A twitter trick you might want to use.

[theaffiliategeek]

I came up with something that may help some of you Twitter users. If you are building up the number of followers you have by following people in hopes they will follow you back, try this. I have found the return follow rate improves dramatically if the person you follow is online when you follow them. You get noticed. I'll show you how I know for sure they are online at that moment in time. First I go to Google Trends
or Yahoo Buzz and find a popular subject. Then I pick one and go to Twitter search and put it in. Twitter also tells you trending topics, and that is useful if you don't want to visit another site. The results are sorted with the newest tweets at the top, and it tells you how long ago each tweet was posted. Here is where it gets cool, after about 30 seconds or so, you'll get this:

Notice directly under the “real time results” it tells you how many new tweets there are. Simply
refresh the page and we have a whole bunch, in this case 1200, people we know are online right
now. This is a great way to get a lot of new followers fast. If you only want followers in a certain niche,
simply enter keywords related to that niche. Perhaps you won't get as many to pick from. But you will be able
to connect with some people who on online right now and tweeting about your niche. I hope
this helps someone.
Pat

[esr]

That's a great tip, really. It makes perfect sense. However, is it worth the time? I mean, I have almost 1000 followers but does that really mean anything? I never, ever click on any Tweets that come to my account because there are just so many it feels overwhelming to try to keep up.

I have to assume others are feeling the same way and that MY tweets get lost in the shuffle, too. I tweet every blog post, but get no significant traffic from Twitter.

So, good tip to get followers, but I myself, don't see the point.

[Marty S]

Solid.

I have used a similar tactic before and as a specific example it was right after the shocking season 4 ending to the series Dexter. I actually used twitterfall though, but same thing I guess.

I will go a step further to your suggestion though in saying your follow-back rate will skyrocket (not just increase), if you also tweet them when you follow them. Simply respond to a recent tweet they posted like you are starting a conversation.

[Andyhenry]

Yes- the number of followers that won't buy your stuff will go up nicely.

[theaffiliategeek]

>However, is it worth the time?
Ahhh...good question. I don't know that it is. It really depends on the individual and their situation.
A big timer, no. There is always the outsourcing option. Here is where I'm coming from.
I have bought many courses pertaining to Twitter and all of them tell you to
go get new followers. Brute Force twitter teaches, correctly, that people who
are online at the moment you follow them are much more likely to return the love.
But, the way he explains to find this out is way to tedious IMHO. So, I came up with a better
way and am sharing it with whom so ever wishes to use it.
Pat

[Marty S]

Originally Posted by Andyhenry

Yes- the number of followers that won't buy your stuff will go up nicely.

Think of it more as extending your exposure for free, just like you would at a social gathering. You don't NOT talk to anyone at a party because they won't buy from you, right? The very best salespeople have been doing this decades, because by being social they get to know someone, who knows someone, who is related to somebody else. (Ok, extreme, maybe), but that is the premise of social marketing. That's why there have been Chamber of Commerce meetings, business conferences (and the like) forever and ever. Just do it the same way now on Twitter.

You do NOT have to zone in on your target audience, as much as you should be targeting people with similar interests.

For example, I tweet a lot about hockey. Not only because I love it, but because my target audience for poker players is also interested in sports in general. Those are quality followers, so discounting followers because you don't think THEY will buy from you is simply not effective in social marketing.

[Andyhenry]

It's ok - I get it. It's just easier to go to a hockey club than to find poker players interested

[theaffiliategeek]

> Yes- the number of followers that won't buy your stuff will go up nicely.
With all due respect, you might have a few more things to learn about how
social networking works. I have gotten many list subscribers who later
did fill out CPA offers or buy. Later being the key word there. I advise writing off
social networking, it is here to stay.
Pat

[Marty S]

Originally Posted by Andyhenry

It's ok - I get it. It's just easier to go to a hockey club than to find poker players interested

No, no. I don't think you get it at all, but hoping others will.

[silho]

Hey I've been in the forum talking a lot about mobile marketing so most of my posts have been about that, but seeing the similarities in Tweeting and text messaging I dove head first into it and I ended up creating a product that I was going to sell that teaches people how to get Twitter followers and how to dive deep into the psychology of tweeting and to do it properly.

This is not to make people buy from you just buy reading your tweets. This is designed to teach you how to get people to really become interested in you and then to follow your every move and then to eventually buy from you (once you get them on your email list).

Either way, I am willing to share package with anyone that wants it. It 5 hours of video, tons of PDFs, charts, handouts, etc. PM if you like a copy to evaluate for me.

[GavinLively]

Andy Gets it... Boy, Does Andy get it...

It's easy to get Twitter followers.... In fact it's the easiest, impresssive looking number-wise, with little tangible results activity I have ever done...

The rub is turning your twitter followers into buying customers... This is more of a process and big numbers of twitter followersdoes not necessarily mean a lot of buying customers...

You have to truly engage your twitter folowers to make them more responsive and wade through a lot of the spam profiles to get to real people who are responsive...

Twitter is a good sifitng and sorting tool among other things... It really depends how you use it and what your goals are using it.

Thanks
Gavin

[Zeus66]

This is like the debate about opt-in vs. confirmed opt-in. Sort of. You'll get access to more people you can email with plain old opt-in, but you'll get more response a lot of times with confirmed opt-in - and fewer unsubscribes. Both can work. There's not a right or wrong answer, in other words.

John

[Jeremy Morgan]

I've found this to be very effective as well, and I think a lot of it has to do with timing. Obviously you're sending it to an active account rather than someone who hasn't posted in six months.

Also, people are much more likely to read your tweets and follow you back if they are online right there anyway. It's an attention span thing, if your request falls in their email box and they read it 3 weeks later, they'll just ignore it and delete it. It's old news and they're probably doing something else. But if you have them already sitting there on twitter and reading away, it takes mere seconds for them to check you out.

Good advice and probably something I'll include in my twitter tool soon.