Causeway Design

What is your Twitter follow policy?  Do you only follow friends and relatives?  Do you only follow like minded people or industries that provide services that interest you?

Everyone has a different philosophy when it comes to the people they follow on Twitter.  Many new Twitter users are overwhelmed by the amount of tweets received and unfollow or block Twitter accounts to what they perceive is a reasonable number.  Some people will only follow accounts that they believe will increase public perception of them.  I have a different philosophy.  Unless you are a spammer or your tweets are pornographic in nature, I will follow everyone that follows me.

Unless you have nothing to say or are used to talking to yourself (not my area).  You need followers to read your tweets.  And unless you are a celebrity, large commercial business, or political figure  Sure you can sign-up for the free or paid services that promise increased followers.  But they don’t work as promised.  At least the free ones don’t (I won’t pay for one).  Many people will un-follow you just for being associated with them.

I find in order to to have anyone follow you other than your friends, family, co-workers, acquaintances,  or those using Twitter to sell something.  You must follow some simple rules.  Most have been written about countless times.  But I have a new one for you.

Follow EVERYONE that follows you.  This one rule has doubled the number of people that follow me.  I block spammers and accounts that are pornographic in nature.  Those accounts are typically dropped by Twitter anyway.  But when people see that you are following everyone, they want in on the action.

Check out my follower stats on TwitterCounter.  To see the increased follower rate.  Look at the rate of new followers from August 15th through August 20th.  Compare that to August 20th through today.

Other Tweet Rules

1. Tweets must be of interest to someone other than yourself.  “”Sitting on Deck” or “Watching I Love Lucy” is not interesting.
2. Tweets should contain a link for further information if available.
3. Tweet frequently.  Not several times a week, but several times a day.
4. Re-Tweet your followers.  Take the time to read tweets from those you may not normally listen to and re-tweet from them as well.  It doesn’t matter if you agree with the Tweet.
5. Reply to your followers.  People need to know someone is listening.
6. Follow everyone that follows you.

Tags: social-media, Twitter