Do you want to learn how to increase engagement on Twitter?
This article will show you some easy ways to get more engagement on Twitter, so you can keep your followers interested and clicking your links.
Why does Twitter follower count matter?
Although Twitter doesn’t have as many users as platforms such as YouTube and Facebook, it is much more popular with professional users.
And like all other social platforms, follower count matters. It matters for:
- Credibility
- Authority
- Organic reach
People are more likely to engage with and follow accounts with more followers because Twitter pushes posts from high-follower count accounts more than those with few followers.
If you want to gain more followers, you need to already have followers. This can seem like a difficult task, but there are ways to build up your follower count quickly. Use these expert tips to get started.
How to get followers on Twitter
1. Find a unique and compelling brand voice
The most important thing to do on social media is to find your voice. You need to do some research on your brand’s voice before you set up your Twitter account. This includes things like your audience, your brand vision, and your messaging.
This will all help you create a space that people will want to be in.
2. Complete your Twitter profile
People can search for your Twitter profile in the Twitter app and on external search engines like Google. Make sure it has:
- A high-quality profile photo
- Relevant tags, keywords and location information
- A bit of personality
3. Get verified
Twitter has resumed verifying accounts after a pause in 2017.
Accounts that are verified by the site are allowed to display a blue tick on their profile, which tells users that the account is legitimate.
The purpose of this process is to prevent fake and imitative accounts from becoming popular on the site.
Having authenticity will make people more willing to follow you.
4. Post visual content
Most people now focus on visuals on Twitter, rather than just text and emojis. Try using:
- Images
- Videos
- Memes
- GIFs
- Infographics
- Graphic quotes
You can say more in a visual post than in a text post because visuals don’t count towards Twitter’s 280 character limit.(up from the original 140 characters)
5. Learn what makes a good Tweet
Any social media content that stands out is a combination of art and science. The art can’t be taught, but the science part can be expressed in a list.
According to Twitter, the best performing tweets:
- Contain 1-2 hashtags
- Are conversational
- Are short and sweet (Tweets under 140 characters still perform best)
- Use visual content
- Are tested using analytics and tweaked
- Respond to current events and trending conversations
On Twitter, you can see what’s trending by going to the “Trends” section on the “Explore” tab.
6. Post at the right time
Hootsuite’s research shows that 8 am on Mondays and Thursdays is the best time to Tweet. So if you’re just starting out, your best bet is to post regularly at these times.
To test your own best times, post at various times for 30 days. In 30 days you will have gathered enough data to use Hootsuite’s Best Time to Publish feature to find the optimal posting time for your current and potential new followers.
7. Embrace new features
Keep up with Twitter’s announcements to stay abreast of new features. Are you already aware of Spaces, Twitter’s live audio chat feature introduced in 2021? If not, you may miss out on the latest brand promotion opportunities.
Follow @Twitter on Twitter to stay up to date on launches and features like Spaces, Tweet Takes (Twitter’s answer to TikTok’s visual replies), and more.
8. Use hashtags
Adding hashtags to your posts makes them searchable, so that users who don’t follow you can still see them. This is a quick way to access new viewers and widen your audience.
Twitter states that you should use one to two hashtags per tweet. Choose hashtags that are relevant and, when possible, connect to a trending topic like #FridayVibes.
9. Use emojis
If your tweet is mostly text, adding a winking face emoji could help it get noticed. People are attracted to color, and the yellow/red combo of many face emojis is especially appealing.
Adding an emoji or two to your tweets can help them stand out to your audience, leading to more followers.
10. Create Twitter threads
If you have a story to tell that can’t be contained in 280 characters, you should share it as a Twitter thread.
A thread on Twitter is a series of tweets that are connected to each other. Twitter uses a numbering system to show how many tweets are in a thread, for example 1/6, 2/6, 3/6.
Not only do people love a good story, but also multiple Tweets means multiple chances to get seen.
After you’ve written your first tweet, click the plus sign to create a thread. Twitter will add the numbering automatically once you publish.
11. Engage, engage, engage
One of the best ways to build followers when you’re new to Twitter is to consistently engage on the platform. That means:
- Engaging with your existing followers (answering comments, messages, etc.)
- Tracking your brand mentions and responding to them
- Keeping an eye on retweets and commenting on them
- Posting comments on the posts of non-competitor accounts in your niche
- Liking posts regularly, i.e. every day
When you engage with other users on Twitter, the algorithm will take notice and begin to show your account more often in other users’ feeds. Additionally, engaging with others will make your followers more likely to stick around, and it will get your name in front of people who follow similar accounts.
A social dashboard like Hootsuite can be very useful for managing social media engagement. It allows you to see all your DMs(Direct Messages), mentions, and comments in one place.
