Increase Your Twitter Following in 3 Easy Steps

1. Change your profile photo.

If you are using the Twitter egg as your profile photo, that is a dead giveaway that you are brand new to Twitter and don’t know how to use it. It could also lead people to believe that you’re one of those fake accounts that exist to contaminate the Twitter-verse. To avoid this, change your profile photo to your logo, an image of a product you sell, or your actual photo. It should be around 300×300 pixels, so that it is clear (a blurry Twitter photo makes a bad first impression) and enlarges when a user clicks on it. Changing your avatar is one way to increase your Twitter following, if you have not yet uploaded a legitimate photo yet.

2. Embrace #hashtags.

If you haven’t done much tweeting yet, you may not know how to engage people in those conversations that are unique to Twitter (a Twitter “convo” is categorically different than a conversation you may have with followers on Facebook, if for no other reason than the character limitations). Enter the hashtag, which can help you enter nearly any conversation you like on Twitter.

Find out which hashtags are trending among people in your industry (you can do this by checking out the Twitter profiles of your competitors or industry leaders), and jump in. Or, if there is any industry newsgoing on, everyone will likely be talking about it and you can get in on those interactions. Another idea: Anytime there is an industry conference you are attending, there should be a hashtag for it (the event coordinator will likely create one). While you are at the event, keep your smartphone in hand and utilize that hashtag every chance you get to talk about things happening at the conference. Many of your colleagues using the same hashtag will follow you.

3. Follow more users.

It’s a no-brainer: If you follow people, there’s a chance they will follow you back. Start by following others in your industry, because they are in the same boat as you; they need Twitter followers just like you do. Ask your customers if they are on Twitter and if so, what their handle (their @name) is. Follow them, and if they are good customers, they will follow you back. Then, be sure to put a Twitter button on your website home page, blog and email signature. This will draw more people who are already visiting your website to follow you on Twitter, too.

Whether you are new to Twitter or have been trying to figure it out for some time, you can increase your Twitter following with these three steps. Then, if you wish to establish an even bigger presence on Twitter, our Los Angeles social media agency can help.