Following/Followers on Twitter

by Nightengale

Posted: 16 years ago 20 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

Hi all,

A couple of days ago, I asked some questions about Twitter. I'm new to Twitter and am trying to get TARGETED Twitter followers.

Someone here said that most people will follow you back if you follow them. Has this been your experience?

I just spend quite a while following over 400 people in a certain category on Twitter. Now THAT was a supremely tedious chore. I'm just wondering if it will be worth it. :/ I have a handful of other categories to go through and after just this one, I'm not looking forward to it.

I DID get at least one person in my target market following me after I followed them.

But I certainly hope I get more than 1 or 10 out of over 400....

Thanks,
Michelle

#following or followers #twitter

JohnMcCabe 16 years ago

Michelle, if they are anything like me, you might need to have a little patience. I only go through and follow back people every few days. I'd do it more often, but I don't want just anybody - like you, I want people who are interested in the same things I am.

And truth be told, I'm getting ready to unfollow a bunch of people who, at least when I'm looking, do nothing but send one lame come-on after another. If I want non-stop pitching, I'll just read my email...
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whughes08

16 years ago

I too started off the same way. If your content is good then you need not worry,
They will follow you... maybe not "all" you follow, but they will...

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1 reply

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Nightengale

16 years ago

Thanks guys!

Yes, I need patience.

But I'm not even impatient at this point. Just wondering if there's a faster/easier way to do this than clicking my mouse and staring at my screen so much, following people! Ugggh! I've got a crick in my neck!

I just spent God knows how much time this morning following almost everyone in a certain category. I went through 25 pages. The next category I looked up has 56 pages! Ugggh! And unfortunately, the category -- massage therapists -- has a lot more people in it who AREN'T massage therapists. Some of them are just interested in it and some are the "woo woo" type. I hate "woo woo" people (people who are mostly "feel good" people). It's a personal pet peeve of mine, but a big one.

And psychics. (Rolls eyes and sighs.) I dislike psychics even more than woo woo people. Ugggh!

I think I'll go back to watching Law & Order: SVU on Netflix for a while...

Michelle
who is LOVING her new laptop!

Thanks
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HomeBizNizz 16 years ago

Originally Posted by Nightengale

Just wondering if there's a faster/easier way to do this
than clicking my mouse and staring at my screen so much, following people!

I wrote a blogentry with some good tips some while ago...
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- 1 reply
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- Nightengale 16 years ago
  
  HomeBizNizz,
  
  Thank you! I checked out your blog and found Twollo. Looks like exactly what I was looking for!
  
  My goal right now is to follow people in the hope that they'll follow me back. I cerainly intend on putting out good content. As I find people who are just putting out junk tweets or not following me back, I'll eventually delete them. But deleting such people who don't follow me back is a heck of a lot easier and less time consuming than following everyone to begin with!
  
  Plus, as someone else mentioned, I can do that over time.
  
  Now I think I'll go watch another episode Law & Order: SVU. (I love Netflix's streaming videos!)
  
  Michelle
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  Nightengale 16 years ago
  
  Loren,
  
  Good point!
  
  I'm new to Twitter, as I said, but I know it's where the people are, so that's where I'm going.
  
  I agree that "regular" people would be especially annoyed by marketers constantly sending out marketing messages. Especially if they've chosen to get those tweets via text and have to PAY for them!
  
  (That's why I no longer have cable TV. It seems like a full 20 minutes of a 60-minute show are commercials. And the show is always a rerun -- one I've seen a hundred times before! Not to mention the HOURS I wasted flipping through the channels because there was nothing good to watch. Ugggh! I finally refused to PAY to sit through so many commercials and cancelled the cable and got Netflix. I also makes me more productive at IM since I don't waste so much time in front of the TV.)
  
