The Twitter Follower Recipe

Like most services that sweep the world, Twitter has quickly been tainted by businesses hoping to take advantage of this crazy new “viral marketing” that the suits hear so much about. What’s unfortunate is that the majority of them seem to have missed the primary advantage: connecting with the consumer on a more personal level. Twitter is much more than a substitute for RSS feeds.

As many of you may know, I run the Nettuts+ Twitter account, as well as edit the site. For a web development blog with 50,000 RSS subscribers, a Twitter follow-count of 20,000 is actually quite impressive.

Working for Envato, I’ve had the pleasure of learning from so many different brilliant minds, especially when it comes to things like social marketing. There’s no denying that, at the end of the day, my job is to create a following for Nettuts+. As such, it’s very interesting to analyze how each site editor runs his or her own Twitter account. Each of us have our own style.

1. Using it primarily for important site news.
2. Retweeting applicable articles/news items.
3. A bit more of a personal outlet.

Pros and Cons

There are advantages and disadvantages to each method; and I’m perfectly willing to admit that I don’t know enough to make any kind of “this is the way to gain followers” declaration. With that said, I do feel that I’ve learned a thing or two.

1. It is Okay to use the Word, “I”

This might seem obvious; however, I’m fairly certain that many companies discourage the use of any personal chatter what-so-ever. Yet once again, they’re missing the point of Twitter. If it was originally created as a way to tell the world “what you’re doing,” how did it turn in to a maze of links?

If I’m following @microsoft – which I don’t – I want to feel as if I have the “inside scoop” on what they’re working on. Surely, they can’t reveal any exclusive information, due to the fact that the tweet would be immediately “articalized” by blogs across the web within hours. Having said that, I would have loved to read tweets along the lines of “Windows 7 is coming along really well! We’re all getting excited.” from Microsoft. It’s personal without being “took my dog for a walk” boring.

Now it’s one thing with enormous companies like Microsoft – perhaps a bit more understandable – but it’s quite another with smaller blogs and sites like Nettuts+. If my only job was to post link after link on Twitter, what would be the benefit? Can’t you visit Smashing Magazine’s site and find the majority of them anyhow? Sure you can.

Maybe it’s just because I work from home, but I truly do have a desire to connect with our readers – on both a professional and a personal level (at least as personal as Twitter can get).

2. Do Not Follow Everyone

This is one that I might not be smart enough to understand. What is the advantage to following everybody, from a business point of view? Does that make us look more friendly? Because, to my eyes, it seems a bit spammy. Don’t ruin your Twitter feed by befriending 10,000 people. Just as it’s my job to run the Twitter account, I also take advantage and learn from the thoughts and ideas of those I follow. If I followed 10,000 users, I would lose that ability.

Some might argue that the advantage comes from immediately knowing when a user has a gripe with your company. This is incorrect for two reasons:

1. Following 10k people, you won’t notice.
2. Why not, using a program like Echofont (my Twitter Mac client of choice), create a saved search for your company? Presto. Mission accomplished without following everybody.

Secondly, how many of you have found yourself looking over who your favorite designer on Twitter follows?

There’s a huge benefit to reviewing who those you follow…follow!

3. Be Silly

Let’s be frank: as we become increasingly solitary, the desire to “connect” increases exponentially. I don’t follow people or businesses who spam me with links all day. I need to feel like I “know” them, at least in some small fashion. Don’t get me wrong – links are great (I post them often, even), but they must represent only a portion of your tweets.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with referencing a funny Youtube video or article, as long as it isn’t offensive in nature. All business and no play is never a good thing. For example, I, just yesterday, linked to a funny video of an Ewok moonwalking on The Today Show. Is it related to web development? Not at all. Does it promote my site/company? Not a chance. But it adds a bit of personal flair, and opens a dialog between yourself and your followers. This helps to build a larger, and more personal, link between your company and the consumer. And of course, the convenient plus side is that the more tweets with @yourbusiness in them… the more retweets… the more followers.

4. Once They Know You…

They’ll help you! Whether it comes in the form of a retweet, or a Digg, or even a helpful job reference, it’s common sense that we’re much more apt to help those we know over those we don’t.

Twitter is a simple tool. We’ve just complicated the hell out of it.

The Twitter Recipe

If you want more followers for your company, be a human being and tweet like one.

1. Only provide links to articles you’ve READ and ENDORSE
2. Add a dash of meaningless personal chatter.
3. Reply to those who ask you questions. Remember, replies don’t show up in everybody’s feed. You’re not spamming your followers if you respond to ten people in a few minutes.
4. Two cups of promoting your business. That’s the point, isn’t it?
5. One tablespoon of hilarious Youtube video a few times per week. Laughing is good.
6. Be creative. For example, Envato’s support staff has a Twitter account to expedite quick and easy questions.
7. A quart of “don’t complicate it!”

In Conclusion

I want to clarify that these are the things that have worked for me personally. Do I have it all figured out? No way. Does anyone else, for that matter? No way. What works for your business?