reply to you in order to get a rise out of you. It's not worth your time or effort.
- Avoid sending auto DMs because people assume they are spam and find them annoying. They also may think that your account has been hacked or is a robot and consequently, unfollow you.
- Do not radically change the content on Twitter after you've already established a Twitter presence. People like consistency and followed you for a reason. If you started your Twitter as a personal outlet but later switched to only providing advice on public speaking, be prepared to lose subscribers who aren't interested in your new topic.
How to Use DMs effectively (Direct Messages)
- Think before you DM. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Is this DM worth $0.10 for some one to receive if they have the option of getting their DMs sent to them via text message? If no, don't send the DM.
- Do I know this person well enough that I feel like they will respond or click through on the links? If no, don't send the DM.
- Am I popular enough that I can send this message and get away with that consequence free? If no, don't send the DM.
- Am I sending this past some one's bedtime where a text message alert may wake them up? If yes, don't send the DM as Twitter can break those messages up in to two parts and really annoy them.
- Make sure your DM doesn't sound like spam.
- Avoid making pitches to people via DM that are impersonal. If your pitch is impersonal and not specifically for the respondent, send it as a tweet.
- Do not use services that allow you to auto DM. Auto DMs frequently cost you followers.
- If you want to use auto DMs, wait to be followed instead of going out and getting lots of followers. Make sure that your page says that you send out DMs to people. It makes it more opt in than and consumer friendly.
