Growing Your Twitter Following

Once the realm of teenagers and pop stars, Twitter has rapidly become the fast track for indie artists. For example, it’s not uncommon for an independent author, such as Blake Northcott, to amass 20,000+ followings. That’s a loud voice, and a strong marketing punch. But how do you grow your own following? I've talked with several who have, and combined their knowledge with what I've learned, to provide this two-part series of tips.

1. Be Active. Okay, this is simple, I know, but there's no easy way around it. If you want to grow a following, you need to log in the hours. Search for # subjects that interest you. In my case it is #military scifi, #tabletop (boardgames), and #writing. Find the people whose posts display under those hashtags and follow them. Comment on their posts, start conversations. Make your own posts, and hashtag them with your interests.
   
2. Be helpful. There is a lot of noise on Twitter. Once you follow a couple of hundred indy writers, you'll notice that many, far too many, of their posts fall under the heading of "look at me" or "buy this." It's irritating. Don't let your posting fall into the same trap. Try to follow the 80-20 rule. Eighty percent of your posts should be helpful, 20 percent should be promotional. Did you recently read a good article on time management? Post a link to it (writers never have enough time). How about a discussion on eBooks and their publishing? Same thing, post a link, help folks out. By no means should you be shy about promoting yourself or your products, but don't make every tweet a sales pitch. 
3. Be diligent. When you pick up a follower, send them a thank you tweet. If you pick up several, it's acceptable to give them all a shout out in one tweet. However you do it, make sure you show your appreciation.
4. Retweets. Retweet frequently but authentically. When someone tweets a point that you feel is interesting, retweet. It's a great way to expose yourself to a new audience. Don't however, retweet just for the sake of retweeting. 

Tomorrow I'll conclude my tips with thoughts on mining following gold, and more. 

See you then. 
Mark