7 smart tips to get MORE followers on Twitter

Keep your tweets informative and entertaining such that it stands out from the rest, says Dr Ranjit Nair.

Social media is a powerful tool when it comes to connecting with a wide audience on a global scale.

While there may be several ways to build your presence on social media, Twitter continues to be one of the most popular mediums of social communication.

Given its international reach and diverse audience, what you post on Twitter can make or break your following.

Whether you’re new to Twitter or have been tweeting for some time, here is a guide on how a senior executive must handle the social media pressure, specifically on Twitter.

Why you must have a social account

• To become a thought leader share your knowledge and expertise on the brand and the sector
• To influence users deep dive into the sector and the brand and build a strong relationship with them
• To support the brand on social media during the time of crisis

How can you present themselves as a thought leader?

1. Be true to your bio

Scripting a descriptive and creative bio which suggests the core topics of your posts can help gather loyal followers.

2. Express your opinion

Be direct and vocal about your opinion.

Depend very little on retweets (unless it is associated with your brand).

Even while retweeting, try to include your personal comment with the post.

3. The more you tweet, the faster you grow

The more often you post relevant content the better your exposure on the platform will be.

4. Spend time with your brand

Talk more about your brand, share more articles along with your opinions on the topic.

5. Conversations help

Spark conversations by tagging other thought leaders in your domain, this will help expand reach and attract new followers

6. Quality content is key

Assure quality content and keep your tweets informative and entertaining such that it stands out from the rest, and will tempt your followers to Retweet and wait for your next post.

7. Hashtags go a long way

Associate your retweets and opinions with the interests of your brand by injecting hashtags in your posts.

What subjects to posts and how frequently

As an industry expert and thought leader you would be expected to act as both a hub and a bridge influencer and should post at least 2 times in a week

As a Hub influencer your role would involve:

• Starting movements, creating hashtags and populating the trending board
• Act as the centre of a conversational network
• Tweet new information to a large network of followers

As a Bridge influencer your role would involve:

• Create virality by sharing relative content
• Act as the connection between the primary source (the brand) and the followers

Who could you follow?

Other though leaders (including competitors) and other relevant accounts in the sector are an excellent source to attract enthusiastic followers and to gather news about industry as well as the regional market.

Who to engage with and how?

Most influencers, especially thought and knowledge leaders, usually tend to concentrate on sharing content which would be beneficial to the brand and engaging to the followers.

What kind of posts should you have?

• Quote tweets: Quoting and sharing tweets relevant to the brand by adding the author’s Twitter handle.
• Retweets: Retweets from influential personals, preferably with an individual comment
• Experience posts: Simple experience shares targeted towards highlighting the brand you represent or its employees.
• Idea posts: Sharing article/s with brief opinion/comments which centre around the brand's objectives.

Dr Ranjit Nair (PhD AI) is CEO and founder of Germin8 Solutions.