Ok, so you may not have the Twitter following that @aplusk or @britneyspears has, nor may you ever. But there are a few things you can do to increase that followers number in your profile.

Avatar: check, Background Design: check, Bio: check

no-avatarHere be the basics. People want to know who and what they are following. If you don’t have an avatar to me, that is a big Twitter Fail. Use the two simplest ways of showing and telling potential followers what you or your business is all about. Design a Twitter background that reflects your ideas and slap on a nice picture of yourself or your company logo, mascot or colors. Also tell me about yourself in the bio line; this is a simple way to tell me more and show me where else you reside online and off.

I find it hard sometimes not to just follow someone back out of politeness; however, if I get to that profile page and none of what is listed above is included or I don’t find anything interesting in their stream then I say oh well, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and leave without following.

Private, Why?

Don’t set your tweets to private. Plain and simple. When you shield your account from the general public, you’re going to get fewer followers than if your account were publicly accessible. People like getting a sneak peek of someone before deciding whether they want to follow him/her.

Links to your Twitter Page:

Linking to your Twitter page from other social profiles like Facebook or LinkdIn will help with adding more followers. The more links to your Twitter profile out there, the more chances of someone checking you out and following you. Have a bunch of friends on Facebook? Ask them if they are on Twitter. “Oh yeah you are, well what’s your user name?” Add your Twitter URL to all of your signatures, go ahead- pimp it out! Make a comment on a blog? Why not add your Twitter name underneath the post?

Follow Reciprocators:

Reciprocators are those who will probably follow you back because they have about as many followers as they have people following them. If you come across someone who follows a large number of people and has a big following, chances are this person will follow you back once you start following him/her.

Timely Tweets:

During peak times is when you should try to tweet your best stuff. This will help maximize your retweet potential. The time of day? 4PM Friday EST. How did this number/time come about? Viral marketing scientist Dan Zarrella in “The Science of Retweeting” spent nine months analyzing roughly 5 million tweets and 40 million retweets. #followfriday anyone?

timely-tweets

#FollowFriday?:

Some would say add this to the list of helpful ways to build followers. Follow and recommend people, and follow users who retweet your stuff the most. However, personally I rarely look at anything with #followfriday on it. What are your thoughts?

Tools of the Trade:

Twitterholic

This site scans the Twitter public timeline for new twits to tweet. A few times a day they calculate individual statistics for each twittering twit within the database.

Twellow

A site application that allows you to make targeted searches by categories. Great way to find specific industries, businesses and people to follow that may reciprocate.

SocialOomph

They offer tools that allow you to tweet more efficiently with lots of automated functions like scheduling tweets, track keywords, follow those that follow you, etc.

If you follow some of these tips, I am sure you can begin to see the follower count in your Twitter profile increase. These are just a small fraction of all the possible ways to increase the number of people following you. For more tips, check out Mashable’s Twitter Guidebook — they have a huge list of the basics to the advanced for those hungry for more. Also check out Fastcompany’s post called Nine Scientifically Proven Ways to Get Retweeted. While you’re at it, follow me @patrickwinfield and us @10e20 ;)