Five ways to gain followers on Twitter

Celebrity-following paparazzi at an L.A. courthouse in 2008. Credit: Robyn Beck / Getty Images.

I have exactly 103 followers on Twitter. In the world of social media, that's pathetic.

So I sought some professional help from Andrew Nystrom, the Times' social media doctor (he has a respectable 4,790 followers as of this posting). I told Andrew that I was adding about one follower a day. At this rate, I can become a factor in about, oh, three years. That's because nothing interesting happens until you have at least 1,000 followers.

Andrew gave me five quick tips for making me more popular on Twitter. If you want more pearls of social media wisdom, you should follow him @latimesnystrom. For now, here’s a CliffsNotes version:

1. Be social. When someone follows you, send them a message. It starts up a dialogue that can bear fruit in the long run when they re-Tweet your posts or when their followers start following you. 

2. Schedule your Tweets. One of our most successful Twitterers stays up until 3 a.m. to post Tweets and posts at 3 a.m. Pacific, early enough to catch the East Coast traffic as they wake up and start cruising the Web. He refreshes those Tweets and posts with updates at 8 a.m. for the West Coast crowd for double the pleasure! 

3. If you have a blog, provide links at the bottom of each post to encourage readers to follow you. If you have a Facebook or MySpace account, you can collect followers by posting your more interesting Tweets as updates, along with a link to your Twitter account. 

4. Use hash tags. Many power Twitterers still search for posts pet topics by using hash tags. Say you want to dive into conversations about Michael Jackson’s memorial service tomorrow. You should post Tweets about the event and end them with a #michaeljackson so that they would show up when other people are searching for information on him. 

5. Talk about other people’s Tweets as much as you talk about your own. It’s part of being a good Web citizen, but it also pays back dividends when people return the favor.

And because you read all the way to the end, here’s a Bonus Tip as a reward. If you Twitter about someone with a Twitter or Facebook account, send them the link. They’re likely to send it to their friends and so on, and so on.

Do you have Twitter Ninja moves you want to share? Write them below! Oh, and you can follow my technology and video game musings @AlexPham.

-- Alex Pham

Comments

[Phil Buckley]

Listen to Andrew, he's one smart cookie.

[Trey Cameron]

Great tips! Thanks! http;//twitter.com/cameroncraig

[Trey Cameron]

Great tips! Thanks! http://twitter.com/cameroncraig

[Andrew Nystrom / @latimesnystrom]

[blushing] Thanks Phil, you're too kind. Did I mention "engage readers in your blog comments"?

Also, if you're tweeting for a media organization, poll your readers and see what they'd like more (and less) of, then give it to them.

That's how we've prioritized the creation of 170 LA Times-related Twitter accounts (over the past 6+ months), based primarily on reader feedback and popular requests.

You can find an overview of LAT Twitter accounts here:
http://latimes.com/twitter

And a full list of the accounts here:
http://latimes.com/tweets

@latimestweets follows only legitimate LAT tweeters, and retweets good Twitter-related links (like this one!)

Please tweet your feedback on LAT social media efforts c/o @latimesnystrom

Cheers,
~ Andrew

[Cathy Aron]

Great suggestions, thank you! I will be certain to put those to practice. http://www.twitter.com/CathyAron

[Shirley Marie Bradby]

Thank you for the valuable information and tips! By the way.....I am an online ESL teacher with 162 students from 37 countries and I have found that Twitter is an excellent and quick way to connect with my students to stimulate interesting conversations that defy boundaries and borders.....and even more importantly.... to open minds! Viva Twitter!

[Jan Kozlowski]

Thanks for some great suggestions. I am one of the nine authors working on Tweet Mystery of Death, a 6 week, live, semi-improvisational Twitter based murder mystery that started June 15. We have a core of followers but are always looking for ways to expand our audience. @Tweet_Mystery #tmod

[kevinstirtz]

Alex - great tips. I just retweeted them!.

Andrew - I love that LA Times uses Twitter to engage your readers, discover what they want and give it to them. The trouble is you've figured out my Amazing Customer Service model so now I might be out of a job. Thanks!

[Gayle Buske]

These are all wonderful suggestions. It's important to provide valuable content to your followers and keep them interested.

In addition, if you want to get followers then you need to follow others. I see many people on Twitter who don't follow everyone who follows them. While it's ok to determine that there are some people on Twitter that you have no interest in, it's also important to understand the etiquette on Twitter. When someone follows you they are basically saying they care about what you have to say. If you don't follow back it tells them that you have no interest in what they have to say. You won't make many friends or gain followers by ignoring the very people who have an interest in you. In addition they may eventually unfollow you if you don't follow them.

There are several apps out there that allow you to find people of interest to follow. Some include http://whoshouldifollow.com/ or http://www.twitterlocal.net/ . These are just a couple of great ways to search for people you want to connect with.

[Guias Local]

Andrew great article. I currently use these techniques daily as part of branding my new bilingual local search start-up Guias Local. We started Twitter on March 20th and have over 18,000 followers. The response has been very positive. I will start following you. Our Twitter is @guiaslocal. Thanks for the info;-)

[raining]

Thank u for ur suggestions~ It is of great importance to me.

[venkat]

First point really helpful in making healthy conversation on twitter, not heard much about scheduled tweets. Interesting tips to get more followers.

[Jason]

Thanks for these 5 or should I say 6 tips. Very handy.

http://twitter.com/manji675