Up until a couple of months ago, I only really used Twitter for newsgathering (I used to be an online journalist) and never really said very much. I wasn't concerned about getting followers and didn't really engage with people on there. I'd often look, but rarely talk back.
Then I realised that, in the media industry, you are judged on how many followers you have (it's a shallow world, I know) and I had some catching up to do. Now I'm by no means a celebrity on Twitter - I only have about 1,200 followers at the time of writing - but I have got there from only a couple of hundred when I started working in social in February.
Fortunately for me, I'd been posting in a professional capacity to Twitter for quite some time, so I had a pretty decent idea of what works and what doesn't. And since starting as a full-time social guy I've picked up a few more. So I thought I'd share with you what meagre knowledge I have...
DO use pictures. Pictures are far FAR more engaging than words alone. There is a reason why sites like Instagram and Imgur are so successful. We are all generally very lazy, and pictures are much easier to take in than words. This means your audience is instantly much bigger when you use them. And if the content is good, it means there are more people to share it.
DO talk to people. You get what you give on Twitter. I've lost count of the amount of real-life conversations I've had with people who say they signed up to Twitter but then got bored and went back to Facebook, or just didn't bother at all.
It will be boring if you're not doing anything. It's all about conversation. People won't know you're there if you don't tell them, and they won't want to follow you unless they think you've got something interesting to say.
DO work out why you're there. Twitter is a fantastic place for niche interests. Of course, some people will get away with being very broad and talking about all sorts of things. But they tend to be people who are already in the public sphere. The best Twitter accounts are the ones that have a specific purpose - a news site, or celebrity gossip feed, or a football expert, or whatever.
So if you love Carp Fishing, for example, then put that in your profile and talk to other people who share your hobby. They are much more likely to want to talk to you than a bunch of strangers. And you'll find you get much more enjoyment out of using Twitter if you're talking about something you enjoy.
DON'T troll people you don't know. Everyone loves a bit of banter. And if you have a mate in the office who supports a rival football team, then it can be great fun winding them up online. But remember, Twitter is a public forum. Don't say anything you wouldn't want a potential employer to read.
Streams of angry bile and replies full of derogatory remarks just don't look nice. If you saw a pub where everyone was shouting filth at each other, would you go in for a pint? Of course you wouldn't. So don't be that angry drunk at the bar.
DON'T give up. Rome wasn't built in a day, and a million followers won't just turn up overnight. It takes time to build up a following on Twitter and there are no shortcuts.
DON'T buy followers. I'm sure you will have seen or heard of websites where you can just pay for as many followers as you like. But as with most things in life, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Those sites will get you lots of followers, but all of them will be dead accounts. The sites create the accounts (some make them look real with pictures and posts, some don't even bother with that) and then follow you. Then repeat as many times as you've paid them to.
These fakes won't help you to enjoy using Twitter, as you still won't get anybody talking to you. You'll be like the king of an empty country. Plus, anyone can audit your account to see how many fake followers you have. Imagine how embarrassing it would be if someone you know checked out yours, only to find that you've just gone out and bought thousands of fake friends.
