It’s not easy to develop a large follower base on Twitter. The easiest way is to cheat and waste your money buying thousands of followers from one of these online “businesses” that offer such services.
What is to be gained from buying followers? So what if you have 15,000 followers who have no interest in your business and the message you are communicating? Buying followers simply does not work, because having a huge following on Twitter will not affect your business unless your followers care about what you are tweeting.
Courtesy of WikiCommons
We have all seen the effect of having a huge following on Twitter; just ask Southwest Airlines. The reason guys like Kevin Smith can create such a huge buzz on Twitter is because his plethora of followers are interested in what he is saying.
A business can have the same type of following, but it is much harder and takes time. First, it takes content. Develop a strategy for your page, and what you want to put on it. Send out messages that matter to your potential followers. If you are in retail then tweet about deals and coupons. Tweet about behind-the-scenes happenings that would interest your audience.
Next, follow people or companies relevant to your business. If you have a designer jeans boutique, then follow designers and fashion industry leaders. Your targeted audience will be following the same pages, and they will find you through who you are following.
Finally, be patient. Social media is like fishing. You keep throwing bait out there, and one day you are going start reeling them in like crazy. Be active, be fast, and be smart about your content and your site will grow.
As much as I’d love to agree, unfortunately big numbers carry a lot of weight and are a symbol of authority. I would challenge you to test buying with one company, then grow organic with another. You’ll find that the group with the most followers will grow organically faster. I wish things were different but they aren’t. People like to belong… and bigger numbers are attractive.
I have heard both – be social; it is social media and only tweet about your business – or I suppose you could have two accounts. I can’t keep up with one, so where do you buy those followers 🙂
If you’re going to buy audience for a Twitter account or any other platform, there is a better way to do it than literally “buying followers” – there are lots of ad platforms that can deliver a pretty amazing level of surgical targeting to an audience that is likely to find your content relevant – and enjoyable -through behavioral targeting, retargeting, etc. Plus, with a lot of networks, you can buy on a CPA basis and only pay when your investment works, and there is the added benefit of making an impact on perceptions and awareness with creative approaches to rich media that pay dividends well beyond the click through.
The whole concept of buying twitter followers is great if you’re a direct response company that is selling a commodity and playing a numbers game. Horrible idea for any company trying to differentiate and add value to a brand. This is no different than buying an email list, or buying a direct mail list. It’s still basically spam in my book, even if someone agrees to get paid for being added. Buying followers is missing the point – it’s not just about the number of followers, it’s about hearts and minds and loyalty and relationships and of course, connecting brands to wallets and what’s in them.
I do like the opt-in methodology of gaining followers and we often advertise with services that offer this. My point, however uncomfortable though, is that people are pretty shallow. Low numbers turn people off and indicate that you’re not an authoritative source. High numbers can get you faster traction.
In other words, buying followers doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re buying their hearts and minds. What you are buying is a number high enough so that those with the hearts and minds will be attracted to it.