Graham Jones
One of the main concerns of anyone using social media is getting more followers. Whether you use Twitter or Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+ you want more people to follow you and notice what you are doing. This is due to the theory that the more people who notice you, the more likely you are to be able to do business.
There is a ton of advice online about getting more followers. If you are not that proud, you can also buy followers – though that’s a mug’s game. If you are willing to spend money, though, you can sponsor your social media posts so that they get more attention, thus potentially getting more followers. The trouble with that is the fact that you are mostly lining the pockets of the social media companies, rather than getting more, quality followers.
It is a big conundrum for most businesses using social media. Just what is the right way to get more followers?
Sports research shows how to get more followers
Luckily, researchers from the University of Missouri have given us a clue. They have just completed a study of baseball teams and how they obtained more Twitter followers. The study revealed two interesting things:
- The number of followers is directly related to success
- The more you Tweet, the more followers you get
What this suggests is important. The teams that were doing well in the league were the ones attracting more followers. It suggests that if you are good, if you succeed you attract more followers naturally – without having to do anything very much in terms of social media practice. One of the reasons why many businesses might not be attracting enough followers is simply because their business is not very good. They are just average companies, with average performance, average customer service, average staff and so on.
The research clearly shows that if you want more Twitter followers, you need to concentrate on overall business success. As with so many things online it is not what you do on the Internet that matters as much as what you do in the real world. Your Internet presence is merely a reflection of what you do in the office. To get more followers simply concentrate on having a great business.
The second finding of the study is also important. This showed that when you add more and more content to your Twitter stream you get more followers. Even taking into account the dormant accounts and the Twitter profiles that have never sent a Tweet, the average number of Tweets sent out is just two per day per business. Largely, that means you are invisible. This study of baseball teams showed a clear relationship between the amount of content added and the number of followers.
Not only do you have to run a successful business to get more followers, but you also have to add a lot of content to Twitter. If you are asking how do I find the time to Tweet a lot, go back to point one. You find the time to Tweet a lot when you run a successful business. Concentrate on that and you’ll get more followers.
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