  I DO think there's a fine balance between marketing messages and other messages NOT about marketing: personal tidbits, what's going on in the news (Michael Jackson, for example), opinions, etc. I think the key to social networking for businesses is to use the social networks to help your target market get to know you as a person instead of just a business. So sharing a little bit about what's going on in your life, photos, happenings, etc. is in order. Personally, I know that I'm a lot more likely to buy from someone I "know" than someone I don't know. And I've noticed that I feel like I know people who share something about who they are as a person and not just a business.
  
  Michelle
  
  P.S. I certainly don't see Twitter as a lottery ticket to riches. I'm looking at it strictly as a traffic and list-building tool, nothing more. It's only one tactic in my overall traffic and list-building strategy, that's all.
  
  Personally, I've been very slow to adopt any social networking. A bit too slow perhaps. Twitter is only my second social networking activity (Facebook was my first). Twitter seems a little silly to me and I've been resistant to it actually. But I realized that as an IMer, I need to get my message out there and I need traffic, so I have to go where the people are. If they're on Twitter, then I guess I need to be there too, no matter how silly I think it is.
  
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  JAIDEEP2959 16 years ago
  
  Just keep on doing updates, followers will automatically come.
  
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  Nightengale 16 years ago
  
  Well, I've gotten 41 followers in less than 48 hours. Way cool! Now the trick is to get them onto my AWeber list. None so far.
  
  Michelle
  
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Loren Woirhaye

16 years ago

Originally Posted by Nightengale

I hate "woo woo" people (people who are mostly "feel good" people). It's a personal pet peeve of mine, but a big one.

And psychics. (Rolls eyes and sighs.) I dislike psychics even more than woo woo people. Ugggh!

Yeah! Those people Suck!

JK. I have a lot of close friends who are kind of "woo woo" - I try
to value them for who they are but not get into business with them.

---

This Twitter thing is a puzzler for those of us who don't want to
sell "make money on Twitter" products. I've been asking people
"on the street" about Twitter and Facebook and how they use them -
I'm interested in the new etiquette of it, how a new social protocol
of appropriate communication is evolving.

I noticed that some people use their cel-phones to read an Tweet
and these people are likely to be annoyed by marketers invading
their private channel of communication with their friends. It seems
to me the people really paying attention and likely to follow a marketer
are also the most likely to be just in the game to try to find customers
themselves.

The net result is that a lot of newcomers to the IM game seem to
be focused almost entirely on following in order to be followed - which,
if you do it with any discernment, is time-consuming to say the
least.

Do we really love Twitter so much? or do we just think it might
be a lottery ticket to riches and fame?

Thanks

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R Hagel 16 years ago

Originally Posted by Nightengale

And psychics. (Rolls eyes and sighs.) I dislike psychics even more than woo woo people. Ugggh!

I KNEW you were going to say that.

---

On topic...

Another thing to consider is your purpose for using Twitter. As you said, right now you're looking at it as a list building tool and a way to get your message out. But because Twitter works well if you interact personally with your followers -- and because a LOT of folks on Twitter are other marketers -- sometimes the best way to use Twitter is to meet and develop relationships with potential JV partners.

So in other words...

Instead of using Twitter to build your prospect list, use it to find JV partners who can send thousands of prospects your way. (Well... you can use it for both reasons, of course!)

Just my coupla pennies.

Cheers,
Becky
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JayXtreme 16 years ago

Reciprocal following is only carried out by those who are interested in follower numbers...

The internet marketing community on Twitter is jam packed with chest puffing and exaggeration of the importance of followers. Like one big plastic people contest. Like Paris Hilton, only x10 on the fake scale.....

Just recently, I've found Twitter to be much more profitable without having to follow ANYONE in my niche accounts

But that's a whole other e-book that you can buy soon

My personal Twitter account has steadily gained followers as I have followed more, but not everyone follows back, and I certainly don't follow everyone back.

I often stumble across blogs with Twitter links, so I follow the blog creator. I've connected with some cool people this way.

