Last August I wrote a post titled Six tips for Twitter users who have less than 25 followers. As a relatively new Twitter user who had two hundred followers, I wrote about the initial doubts and concerns that I had about having a public profile that showed that I had next to no followers. Seven months and seven hundred followers later, I have decided to write a follow-up post on the same subject with the primary intent of communicating a few more tips for Twitter newbies. These observations may be deemed basic by some of the seasoned Tweeps out there.  

Here they are.

Don’t be an egghead 

Eggs are great for breakfast! Not so much, as a profile picture.

Not having a real picture of you in your profile is a dead giveaway that you are not there to engage with others. If you are worried about the lack of followers, remember that everyone on Twitter started with zero followers! I generally do not follow anyone who does not have a real picture as part of their profile. The exceptions are a few friends who have yet to upload their images and continue to use the default Twitter avatar image. To put things in perspective, I was surprised to see my Twitter followers climb when I switched my profile image from a casual look to a formal one!

Your profile is your business card

This one may seem obvious. But, the number of Twitter users who have profiles that do not accurately reflect their interests or their professional status is surprising. If your primary intent is to build your business network, your profile should indicate what you do.

If you would like to share a common interest like a sport – squash, tennis, sailing, etc. – it should be obvious in your profile.   Since my Twitter account is not tied directly to my work, I have chosen to show a bit of both in my profile. If you are new, I see no harm in indicating that in your profile. Linking a decent LinkedIn profile to your Twitter account can get you instant credibility.

Why follow someone who does not follow you back?

Unlike Facebook “friends” and LinkedIn “connections,” the term “follower” has a connotation that may not appeal to everyone. A CEO of a large company may be perfectly OK “connecting” with me, while he or she may think twice about “following” me!

Twitter connections are not one-to-one. You don’t need a person’s approval to follow him or her. The flip side of that is that you can end up with a large number of people that you follow, who have not cared to follow you back. In my view, Twitter is about engagement. Following a large number of people who do not follow back does not make sense. If there are thought leaders or prominent people within a certain industry that you want to follow, you are better off subscribing to their blog, podcast, or RSS feed. Why clutter your Twitter timeline?

I do accept the fact that not everyone will have common interests. So, when someone does not follow back, I do not take it personally. I give them two weeks and then I unfollow them.  

An active vs. passive presence on Twitter

Twitter is about tweets. If you want to engage through Twitter, you must tweet. The frequency of your tweets is an indication of your presence on Twitter. It is true that as a newbie nobody will pay any attention to you; especially when you have a low follower count. Most blogs, websites, and news media give you the option to tweet items posted on their sites. Use it to tweet about an article or post that you find interesting. Once you have a small following, it may make sense to occasionally, mention some of your followers in your tweets to start engaging with them. If all you do is complain on Twitter, it will not get you far.

There are gamers 

Occasionally you will come across users who have built up a large enough following without really tweeting about anything. These are people who game the system for a high follower-to-following ratio. Here is an example of someone who proactively followed me and quickly unfollowed me when I followed him back! I use a tool called Commun.it to track such behaviour. Needless to say, I have no patience for such users and make sure that I unfollow them post haste.

Retweets are a rare commodity 

No one retweeted you yet? You don’t have to be disheartened. If you are used to Facebook “likes” and LinkedIn “endorsements,” you will quickly find that retweets are a rare commodity indeed! After being on Twitter for over a year, I have only had a dismal 9% of my tweets retweeted by others. On the bright side, this is considered acceptable! Only a select few make it past the 20% range. In the short term, focus on what you find interesting and retweet the ones that you really enjoyed. Your turn will come!

I realize that reaching out to someone whom you have never known or met, to make a connection, is sort of like making a cold call to a sales prospect. It may not be for everybody. However, with mediums like Twitter gaining more and more mindshare as a marketing and communication channel, it certainly would make sense to try!

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