December 2, 2009

10 Tips to get High Quality Twitter Followers

What’s a high quality Twitter Follower? It’s typically an individual (although it could in some instances be an organization) who you want to attract because they represent some potential value to you as opposed to a vagrant Follower who really can’t help you reach your goals at all.

Attracting High Quality Followers requires a proactive approach which you control; you are not in control when Vagrants come your way. You need control over the process.

We all know what the vagrant suspects look like. They follow many people and have a minimal followership themselves. They tend to Tweet on personal matters which to me are often offensive and offer little redeeming value. I block the vagrants. I have neither the time nor energy to indulge them on my Twitter page. Some of my fellow Twitterers, however, leave the vagrants on their Follower list, apparently more interested in having a high Follower number than a relevant group of Followers that can be helpful in achieving their strategic goals.

Here is the 10-step process I learned (I certainly didn’t start out knowing this) to create strategic High Value Followers:

1. Set your Twitter plan to attract as large Follower group possible that will enable you to collaborate with them and pursue your overall strategic goals. Don’t focus on only the number of Followers; concentrate on getting as many of the right Followers as you can. If you are only worried about the number of Followers you get, STOP reading and go have a beer or something that has the same temporal value as your Twitter approach.

2. List 3 or 4 key phrases that describe the essence of what you are trying to achieve through Twitter. As a business Author covering topics like Strategy Creation, Marketing, Sales and Serving Customers, I chose phrases that were consistent with these topics. I chose phrases such as Strategy and Planning, Business books, Marketing and Sales , Customer Service, Business Start-ups and Conferences (keynote speaking is a critical element of my marketing strategy for the book).

3. Use the phrases in #2 above as search targets. You want to see as many of the current Tweets as you can that contain your search phrases to get an understanding of who in Twitterland is talking about your stuff. Perform a search on each of your Key Phrases.

4. Assess each person with a Key Phrase in their Tweet. Decide if the Tweet represents potential to you by going to the persons home page and looking at what they do and the type of Followership they have garnered.

5. Decide if you want them as a Follower that can help you reach your goals.

6. If NO, move on to the next Tweet with one of your key phrases, and continue the assessment.

7. If YES, go to their Home page and reply to their latest Tweet. Tell them you enjoy their Tweets and that you will follow them. Invite them to follow you in return. Continue to the next Tweet with a key phrase until you are too tired to continue!

8. For the YES group in #7, look at each of them on your Following list in a few days to see if they have returned the favor. If they have, you have just created a Follower you wanted. If they have not, you can either dump them or give them a bit more time, or send them another Tweet. Your call.

9. Evaluate every New Follower Notification you receive on e-mail. Block the Vagrant Followers; reciprocate and Follow the High Quality ones.

10. ALWAYS thank people for following you. Avoid the temptation of pitching them on your stuff at least for this one contact (I must admit I need to improve in this area). After all the objective is to build meaningful relationships with Tweetland folks and you can’t do it when you are flogging your wares at them.

Remember, it’s NOT about the numbers; it’s about the QUALITY of the numbers.
Post script: keep providing your High Value Followers with meaningful content or risk them leaving you.

Cheers, and productive Tweeting, Roy

Remember to follow me on Twitter
Take the BE DiFFERENT Quiz

Related Blogs
Twitter Value
Twitter - Customer Learning Tool

Marketing | Permalink
Posted 12.2.09 at 10:16 am by Roy Osing | Read Comments (0) | Leave a Comment