This is a guest blog article by Tint, a platform that helps brands aggregate, curate, and display any social media feeds onto their websites.

You may be asking yourself, “How do I stay ahead on Twitter?” It can seem so overwhelming to build a large Twitter follower community. But don’t worry – we have done the research for you. So, sit back and relax, and just follow these steps, and you will get more followers on Twitter.

Check out these 9 simple steps to get more Twitter followers.

1) Make Sure Your Profile Picture is Relevant

The first step to get more followers is to make sure you have a relevant cover photo.  It also helps when the photo has high resolution.  This way no one thinks you are a spammer or fake user when they are deciding if they should follow you. Believe it or not, there are hundreds of thousands of spammers on Twitter today, and you can usually tell because they never bothered uploading a profile photo. Don’t be mistaken for one of them!

Example of a fake account with no profile or cover photo.

2) Have an Engaging Twitter Bio

Twitter is filled with one-way messages that do not necessarily connect with individual tweets. People decide if they want to follow you within the first 30 seconds of scanning your profile. Make sure you have a unique Twitter bio. We believe that you should include your work biography, your personal interests, and what industry you are interested in. This will quickly allow potential followers to gauge if you will be sharing relevant information they will want to follow. Optimizing this can help you get more Twitter followers because people are always looking for new people to follow.

Great Twitter bio example.

3) Always Add Value; Don’t Overdo It.

So many people online are shouting one-way messages to their followers, but sometimes, it is best to listen. It is best to be consistent with your tweets. For instance, we set a schedule to tweet every morning at 9am. Your followers can expect to get content from you on certain dates. You should tweet everyday, but you should not overdo it. We recommend tweeting 3-5 times per day, spaced out throughout the day. It is also important to tweet back to your followers or to engage with people after listening.  A good habit to get more Twitter followers is about 3-5 tweets per day spaced out in between a few hours each. The fastest way to get an “unfollow” is to tweet every few minutes on a newsfeed.

PROTIP: If you need to reply to a bunch of people, just make sure you have the @username as the first thing in your replies. Having the @username ensures that all your followers don’t get spammed with all your replied conversations.

4) Opinions or Questions Keep The Conversation Going

Always have a plan. Tweeting for the sake of tweeting is similar to talking for the sake of talking.  Think about normal conversations you’ve had with individuals. What keeps you interested? Typically, when you hear someone’s opinion, you engage. Furthermore, when someone asks you a question, you are more than likely going to respond. Twitter works the same way. It is always best to have an opinion or to pose a question to the audience.  The more they engage, the more viral your tweet goes—which leads to more exposure and more Twitter followers. If you just tweet an article title or a bland statement, it seems like you don’t care and your followers won’t care either.

Example of having an opinion and question in tweet.

5) Use Relevant Hashtags

Hashtags are words with a “#” behind it. Sometimes, people will use them for fun, but often times, they are used for a specific purpose. For instance, #socialmedia is a great way to find information related to social media. We use various hashtags to search for content. By using hashtags in your tweets, you are opening yourself up to the entire internet. More importantly, relevant individuals (leads?) may come across your content and your brand if you use relevant hashtags. If tweeters find their answer with your tweet, they will most likely follow you because they respect and want to receive more relevant content in the near future. Use it wisely and get more Twitter followers; abuse it and people will see it as spam and unfollow you.

Everyone searching #sharktank will now see my tweet as well and possibly follow me.

6) Put Your Twitter URL Everywhere

In some ways, Twitter is becoming more powerful than e-mail. For that reason, it is important that you attach your Twitter URL on your FB page, biz cards, emails, and websites. Because you send out e-mails and business cards, including your Twitter profile will give people an easy way to follow you online.

One of the easiest ways to get more Twitter followers.

7) Retweeting 

In my eyes, this is the most underrated way to get more Twitter followers. There is no better feeling on Twitter than having someone retweet your content. A retweet is when someone finds your tweet interesting and wants to share it with all their followers (with your Twitter username attached). As a sign of appreciation, others will most likely follow you if you retweet their content to your following; it’s a sign of appreciation.

Retweeting others shows you are engaged and that you care. Often, it leads to more Twitter followers. 

8) Find Relevant People To Follow

Following people is one of the easiest ways to get more Twitter followers. Twitter gives you a limit to follow up to 2,000 people before they care about a ratio of who you follow. vs how many people follow you. Do not follow random people; make sure they are relevant. Twitter allows you to search for people using hashtags, but also through their advanced search. Don’t follow a lot of people at once; slow and steady wins the race. If you follow hundreds of people and do not have that many followers, you won’t appear nearly as legitimate. We believe it is important to have a 1:1 ratio for Twitter; in other words, have as many followers as people you follow. A great way to start is to search “social media

Searching “Social Media” shows you all the relevant people in the social media space.

9) Promotion Is Your Worst Enemy

If I met you in person, would I ever yell out, “Hi, my name is Tim. Here’ s a link to my blog. Here’s a link to my blog. Here’s a link to my blog?” Then, why do people do it online? The best advice we could give you is to be REAL. Engage, do not promote. Too often, brands focus on using Twitter as a big megaphone. It’s not. People have the ability to easily unfollow you if they feel like you are too spammy. Authenticity wins. Do not promote, unless you are given permission by your audience. Twitter is used to build real relationships, focused on authentic value. Treat your Twitter followers how you’d treat potential customers in real life.

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What are your thoughts? What other tips do you have for people to get more followers on Twitter? Comment below.

Check out simple ways how to get more followers on Instagram

Meet Tim Sae Koo

About the Author >> Tim Sae Koo, the CEO of Tint, took the idea from his business class at the University of Southern California and turned it into a company. At first, the company was called Hypemarks. He failed, learned and pivoted. Tint has helped over 10,000 brands reach consumers in new and engaging ways.