Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are powerful and proven tools for online social networking, promoting your online work and getting to know people in the web world around you. The more people you have following you on your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn sites, the more likely it is that they will see what you’re doing and become more interested in your work around the web. Here is a list of ten things you can do today to get more followers on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
1. Use Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn’s tools for finding and adding your existing contacts.
If you follow them, they’ll likely follow you. Don’t stop there, however. Follow up with an email to each of those people letting them know why you really hope that they’ll follow you on Twitter. This follow-through increases the number of followers that you’ll get. Speaking of email, add your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn information on your email signature. Every time you email anyone, they’ll see your social networking information.
2. Make an announcement on your other social networking sites that you’d like to be followed on Twitter.
Let your Facebook, G+, and LinkedIn contacts know where they can find you on Twitter and ask them for follow you. Don’t make this announcement just once; update your Facebook status every two or three weeks to keep getting people’s attention back to your Twitter. You can also post to Facebook from Twitter and it will show up on Facebook showing the cross-networking. You can use Twitter in the same way to get people to become a fan of your Facebook page, or add connections through your LinkedIn account.
3. Go to TweetUps.
TweetUps are in-person meetups of Twitter users. Meet people in person, put a face to the name, talk about your businesses, favorite activities and follow each other on Twitter now knowing the person/people whom you’ve just met. Bring business cards to pass out with your web, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn information.
4. Blog about your social network sites.
If your business doesn’t have a blog, it needs one. This is the easiest way to stay in touch with interested customers about upcoming promotions, new products or services, pictures of what is happening, and a way to get to know the company and those who work for the company. In the blog add the Facebook and Twitter widgets that will take people directly to your pages, and when you are writing for the blog, mention something from your Facebook page, or a Tweet.
5. Let’s Talk Widgets.
Widgets are small applications that can be installed and executed within a web page by an end user. Widgets are sometimes referred to as badges. Essentially it looks like a link tab, and will take you to a certain webpage. You can place widgets on websites, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and countless other places. By placing widgets that cross-reference your different social medias, you will help your SEO rankings as well as keep interested customers or followers on your pages.
6. Step out of the box.
You can customize Twitter with a better background, avatar (main profile picture) and bio information. The more attractive it looks, the more likely people will stay long enough to read what you have to say. You can also customize your Facebook page. MySpace was big on customizing your space. While it isn’t quite as popular on Facebook, it is a possibility. You can also customize the tabs visitors interact with on Facebook.
7. Be interesting!
Don’t be a “Facebook stalker” quietly lurking in the shadows. Post things that are interesting so people will be interested in you. If you don’t have much going on, find an article worth putting up, mention a benefit you are attending, talk about community involvement, and encourage followers and friends to attend!
8. Show me the freebies.
Everyone loves free stuff. Think of what you would like to accomplish, i.e. have 1,000 Facebook friends, 2,000 Twitter followers, then come up with a fun prize to award the 1,000th friend, or reward the person who helped get you 10 more followers by mentioning it on their social sites. Have fun with the prize, and this will give you more to Tweet about!
9. Follow people often.
No, not stalking, but find 5 or 10 new people to follow on Twitter every day and begin to “favorite” or “retweet” their content. They will see you are a new follower, and may start to follow you. Post something interesting on their page or create a new dialogue with them.
10. Get creative.
Social media is supposed to be a fun way to engage with people around the world. Keep it fun and light-hearted. Be creative and keep your pages fresh. If you don’t stay on top of it, people will lose interest and check out.
Photo by Jason Lee