Seven ways to improve your Twitter followers

Twitter is one of the major players among the various social media sites. As someone aptly said, “Facebook is about people you used to know, Twitter is about the ones you would like to know better”. As the community on Twitter is growing and increasing opportunities for participants, it is important to be a successful part of the network. Here are a few suggestions to increase your followers on Twitter.

Fill up your bio

Your bio comprises of your information, personal and otherwise that is available to your community. Leave it blank, and you will seldom attract anyone. Keep it interesting and you will attract the right kind of crowd. So take the first step of filling up your bio and you are all set for better Twitter success.

Advertise your twitter id

While you need not buy space to advertise your id, putting it up on your personal profile on different media can surely help. You can thus add it to your email signature or your forum signature. You can also post it on your FB profile or add a wall post for people to see. Make it a part of your blog signature or profile and you could soon be attracting traffic and followers amidst your community.

Choose followers carefully

It is important to understand the right group of people to follow. To do so, check out the lists of people online and identify those with common interests. Also check their activity, i.e. the number of followers they have and those they follow. While people with high number of followers may have good content, they will seldom follow you back. However they can give you good leads on the kind of tweets people like.

Maintain the regular habit

People like people who are regularly in touch. Maintain the regular habit of getting on to your twitter account everyday to post tweets, check what your community is doing and share your thoughts.

Comment regularly

People seldom like quiet company, and so is also true with Twitter. Try to read the posts of your community members and reply at every good opportunity. This will show you as an active twitter user and will increase the interest of others on your profile. Chances are thus high that they will read you and comment back on your posts too.

ReTweeting

ReTweeting involves reposting of others tweets. If you begin to retweet posts of your friends, soon they too will retweet your posts. This would mean providing access to your content across a wider network and increase your chances of getting noticed, and then followed.

Give the entire process some time.

You cannot become a Twitter diva or Guru overnight. So give the entire process some time. Give it three months to start with, and the first few months would surely be the toughest. Once you are established, provide quality content and soon you will gain the needed popularity.

Twitter is a growing platform, important for writers, social media personnel and for anyone who uses the Internet to broadcast his/her services. I can be reached at JayaMurty on Twitter, if you have any queries or need any information. You can also leave your comments here.

LinkedIn: An important social network

Each social networking platform has its niche market. Twitter, for example, lets you update your community with current happenings in your life, that could be either personal or professional. Facebook, on the other hand, helps you to do a lot of things, especially on the personal level. You can keep in touch with old friends, colleagues and share information on your life, share messages etc. Youtube lets you share videos, while sites like Picasa allow you to create and share virtual albums.

Ranking on the top of the list is however LinkedIn, a professional networking site, that has taken the recruitment industry by storm. Statistics indicate that this site is increasing in popularity and usage. Also results from LinkedIn rank towards the top of search lists. So if you have a profile on LinkedIn, try googling your name, and chances are that it will appear on the first page of searches. Another interesting aspect for those who are planning to use LinkedIn is the fact that it lets you network to many professionals across different fields of work. Your professional information is out there for all to see and reach you. Joining groups helps too, for either getting job offers or for posting jobs, if you so wish.

LinkedIn is an important social network, and if you are not yet a part of it, then the right time to do so is now. Recruiters will be spending more on this platform this year (from 83% activity in 2010 to 89% in 2911), over traditional placement networks, so get to it while you still can.

Pepsi in Social media news

One of the best examples that shows the power of social media is Pepsi. This popular brand is now focusing its efforts on the power of social media, to reach out to its target customers across geographical barriers. Called as 'The Pepsi Refresh project', this move was made in the beginning of 2010. The company has allocated a budget of $20 million for this and had also invited ideas for making the move a successful one.

Over the first year of being in social media, Pepsi has successfully made use of the various social platforms and even managed to poke fun at its arch rival Coke. The markets have responded favorably too, with Pepsi sales growing in this year.

However, the future of the platform, and how successfully Pepsi can use it to reinforce brand values is yet to be seen. Also, along with focusing on social media marketing, the brand must concentrate efforts on building its brand value. The shift towards healthier juices and non-carbonated drinks needs to be made, not just for the company but for consumers also.

Starting to get Social

Fine, we all know the importance of being social. Since the time we were little children, we were taught to behave. We were taught to greet people, talk politely and share. Today, while good social behavior is still important, the platforms have changed. We need to have social etiquette online.

While many of us know this, we often do not know where to start. How does one start building a good online social reputation? Does one start to randomly make friends, praise everyone, join all networks? The question is all the more imperative for today's youngsters, who will soon be tested on their virtual social value more than anything else.