Why You Should Spoil Your Twitter Followers
If you ask blogging stars, most will tell you that Twitter is a big part of their overall strategy to attract and retain online users. But what I have been noticing with some of these superstars is that they do not treat their Twitter followers like they should. It’s true that being followed by 40 – 50K on Twitter can be overwhelming. But you should always treat your followers as you like to be treated by others. In other words, you should take care of them.
Too many super bloggers ignore most of replies that they get. Sometimes you have to do that as people don’t know when to stop sending messages, but you should always try to get back to your followers at least once. You may think that not responding to all your followers is something logical and people shouldn’t read too much into that, but to others, it smells like rejection, and nobody likes to be rejected. Your responses don’t have to be too long, but you should make it your policy to get back to all your followers at least once.
Another way to spoil your followers is by giving them bonuses for following you. No! I am not talking about sending them your blog posts and asking them to read them. That’s not a bonus. I am talking about reports, special articles, ebooks, audio files, and underground presentations. When people follow you on Twitter, they may not expect too much. But you should try to over-deliver at all times. There is no reason for folks to keep following you if you keep pushing your blog posts. I am sure you have seen it with your Twitter account as well. One day you are followed by 3000 folks and the next day it’s down to 2900. You know why? Because you have a loose community. By giving your followers more than they ever expected, you can build a solid community. There will always be folks who un-follow you regardless of what you do (because they are in a bad mood or had a fight with a loved one). That doesn’t mean others won’t appreciate your goodies.
Twitter is a micro-blogging community with emphasis on the word “blogging.” Tweeting is a form of blogging. It’s shorter, and you have less space to provide value. But that doesn’t mean you should stop adding to the community. I find Twitter folks to be more demanding. That is an opportunity and a challenge. The opportunity is that you can use your followers social graphs to your advantage and reach out to more people. The challenge is to keep your followers happy. Talking about snow or what you had for lunch won’t keep them happy for too long!
