Using Twitter to build a readership - Part Three

In Using Twitter to build a readership – Part One, we talked about the importance of using Twitter as part of an authors social marketing plan. In Part Two, we discussed the importance of having a blog or website to link to, and the 80/20 Plan of tweeting, to insure that you are a valuable to your readers.

In part three, I want to discuss some tips and tricks to finding targeted followers, getting them to follow you, and keeping them long-term.

Get targeted Twitter followers.

By targeted, I mean people who have a specific interest in the topic(s) you write on. For example, I have a book of humorous hunting and fishing stories, so having a bunch of twitter followers who are members of PETA probably isn’t going to be of much value!

There are three ways I’ve found to attract targeted followers.

The first, and easiest, is to simply add my Twitter URL as part of my email signature line.

If something I’ve emailed is forwarded on, it’s likely being forwarded to someone who has a common interest in the subject matter. Don’t expect huge numbers of followers from this method, but every little bit helps.

The second method is to add my Twitter URL in the short bio at the end of articles that I have published, either as paid or free content. Same idea as above.

The third, and by far the most effective method I’ve found for getting targeted followers is to be a targeted follower. In the search field on my Twitter page, I type in a keyword, like “Father,” (I also write a stay-at-home-dad blog.) The search result will give me a list of Twitter members who have the word father in either their username, or profile.

Next, I visit their page to confirm that (a) they are indeed interested in the topic of fatherhood or parenting, and post about it, and (b) they are following others on Twitter.

NOTE: Unless they are posting amazing content, stuff I can’t find anywhere else, I don’t follow people who have huge subscriber lists, yet only follow a handful of people themselves. They aren’t going to be reading my stuff, so what’s the point?

If they meet both of my criteria, then follow them, and try to make sure to comment on something they post, right away. About 75% of the time, they will follow you back, and now you have a targeted follower.

Do this until you run out of search results.

The next step is to look at their followers list, and repeat the process with each. Your follower list will grow slowly, but it will grow.  Yes, this is time consuming, but it is also a key to exponential growth, as these new followers begin re-tweeting your posts to their targeted followers, and so on, and so on…

Don’t get sucked into “numbers envy,” when you see someone else with 10 times the followers you have. I would rather have three followers who becomes my fans, then 300 who couldn’t care less about my writing.

Lastly – NEVER NEVER NEVER pay for followers. If you’re looking to use Twitter as a marketing tool, paid follower services are a total waste of time. All you will get is a lighter wallet and a twitter stream clogged with irrelevant tweets by uninterested followers.

In my next, and final, post on using Twitter to build a readership, we’ll look at what is probably the most important element to developing a long-term following, and turning those followers into customers.

See you then!

-Perry

Here’s the whole series: Using Twitter to build a readership – Part One, Part Two, Part Three, and Part Four. (Thanks @LynetteBenton)