In my niche accounts, I much prefer to use Twitter as an outlet for content, and the followers I get there are MUCH more targeted to my goals, and this leads to a higher level of profitability.

Although, my personal account has earned me a good few $$$, too.

Peace

Jay
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sikaz 16 years ago

Thanks guys.Until this moment l didn't know what l needed to do even after registering with Twitter some months past.Now l know.
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sikaz 16 years ago

This Twitter thing looks like magic to me.I will surely make a serious work of it these days.
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Zachary R. Skinner 16 years ago

In my experience, if you're publishing good content you'll get most people to follow you back.

If you are targeting people in the IM niche then nearly everyone will follow you back regardless of your content. The problem with following people in the IM niche though is that very few actually bother to read your tweets.
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megaresp 16 years ago

Originally Posted by Nightengale

I'm new to Twitter and am trying to get TARGETED Twitter followers.

We're on the same page here, and this is one of the reasons why I'm only following 2 people.

I think there's a better way to grow a targeted list of followers, and I outline it in detail here. This page covers more ground than just picking up followers, and demonstrates the approach I'm using to get visitors via Twitter. For example, you'll see where the real power of Twitter lies - in retweeting by your followers.

So it's not a 5 minute read, and you will need to drill down into the links. But I sure wish I'd found a page like this when I first opened my Twitter account.
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orenrowz 16 years ago

Keep adding good content and people will follow you. You understand why right? They want that good content flowing to them and not have to go out and find it.
They'll also opt-in to your autoresponder if you give them a reason to.
What I do is tweet about something good and send people to my blog to read more about it. And that blog has an opt-in box giving them some sort of free book or video.
If you have a targeted audience, and you tweet on that targeted topic, then you will have opt-ins.
I would also follow people just because that's one more way for them to hear about you, find you and start reading your content.
It's time consuming (unless you have something like my own application that does it all automatically, including the tweets themselves!) but it's another way to build a list.
The real bummer is finding which people to follow. Keyword research on twitter is a lot different than on search engines, but if you understand how to do it correctly you'll find all of your future customers. Now that's something I think you need to invest your time in.
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- Nightengale 16 years ago
  
  Well, I'm NOT targeting other IMers. Not even close.
  
  This is for my offline-to-online activities. Instead of focusing on my local business community though, I'm focusing on a couple of different niches and targeting/working with them virtually instead of face-to-face. That's all.
  
  So in this case, offering good IM content to these markets should get me followers. And mixing good content with personal tidbits (vacation, movies watched, etc.) should help build a relationship -- much like an e-zine does.
  
  For this, I think it will work.
  
  Becky, you're right though: it's a good way to find JV partners. I've also located some COI's (centers of influence) -- like trade associations -- in my target markets, so that should work as well.
  
  Michelle
  
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- Nightengale 16 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by orenrowz
  
  They'll also opt-in to your autoresponder if you give them a reason to.
  
  That's my whole intention. In fact, X number of Twitter followers means nothing to me unless they decide to opt-in to my list. Since I'm relatively new to Twitter, I'm really glad to already have over 60 followers right now in about 48 hours. But to me, it doesn't really count unless they've opted in to my AWeber list. So far, no one has.
  
  But as everyone here has said, it's about putting out good content and building a relationship.
  
  Michelle
  
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  Nightengale 16 years ago
  
  ...And WHAT is with people blocking/protedting their tweetse and preventing you from following them without their manual and express approval????
  
  Now, if you're just using Twitter for fun, personal use, I can see it. But if you have a business and are tring to promote it via Twitter, it makes absolutely NO sense to protect your tweets and prevent people from following you. From a business and list-building perspective, it's positively ridiculous! Yes, I've been seeing this with buisness people obviously trying to promote their busnesses via Twitter.
  
  Really makes you wonder what they're thinking... Actually, it makes it obvious that they're not thinking at all.
  
  Michelle
  
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man_easybizx 16 years ago

Read newspaper and update your twitter with hot issues. Your follower will come after
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