Hello,
I'm Mervi Eskelinen!
An artist, nerd and sorcerer, dedicated to make world softer and better for everyone, and to get you to make more art. Make art, change the world!
Twitter Tuesday: How to get followed back
How often have you followed someone on Twitter and (maybe secretly) hoped them to follow you back? If they are very popular or even a celebrity, your chances of a followback are less likely, but it's not completely impossible. Whether the person is a popular one or not, there are some simple ways to make sure they will notice you.
Why you want them to follow you back? Is it just because you want more followers, cause you want to improve your Klout score or because you want your followers/following count to be in a certain balance? Are they providing you with content that's beneficial to you (and perhaps your followers)? If so, then following without expecting them to follow you back is enough.
Do your really want this contact, do you really feel the mutual connection would benefit you both? In case you feel this person would fit your group of those who care, then yes, them following you back is rather important.
If you are sure you will need someone to follow you back, there are a couple of ways to try make sure it'll happen. Keep these "rules" in mind when following someone and hoping to get them follow you back.
Communicate: Reply, mention and ReTweet
Don't be a hit-and-runner and follow people expecting them to follow you without any effort from your side. Communication is the way to get noticed.
The first and foremost way to gain the interest of someone on Twitter is to @reply (and @mention) them. Answer their questions, help them when they ask for help, make them feel noticed, interesting and important. Don't spam!
ReTweet (both quote and straight ReTweet) when appropriate. Don't ReTweet everything they Tweet, but choose wisely which Tweets are really that interesting for you and especially for your current followers.
Be nice and polite
When you do @reply, @mention and quote ReTweet, do it in a nice and polite way. Make sure you are not rude, douchy and never ever judge or appear to laugh AT them.
Of course you can gain the attention by being rude as well, but most likely you'll get blocked instead of gaining a follow. Being blocked enough may lead your account to get suspended by Twitter all together.
Get in touch with people they follow
Us Twitter users are more likely to follow (back) those our friends, the people we are interested about and our other contacts follow and/or communicate with. If the person you want to follow you back doesn't seem to notice you, following and communicating with those they are interested about may make you look interesting too.
This is a terrible tactic if you don't do it right: Only do this if you find the person they follow really interesting to you. Otherwise you'll just be phony and a scammer and it'll cause you trouble after a while.
This is also a good way to find interesting contacts on Twitter. You might accidentally make a good friend.
Appear interesting
You are an interesting person, so appear as one too. After you've gained their interest, the person you want to follow you is likely to check your Twitter profile and feed. Give them a reason to follow you back.
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Have a good profile picture. Be careful: Your funny picture may be funny for you and your current followers but scare off those you'd like to follow you back
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Write a simple bio which describes you and gives an idea of what you are going to Tweet about. If your bio says you have three kids, I'm sure you will Tweet about those kids.
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Don't appear as a spammer. Make sure your Twitter feed looks interesting and doesn't make you look like a spammer or a scammer.
Well, that didn't work
Give it time. Perhaps the person is very busy or gets so many ReTweets, @replies and @mentions they missed yours. The time you give them depends on how important this connection is for you.
If after all doing everything to get in touch you get repeatedly ignored (eg. you never even get a nice and polite @reply), then you'll know they are not worth your effort. Unless they keep giving you very good and useful information, you can as well unfollow and forget them.
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