How do you get people to follow you on twitter?

It seems my last blog post on twitter has inspired many of you to look at/revisit twitter and see it as a possible valuable tool for your business.

But one question I had when I first started and one that I know others have asked me since is “How do you get people to follow you on twitter?”

First of all, I don’t think you need to strive to “get” people to follow you.  Remember Twitter is permission based so if someone has enough of you, you’re gone and out of their twitter feed instantly.

Having only been on twitter for just over a month, I have already experienced the twitter spammers and they are certainly out to “get” followers.  So, go with the attitude of attracting rather than getting.

Now that we have re-framed the question to “How to attract people to me on Twitter?” here are some of the ways I have seen that worked for me and resulted in attracting 98 followers in 4 weeks (at the time of writing) which I am quite proud of really!

• Don’t go out and starting adding hundreds and thousands of people to your follow list expecting people to just reciprocate.  First of all, how can you really follow 1,698 people when you are new to twitter (of course if you are The Scobleizer, you can – he is now following 21,004 people with 34,554 followers!) and secondly, IMHO if you are following 1,698 people but only have 34 following back, it just gives an impression that you are out to twam (is that short for twitter spam?!)
• Do start conversations with people that you follow.  When someone replies to you, others in their tweeter feed will see your name & so may click through to see who they are following & having a conversation with.  And if you build up a good enough relationship with that person, they must give a “shout-out” to your name in their tweeter feed.
• Do have an interesting & informal profile but don’t put up your “corporate tagline” or be “overly-friendly”   Remember, Twitter is fun and engaging, so reflect your personality & be interesting.
• Do link your twitter feed to your website, blog or newsletter.  Download a twitter widget to your sites and it can be an easy way of signposting your subscribers to other parts of your business to your twitter feed.
• Don’t twitter crap! Your twitter feed is going to be THE attraction for people to follow. If your twitter feed is full of useless information, then people won’t follow you from what they see on your home page.  Give value, offer help & support and engage in the twitter conversation – There is just no need to twit about your cats every day (unless you are promoting an online club for cat owners, obviously )

I’m sure I will have plenty more to share with you over the coming months, so do make sure you subscribe to this blog feed (top right hand corner) or join me on twitter – my twit name is @CanDoCanBe.

And if anyone from Twitland out there can add to these pointers, please leave a comment. I know I have still much to learn!