4 Reasons That Nobody Follows You on Twitter
Part of the challenge in making Twitter work for you is building enough of a following so that the time you spend tweeting and sharing is worthwhile. People often look at your Twitter profile for just a few seconds to determine whether they want to follow you or not. So make sure and avoid these 4 things that can turn people off.
1. Your Profile is Incomplete
Take a few minutes and make sure you’ve completed your Twitter profile by adding a picture, description, and other relevant information.
Make sure your Profile Summary doesn’t look like this:
The twitter handle is blacked out to protect the innocent – but you’re not missing anything.
No profile picture, no description, no nuthin’!
This provides no clues about who this is and why you’d even be interested in following them. Chances are you probably won’t.
And for all that’s holy, get rid of that default profile egg immediately!
Here’s an example of a more complete Profile Summary for the Juice Marketing Twitter account:
We’ve incorporated a piece of our logo/branding, provide a description of who we are, and give some idea of what to expect if you follow us (useful marketing tips).
If this was a personal profile, you might use a headshot and provide information about your interests so potential followers can put a face to the name and give your social profile a little personality.
2. Your Profile and Tweets are Full of Hashtags and Social Clutter
Congratulations! You added a profile picture and description. Unfortunately, your description is full of hashtags and social clutter, looking something like this:
Thoughts about #ERP #Technology #DistributionSoftware #SmallBiz #SageERP
#DynamicsGP. Like our fan page on.fb.me/10XRK3. Instagram us:
instagram.com/blah_blah. I follow back!
To me, this says you’re trying too hard and only using social media for the sake of social media – stuffing your tweets with hashtags, keywords, and social distractions to collect more followers, build your Klout score, and pat yourself on the back as a social media guru (blah! I just threw up a little in my mouth).
It also tells me you’re not interested in sharing anything genuine, useful, or mutually beneficial.
Follow you? No thanks!
See Also: How to Use Hashtags on Social Media
3. Your Following Ratio is Out of Whack
If you’ve been using Twitter long enough, you’ve come across a profile that’s following WAY more people than are following them back. It might look something like this:
It’s just suspicious when things are that lopsided.
Simply put, those that have come before you already made an assessment that this person/profile isn’t worth following.
Take their cue and run for the hills!
By the way, Twitter can restrict and even shut down your account if you are aggressively following accounts just to garner attention.
4. Your Tweets are All About You
When you click on a link to someone’s Twitter profile, you can see a couple of their most recent tweets. Some people even click “Go to Full Profile” to get a better idea of what you share and are interested in.
If all they see is a stream of self-promotional tweets about your products, your services, your webcasts, and your company, you aren’t likely to attract many followers – unless they enjoy being pitched and sold to 24 x 7.
And by all means, do NOT use your profile description/bio to push a product or service!
Other Things to Watch For on Twitter
Here are a few other things to avoid – or to look out for if you’re considering following somebody on Twitter
Tweet too Much – If you’re sharing more than a few times every day, you might turn potential followers off that want to avoid adding to an already cluttered Twitter stream.
The “Favorite” Approach – a recent trend has been for people to “Favorite” tweets in an attempt to flatter users and gain new followers. How can you tell if it’s a legitimate “like” or just a tactic? Go to their profile and click Favorites. If you see 10 or 15 new favorites every hour, it’s probably just a tactic. There’s no way to legitimately read and favorite that much content.
Your Tweets are Protected – I suppose some people just want to share tweets with a close group of friends and colleagues. But don’t expect to grow a significant Twitter network if you’re secretive and aren’t willing to reveal the things you post.
DM Spam – Once someone follows you, don’t use the Direct Message functionality in Twitter to send someone a product pitch or encourage them to follow you on other social networks. That’s the quickest way to get them to Unfollow you.
Your Turn: Leave a Comment and Tell us What Turns YOU Off On Twitter
By Mark Badran
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