There are a lot more ways to get Twitter followers than you may realize.
(Even if you’ve already read my take on how to get followers on Twitter.)
One of the most effective methods for Twitter growth doesn’t even happen on the platform itself.
Following is a collection of simple tactics to help you leverage blog posts to grow your Twitter following…
1. Create complementary content on Twitter and link to it in your blog post.
Let’s say you’re going to write a blog post about the creative process of famous artists and in the post you share examples from three famous artists.
Prior to publishing the post, go on Twitter and post a thread featuring brief examples from 10 more artists.
Then, in the blog post you link to the tweet thread and drive people there to see more examples.
That will drive people from your post to your tweet thread where they may follow your account and share your thread…which will expose you to more people and get you more followers.
2. Write a blog post about Twitter.
People interested in reading about Twitter are people who use Twitter.
That means if you write a blog post about Twitter and your niche, you’ll attract an audience of people who may potentially follow you on Twitter – assuming you reference your own account in the post as well.
This can be done with any niche. Here are some examples of the types of posts you could create:
The Smartest Ways For Doctors To Use Twitter would attract an audience of doctors who use Twitter.
10 Thought Leaders Every Teacher Should Follow On Twitter would attract an audience of teachers who use Twitter.
The 10 Tweets Every Musician Needs To Post would attract an audience of musicians who use Twitter.
3. Promote your Twitter account the way you would your newsletter.
Ultimately, an email subscriber is more valuable than a Twitter follower.
But, there may be situations or specific posts on which you’d rather focus your promotional efforts on getting more Twitter followers.
If so, one of the simplest things you can do is promote your Twitter account in the same way you normally would your newsletter.
What’s the best way to do that?
Read how to get newsletter subscribers and then you can use most of those same tactics to promote your Twitter account instead of (or in addition to) your newsletter.
4. Connect with people who have already shared your blog posts on Twitter.
Do you know you can search Twitter to see everyone who has shared any page on your website in a tweet…even if they didn’t tag you in it?
All you have to do is copy and paste a URL into Twitter’s search bar and you’ll see every tweet that includes that link.
If you’ve got blog posts that people often share, you’ll likely discover a lot of people who have shared your work without actually tagging you (or following you).
This creates an opportunity for you to reply, thank, and engage with them.
And since they’ve already proven to be a fan of your blog posts, there’s a good chance they’ll wind up following you after the interaction.
5. Highlight people with large Twitter followings in your blog post.
You know what happens when you reference someone in a positive way in your blog post and they see it?
They typically share it with their followers.
This means if you highlight people with large Twitter followings, they’ll likely share your post with their audience which will introduce you to more people and get you more followers.
This is especially powerful if you mention a bunch of people with large followings in a single post.
For example, my post featuring 30 helpful newsletters for creators wound up getting shared by a lot of people mentioned in the post which drove traffic to the post and got me a lot more Twitter followers.
6. Embed tweets in your blog post.
This seems simple and obvious, but most people overlook it.
See how that works?
7. Incorporate a link to a tweet into your blog post.
Rather than embed a tweet, you can also reference something you’ve tweeted and link to it within your blog post.
This can be an effective way to drive people to your Twitter account – especially if you tease the link in a way that drives curiosity (and clicks).
For example, you could say something like this:
“As I explained on Twitter the other day, there are nine free things you can do right now to grow your newsletter.”
You know you want to click that. 😉
The more people you drive from your blog post to your Twitter account, the more Twitter followers you’ll get.
8. Get people to join your email list and promote your Twitter account in your welcome email.
I believe your main goal of any blog post should be to convert people into email subscribers, but when you succeed at doing that it creates an opportunity to grow your Twitter following as well.
You can promote your Twitter account in the welcome email people get when they sign up and/or on the thank you page they land on after they enter their email address.
Either way, if someone was interested enough in what you do to give you their email address, chances are they’ll be interested enough to follow you on Twitter…if you invite them to do so.
9. Include your Twitter handle in your byline or on the sidebar of your site.
This seems basic, but is often overlooked.
If there’s a place on your blog that makes sense for you to include a link to your Twitter account, do it.
You can even include a line at the end of each post that includes a link and gives people a reason to follow you.
For example:
Follow me on Twitter for more secrets of successful creators.
Every little bit helps.
10. Promote your Twitter account on your Home, About, and Start Here pages.
If people like your blog post there’s a good chance after they read it they’ll surf around your site a bit to learn more about you.
And typically their next stop will be your home page, an About page, or a Start Here page.
If you want more Twitter followers, make sure those pages include a mention of your Twitter account and a reason why people should follow it.
11. Ask people to share a tweet featuring your blog post.
At the end of your blog post you can drive people directly to a tweet where they can share it with others.
This not only will lead people who enjoyed the article to discover your Twitter account and follow you, but it will also lead them to share your tweet with their followers which will expose you to even more people (and potential new followers).
See below.
If you found this post helpful, please share the tweet below with your audience. Thanks!