Friday 5: 5 Simple Ways to Build Your Twitter Network

Friday 5: Simple Ways to Build Your Twitter Network

Whether it’s to support an online marketing program, or maybe just for fun, Twitter is an integral part of the social media landscape. It’s best to acquaint yourself with it, and explore the possibilities it presents for online branding. Here are 5 ways to meet new potential followers, not just random users, but active tweeters with similar interests.

1) Search.twitter.com: Use Twitter’s search function to find conversations about whatever you’re into. Gardening? the iPhone 4? World Cup? Iced Tea? Whatever suits your fancy, you can seek out and follow other users based on conversation content. Similarly, type a # (”hashtag” in Tweet speak) before the search term, and see tweet conversations indexed under this topic. Want to learn more about hashtags, what’s popular long-term, and what’s trending? Visit The Hashtag Wiki to see a hashtag index. Follow users who participate in hashtag conversations about your favorite topics, and chances are they’ll follow you back.

2) Hootsuite.com: If you manage more than one twitter account, using Hootsuite or Tweetdeck is a must! That being said, even if you only tweet from one account, Hootsuite makes meeting potential new followers a cinch. Use the Hootsuite search function to search twitter for anything you can think of, and click “Save As Stream”. Do this for as many terms as you want! Now every time someone tweets the word you indicated in your search, it appears on your Hootsuite dashboard. Check your columns regularly, follow people with valuable content related to your preferred topics, and tweet away with all your new followers!

3) #FF: If anyone sends out a tweet with the #FF hashtag, be sure you pay attention! #FF stands for Follow Friday, and it’s great. A list of usernames will accompany the hashtag. These are personal recommendations of other people to follow. Click the usernames listed in the tweet, check them out, and follow away! Most good tweeters will reciprocate the follow, so watch for the double F on Fridays, and watch your network grow.

4)Twitter Lists: Lists, as Mashable puts it, “… aren’t just static listings of users, but rather curated Twitter streams of the latest tweets from a specified set of users”. Many of the people you already follow have made lists based on topics or professions, and you can easily follow any list you want. The trick is to be sure to follow individual users within the list, then wait for the followbacks!

5) Bloggers as tweeters: Chances are you subscribe to a number of blogs (if not, get to it! See my previous post and get your RSS on!). And any blogger worth their keywords is going to make a tweet or two. Be sure to click the Twitter icon on your favorite blogs and follow their tweets. Follow their followers too, and soon you’ll have more twitter friends than you know what to do with!

6) Fill in the blank: Okay, I realize this is the Friday 5. But I couldn’t help but include a 6th item on the list. Tag, you’re it! Leave a comment with the tips and tricks that you use to help grow your twitter network.