So, you are in a bar with some friends, and some guy comes up and asks if you want to join him at his empty table for a drink. You say no. Same guy comes up ten minutes later asking the same thing. You say no again. Same guy comes up 20 minutes later and asks the same thing - again. You tell him to fuck off.
Twitter is a bar.
I’ve actually had to block someone who repeatedly comes into my Twitter stream asking me to retweet his name so he can get more followers. Dude, this is not how the internet works. I don’t know you from Adam. Why would I retweet your needy post and blot my own timeline with useless information?
Firstly, this obsession over getting more followers is a dead end. More followers does not mean a) you are popular b) people will read what you say.
There is a lot of noise of there and having someone follow you who follows 35,000 other people is going to mean you are a small voice in that persons stream. Secondly, people follow people generally because they have something interesting to say. They don’t want repetitive crap posts about your quest to get to 1000, 2000 followers whatever. When I stop following people, it’s because I have become uninterested in their messages. I don’t mean the occasional - “I’m going to have coffee” post, I’m as guilty of that as anyone, what I mean is they keep saying the same thing like promoting their e-book, or pushing an Elongated crowdfunding campaign, or asking me to retweet their name so they can get 1000 followers – Hmmm? The same message turns me off. And I’d hazard a guess it would turn most others off too.
If you want to get more followers on Twitters there are two very easy things you can do.
1) Post Valuable Content, Hashtagged appropriately, about your Niche – Twitter is about information. If you post valuable information that people can use, they will see you as an interesting person and likely follow you. Sales messages are OK occasionally – like one in ten posts – but if you really want to position yourself as someone to follow then be an information pimp. Your followers will grow organically and are more likely to be interested in what you are saying.
2) Buy and Use Follower adding software like Tweet Adder – If you insist on being all about the numbers then stop harassing people to retweet you for more followers. Pay £30ish quid and buy Tweet Adder. Tweet Adder automatically follows people for you – once you set the list of people you want to add up. Twitter Etiquette is that most people refollow you if you follow them, hence by you adding people you follow you, yourself will see a rise in followers. Of course, the quality and actual usefulness of these followers is debatable.
As in real life, so in Twitter, Facebook or any of the other networks out there. Take the hint!