12. Use Twitter lists
If the idea of managing all of the engagement on Twitter is overwhelming, don’t worry! You can use Twitter lists to organize the people you follow into groups, making it easier to read the tweets from the people who interest you the most.
Twitter lists are a grouping of users that are organized into a named group. This is done so that you can prioritize your engagement time with ease.
You could create lists of:
- Competitors
- Consistent retweeters
- Customers or clients
- Brand advocates
- Important topics
- News sources
- Industry influencers
- Twitter chat participants
- Prospects and leads
13. Run viral Twitter contests
One of the best ways to increase Twitter interactions is to run a social media giveaway. People love receiving freebies, and Twitter giveaways have the potential to go viral, expanding your reach to hundreds or even thousands of Twitter users.
RafflePress is a powerful WordPress plugin that allows you to create online contests with all the tools you need to run viral Twitter giveaways. Ready-made actions make it easy for participants to tweet a message to enter.
14. Add a Twitter feed to your website
If you embed your Twitter feed on your website, you are more likely to increase reader engagement. Your website’s visitors already like your content, so they are more likely to interact with your tweets.
If you want to add a Twitter feed to your website, you can do so easily with Custom Twitter Feeds Pro from Smash Balloon.
The Custom Twitter Feed Pro Plugin allows you to easily integrate your Twitter feed on your WordPress site. You can display multiple feeds on the same page or throughout your site.
Twitter feeds are highly customizable. You can choose to display different types of Twitter feeds, combine multiple feed types, change the layout, and select from numerous design options.
Your visitors can engage with tweets in your feed while they are on your site.
15. Post content your followers’ enjoy most
If your content isn’t something that people are interested in, they’re not going to want to spend time talking about it. You need to share material on Twitter that will resonate with your audience if you want to get the most clicks, retweets, and likes.
Analytics can tell you what your followers are most interested in consuming. Looking at your analytics will give you an idea of which tweets perform the best with your audience.
Twitter is a great place to share content and get more engagements. Note down the themes and ideas with the best results and share more content similar to that. You can even run a promotion through Twitter ads to get more engagements for your most popular tweet.
16. Remember to interact with other users’ tweets
Twitter is a social media platform, so it’s important to be active and socialize with other users.
Sometimes it’s enough to just browse your Twitter feed and start conversations around posts that interest you. You can also show your support by liking and retweeting them so your own network can get involved.
You can use a social media monitoring tool to keep track of conversations about your brand and industry, then jump in with helpful information and advice when appropriate.
Listening to what your audience is saying on social media can help you identify topics they are interested in. You can then create content that relates to those topics.
Netflix discovered that many viewers fall asleep while binge-watching through social listening. In response, they created the Netflix socks project. The socks detect when you fall asleep and send a signal to your TV to pause your show.
17. Setup Twitter cards
You should go to your Twitter account and set up Twitter cards if you want to attach rich media, photos, and videos to tweets. This will help you drive traffic and improve engagement.
All you need to do is add a few lines of code to your site pages. Then when people tweet content from those pages, there’ll be a card attached to the tweets that’s visible to their followers.
To drive more engagement from your tweets, consider adding the following Twitter cards:
- Summary Card – This includes the title, description, and thumbnail of a blog post or page.
- Summary Card with Large Image – Similar to the card above but with a large featured image.
- App Card – A card that includes a direct download to an app.
- Player Card – This card displays video, audio, and media.
18. Boost interactions by curating content
If you’re struggling to come up with content to share on Twitter, a good strategy is to start curating content from other leaders in your industry. This will show that you have a good understanding of your niche and establish you as an expert.
There’s plenty of advantages to curating a collection of great content to share which includes:
- A diverse range of content to keep your Twitter feed relevant and interesting.
- Sharing content from industry leaders increases your credibility, as well as strengthening your reputation.
- Mentioning the source of content you share, gets their attention and prompts them to interact.
- Curated content fills gaps in your content calendar when inspiration fails you.
You can improve your business by finding influential people in your industry and sharing their content. This will help you gain more attention, engagement, and website visitors.
19. Create the Perfect Content Mix
It can be difficult to find the right mix of content for your feed. How much of it should be from your own personal experiences, and how much from other sources?
Here’s a guide for the perfect content combination to keep your posts well balanced:
- 5 x Curated Content – Links, images, and videos from other sources relevant to your audience.
- 3 x Created Content – Relevant, quality content you’ve created yourself.
- 2 x Personal Content – Personal comments and fun content to build a personality for your brand.
20. Don’t buy Twitter engagement
The most important tip is not to pay for Twitter engagement. This means paying third-parties on sites like Fiverr to engage with your content.
Most of the time, third parties use bots to create engagement, which makes your account more likely to get hacked. Also, Twitter considers this type of activity as platform manipulation and you could get penalized or even banned.
Use a combination of the strategies shared in this guide to improve engagement on Twitter instead of just relying on one method.
And that’s it!
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