7 reasons why I might follow you on Twitter

I have been asked on several occasions why I follow people. This list may seem strange to many reading this article, but it fits MY strategy for the @rapidbi account. It may not be right for you.

When using any social media/ social business platform or technology, it is important to understand its strengths and weaknesses in the organisation (or culture/ context) in which it is being used. Then for each of us to develop a strategy or methodology as to how we will engage or use it. Of course this approach will change over time, but having an idea of its application to meeting your needs is one of the key success factors.

History

The way Twitter used to work is that you follow people, and they follow you back, or vice versa. – This is no-longer true. To be honest it was never really intended to be that. It’s more a window looking into a person or organisation and their activities in a snapshot of time.

Sure there is the vanity of how many followers each of us have, but many overlook the purpose – engagement. The more followers you have the harder engagement truly is.

Why engage or follow people?

The reasons “why I should follow you in twitter” will vary for each of us. We are looking and using twitter for different things. I would go further than that. I have several twitter accounts, one with 30k+ followers, two around the 10K follower mark, one with 7k and one with just 60. Each account follows different people for different reasons.

7 Reasons why I will follow you on twitter

1)   You are a person whose content I have discovered and want to stay up to date with what you say – you inspire me

2)   You tweet about or from an event I am at – watch the #hashcodes – common interest

3)   You retweet  (RT) my material (tweets) on a regular basis – you help my business

4)   You #ff or give a shout-out about my tweets – recommendations

5)   We have had chats & discussions I value on twitter – self development

6)   People I respect recommend I follow you

7)   You are a supplier & have given poor service – although I will unfollow later..

8)   You +k on Klout  – well maybe :0)

9)   You add me to a twitter list- well maybe :0)

It’s not just about following

It is easy to get hung up or to overly focus on the metrics – how many followers you have and how many people you are following.  I believe this is because these metrics are public and on our profile pages. There is another important metric which is easily available, but not used often… lists. How many people have you on lists.  People can follow lists without following individuals. Being on a list is a recommendation, much more powerful than just being followed, as the user is making that list available to people they follow.

Other more important factors for business users of twitter include retweets. There are several sites that do this – some free, others paid for. http://www.tweetstats.com/ is worth a look.

Twitter is not about the inputs, or the process.. but the results you get. Those results may be leads, new friends, business, ideas  etc.

You should follow me on twitter here

So tell me… why should I follow you?

** please note items 8 & 9 on the list are meant as a joke, I’m not sure that tools like Klout, Peerindex etc are valuable or dangerous metrics and fads. Time will tell.

** please also read reasons 1-7 with a pinch of salt ;)  The reality is I will only follow you… and more importantly continue to follow you if the “relationship” is of value/ benefit – I look at more peoples posts through lists now – i have to with the number of followers I have I need a different strategy to most.