How to Cure Twitter Loneliness

Dear Reader,

Here’s the obvious: most of us sign up for Twitter with no idea what we’re doing.

Now here’s something less obvious: 50-70% of Twitter handles at ANY given time are abandoned accounts.

Where does everyone go?! Back to Facebook?

As someone who writes on how to get more blog traffic, this is concerning to me.

Twitter is the best free way to get traffic and find leads for your blog, let alone being plain old fun. If you want blogging success, it is highly risky for you to abandon Twitter.

And when I got this email in my inbox late last week, I knew it was time for a blogpost on the matter.

Twitter: A Mystery at First

[pullquote]I’m ready to join Twitter, but who will listen to me with so few followers?[/pullquote]

The email came from one of my readers who just launched her “thoughts on life” blog and was a bit embarrassed to enter Twitter.

She knew it was good for blog growth but felt that everyone was light years ahead.

Sound like you?

If so, you should know one thing, even if you DON’T read this entire post: everyone feels this way at first.

Now, I’m no Twitter guru.

In between my two accounts I have a mere 2K followers, but I have used my handle to meet new business clients and even land guest posts, and I like to think my Twitter community is an engaged bunch. Certainly not randoms.

Over the course of a whole day of back and forth, we developed seven free tactics for Twitter growth which will generate results if repeated over time.

Check ’em out:

7 Cures

Note: These strategies aren’t stunning, but that doesn’t mean they’re not effective!

1) Start with a niche trend search or two

Anyone who says Twitter is hotter at some times than others is plain old wrong. There are always lively discussions to enter.

To find them, pop #keyword into your search bar, and see what comes up. Then, add to someone’s article or tweet with your own insight.

Most people don’t expect this, they’re just link blasting, so doing so will flatter them, get you on their radar, and start a much more effective interaction than if you just tweeted at them randomly.

2) Then, build a few niche lists

If you write a good list, you must know what you’re talking about, right?

So, add some Tweeters to a list! “Best advice in this” or “follow for tips on this”…it really doesn’t matter.

This helps you sound like an authority on a topic and when the reader responds saying thanks, there you go, discussion started.

3) Always remember your hashtags

If you tweet something BRILLIANT but have 5 followers, no one really sees your tweet.

That’s where hashtags come in.

Hashtagging hot keywords in your tweets allows the whole tweet to enter Twitter’s global discussions. Overtime, this will result in a lot more views on your tweets and subsequent follows.

4) Once you get going, stay ACTIVE

When you have a good idea for a tweet, it’s important to be able to get online quickly before the idea escapes your mind or loses it’s inspiration.

Cover these bases to make sure you can always tweet:
✓ Get a Twitter app for Android or iPhone
✓ Add Tweet buttons to your blog
✓ Sync your Facebook and Twitter

Then, pick a time of day when you’ll be tweeting. Lunch, dinner, late night, whenever – overtime, your followers will come to expect tweets from you in this time window.

5) Borrow followers from the noise-makers

Every niche has it’s noise-makers.

And if you find a major tweeter, you can look through their followers for folks who might like your content too. Just follow them, or even say hello.

Don’t be ashamed of following 100-300 people in this manner – it’s far more reasonable than randomly mass-following, and early on, you need all the support you can get!

6) Maintain an healthy balance of promo and sharing

This is one that my reader came up with…good stuff! The idea is that other folks on Twitter are savvy, and will know if you’re just marketing all-day-erry-day.

So, you have to maintain a healthy balance of tweeting other peoples work (maybe 60%), then interject every now and then with your own offers and articles (maybe 40%).

This shows people you’re not just some marketing robot…and have a genuine interest in adding value to their lives. Which you do 😀

7) And if possible, respond RIGHT AWAY

We’ve all done it, responding a week late to an email or other social media request.

But if you can respond right away to a tweet, retweet (thanks!) or even a new follow, you’ll show people sincerity and actually make an impact in a world where most actions go unnoticed.

Bonus: Engagement the Smart Way

As is often the case with my posts, I understand that my advice alone (well in this case my advice +1) might not cover everything (which is also why I ask for your comments).

So I took a shot in the dark and asked the folks at @TweetSmarter to offer one of their beginner strategies. TweetSmarter is one of Twitter’s largest advice handles – they run an entire business around making Twitter easy to understand and more fun for all of us.

So you could say I was a bit surprised (in the best way) when they responded to my tweet, probably nested among hundreds of other requests:

@gregnarayan ►@ folks who chat ►Add to a list, follow &RT their fav tweets 1st (eg http://t.co/Yujl9kxmCt ) ►Blog comment using Twitter name

— TweetSmarter (@TweetSmarter) August 26, 2013

I don’t know about you, but that’s more solid advice than I’ve ever seen bundled into one tweet – it’s a good strategy for beginners AND advanced users, not to mention a good demo on how to write a Tweet!

Make sure to visit:
TweetSmarter’s main handle
The TweetSmarter Blog

Update: While this is an awesome strategy it definitely looks a bit confusing (at least to me) at first. If you need a bit more explanation, check out what Dave from TweetSmarter posted for the Dear Blogger community in the comments. Sweet, Dave!

Ready to Reap the Benefits on Twitter?

If so, I’d love to hear how in the comments.

The particular reader this post was centered around has since grown to around 90-100 followers, which is an awesome community, regardless of how many followers the next guy has.

How about you? How has your Twitter experience been?

Post your thoughts today, right below.