We tend to get obsessed about how many followers we have but when you are starting out I believe it’s all about who you follow on Twitter.
Choose the right people who are interesting, have a synergy with your business, or are interested in topics related to your business and you will get a handle on Twitter much faster. Sometimes watching the Tweets roll in is the best way to get familiar with the tone of voice and language of Twitter.
I’m currently in the midst of training an online course on Twitter for beginners for WeTeachSocial and this blog post is a condensed version of a full lesson. I’ve also added in suggestions from some of my Facebook followers. (Next course starts on 26th August – More Here)
1. Use Twitter’s Inbuilt Tools
Twitter really wants you to connect with people so it will often prompt you to find new users. If you click the ‘Discover’ tab you will see it offers you three options on the left hand side.
You can find people you already know by clicking ‘Find friends’, find celebrities and popular users by clicking ‘Who to follow’ and find users classified by specific interests by clicking ‘Popular accounts’.
Twitter will continue to suggest people for you to follow both in the sidebar and from the profile pages of new users that you follow.
2. Use WeFollow
There are lots of Twitter directories out there but I find WeFollow one of the most useful. You can ignore their plea for you to register yourself and search those who have registered by tag. It’s a great way to find new Tweeters
3. Use Twtrland
You don’t have to register to appear on Twtrland, type in a search term and it will return results matching your query. It also shows you a page for each user before you follow so you get a rough idea of what they tweet, how often they retweet and how often they chat to others.
I just discovered this tool and am already a big fan, I can see it becoming a cool tool soon.
4. Follow People That Great Tweeps Follow
Once you’ve started following a few people you will begin to discover which tweeters you like the best. If you are impressed by someones tweets take a look who they are following, they are bound to have good taste. You will find some gems amongst their folowees.
Thanks to @amowriting for this suggestion
5. Follow People From Great Tweeps Twitter Lists
Some people follow a huge amount of people, it might be hard to pick out the best of the bunch by using method four above. To see a more filtered version of their followers check out their lists.
Here’s my ‘Social Media Peeps‘ list to get you started.
Thanks to @writeontrack_l for this suggestion
6. Use Twitter Search To Find People With Shared Interests
I love Twitter search, I think it’s one of the most underused tools on Twitter. Simply type a word representing your interests into the search bar and Twitter will return both ‘people’ and ‘tweet’ results. You’ll soon find people talking about topics of interest to you and potential customers.
*It’s always worth checking out a user profile before you follow to make sure they are tweeting interesting stuff and that they are still active.*
If you are a Twitter newbie or are nervous of getting started sign up for my A Beginners Guide To Twitter online course starting on 26th August 2013. More info here.
Isn’t it common courtesy to remove outdated information? All three third party tools you recommend here are gone, but only one is redacted by you. This is the top result on Google, which is why I think this article still stands, but it’s deceptive to keep it just to get traffic and in the long run it will tarnish your reputation more than it will help your viewership grow.
To use such bad practices and call yourself “social media help” is rather… odd. If you can’t keep to good practices yourself, how are you going to be able to teach others to do it?
I recommend that you either delete this article, or make it clear that it is outdated and over half of the things you suggest are no longer available, or update the article with relevant information.