While many twitter users are focused on simply increasing their numbers for number's sake, with a little care and strategy, twitters can grow a list of followers who might actually yield results (be they for business growth or for personal conversation).
Search Twitter to Find Tweeple of Interest and Follow Them
(Many of them will follow back!)
Before worrying about finding followers, think about who to follow.
First and foremost, Twitter is a community and a conversation. Isolating topics to talk and read about is the first important task. Use the Find People feature of twitter to search user names/name fields to find "peeps" with similar interest. This search returns those who care about a topic enough to make it central to their twitter persona. For example, big movie fans could search "movie" and might find people like "moviefan," "moviefreak" and "moviemaven." There's a start!
For a more thorough search on a topic, go to Twitter Search to explore the actual body of people's tweets. Try "Heroes" for those who are fans of that TV show, for example. Also on Twitter search is a list of trending topics down the right side. If any of those topics seem interesting, click on them to see the thread of tweets on that topic (many use what are called hashtags – taking a term and adding # before it, to make it easy searchable and then including that in all posts on that topic). If there are folks who make interesting posts, click on them and follow.
Most twitterers will follow back when followed, at least if when they see profile description that interests them (be sure to fill that out in Twitter account settings). Following others is the hands-down easiest way to grow a robust list of followers.
Participate in Twitter Discussions and Follow Back
Once finding some twitterers to follow, start participating. Take some time each day not just to post updates, but also to reply to others with help and support. This will build a twitter reputation and maybe even earn recommendations from others at such "events" as Follow Friday, when users recommend others they like to their own followers. And when twitters reply, recommend or retweet a post, that tweet displays a clickable username that others can choose to easily follow -- instant list growth!
Follow Mr. Tweet for Twitter Recommendations
After establishing core group of regular followers and those to follow, then follow Mr. Tweet. Mr. Tweet sends a Twitter direct message with a link to recommendations of new tweeps (based on follow lists, and who they follow, etc.). Read the profile summaries and follow those who seem like a match --most of them will probably follow back.
Plus, everyone using Mr. Tweet to find new tweeple to follow will also be recommended to others on the system, and get followed first! Before following Mr. Tweet, do make sure to develop a strong core community that truly reflects key interests, or else Mr. Tweet's recommendations will likely not be very helpful.
These are just a few of the basic ways to get started building a following on Twitter. Once underway, it's easier to get a feel for the community, see how others in the Twitterverse navigate and model others as desired.
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