Building an Audience: 7 Twitter Habits To Start Today

Have you ever wondered how some businesses get so many Twitter followers and you’ve been stuck at 10 for months now?  Well, you’re in good company. That’s a challenge for many small businesses, including my own. Building a social following takes time.

But, while time certainly is a factor, so is effort.  Building a social following, or audience, takes more than setting up a profile or page. It’s bigger than posting the blogs you’ve written or coupons you’re offering.

It’s about engaging in a two-way conversation.

Unfortunately, that’s the part many of us get wrong. So using one of my favorite social media platforms, Twitter, I’ll share seven actions you can take today to start pushing your numbers up.

But first, what is social engagement, anyway?

Social Engagement Defined

Social engagement refers to your degree of participation in a community. And if you think about it, each social platform, be it Facebook, Twitter, and so on are like their own little community.  And when you’re a part of a community, what do you do?  You get involved.

Think about the neighborhood you live in.  There’s always one anti-social neighbor who never speaks or waves. They don’t do picnics, neighborhood meetings, buy cookies…nothing.

So, no one really knows them, nor do they care to.

And in business, that’s what many of us do. We build our social house, move in, but never step outside to greet the neighbors.

Welcome to the Neighborhood!

Thankfully, the social community is forgiving and with a little effort, you can make new friends. While it still takes time, these seven habits helped me and I’m sure they’ll help you.  You’ll be president of the welcoming committee in no time.

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1. Tidy up the house. No one wants to visit the shack on the street! Work with a graphic designer to create a header and wallpaper that best articulates your brand. The look and feel of it should match that of your website and other branded materials. 
2. Landscape your yard.  Everybody loves seeing a well-manicured lawn. So when tweeting, speak legibly and professionally. While your Twitter audience understands that you only have 140 characters to play with, don’t make them work too hard to figure out what you’re saying.
3. Hang out and chat after work. Driving straight into the garage and letting the door down won’t win you any friends. Get out of the car and chat for a few minutes. To do that, post your tweets when the audience is listening. Engage while they’re talking.
4. Join the fun at the next cookout.  Think of Twitter as the ultimate block party. So come on out and join the fun.  How do you do that? By actually reading your Twitter feed.  How else are you going to see and be seen?  This is where you’re going to find articles you want to RT and folks you want to reach out to. 
5. Don’t forget to bring a dish. Don’t you dare show up to the party empty handed! Tweet at least once a day, sharing relevant content like good articles or videos.
   • When you post, try changing the article title into a question.
   • Retweet (RT) posts when it makes sense.  This “forward button” allows your post or the posts of others to be seen by not only your followers, but theirs too. Leave 15 or so characters free in your tweet so people can add comments.
6. Remember everyone’s name. By now, you should know your next door neighbor’s name, for Pete’s sake. Use @mentions to let people know that you’ve mentioned them.  Removing this info when sharing a post is tempting, but since we’re building relationship here, resist.
7. Check out other neighborhoods, too!  Go visit your friend’s neighborhood. You might find someone else you know. Try using hashtags (#) to help you get found and enjoy better reach. If you have a small following, this is a great way to get your post seen by more people.  Hashtags can also help boost SEO. But, don’t go overboard!