5 Scientifically Proven Tips for More Twitter Followers

Although your Twitter strategy should be about engaging with new and existing fans rather than getting as many Twitter followers as possible, you do want to earn a sizeable pool of engaged fans to share your thoughts and Tweets with.  Dan Zarrella of HubSpot just published an infographic with 5 scientifically proven ways to get more Twitter followers.

What do the five points established mean for musicians promoting music?

1.       "Show us who you are."  The more information you share about your music with your fans, the more connected they will feel to you. Fans like to feel special, and if you give them exclusive access to how and why you create the music you do, they will feel like they’re a part of it too.

2.       "Stop talking about yourself."  Twitter is an important way to keep fans updated about your music, but don’t make it a boring self-promotion rant. The key is engagement – talk to your fans, not at them, and most importantly, listen. Think of Twitter like a party, just on the Web. You wouldn’t sit there and shout out promotional things about yourself, but it’s likely you would eventually end up talking about yourself in a normal conversation. Keep it natural and friendly.

3.       "Don’t just converse."  Contribute useful, interesting, relevant, funny, helpful information that will get shared. Give your fans something they want to share, whether it’s something about your local scene, something about music in general, or maybe even something really cool about your own music.

4.       "Identify yourself authoritatively." Tell your fans why they should follow you, and live up to your promises. What will you offer your followers?

5.       "Don’t be a ‘Debbie Downer’." Yes, it’s true – sometimes justified complaints get a lot of retweets if a lot of fans share your frustration. These can be good because they unify you with others against a common plight. But it’s important to not use Twitter as an outlet to vent.  Not only do too many negative tweets depress people, they’re less likely to be shared because people don’t want to associate themselves with too many miserable things.

Stats and graphs can be found in the infographic below. Go here to see Zarrella's comments on the findings...