Lots of people have been asking me how to gain followers and build a fan-base on twitter.  While I’m still relatively new to twitter, I have been experimenting quite a bit and have stayed active enough to learn a few things.  Here’s a few tips:

1) I only follow people who have aligned interests. If somebody is following a big streetwear brand, for example, I assume that they are a fan of streetwear and could also be a fan of my brand as well. I will follow them, and they might follow me back. Since I am trying to build a local fanbase, I also follow people in my geographical area.

2) Some people don’t like the idea of following hundreds of strangers, and they do not see any benefit. In my opinion, this is totally wrong. These “strangers” represent the potential market. By following them, you can get a feel for what they are into and what’s hot in your target demographic. They will often post updates about what they like and what they do not like.

3) Sometimes it takes a little “push” for people to start recognizing your brand. You can’t just sit around and hope the word spreads. You may have the best brand in the entire world, but it will inevitably fail if nobody knows about it. Tell the world. When you follow somebody, they will probably follow you back. This allows them to know what’s going on with your brand, visit your website, check out your designs, etc.

4) Twitter is great for feedback. People like to answer questions.  I posted the question “What do you think of my designs?” and got great responses - some negative, and some positive, but all helpful.

5) People tend to follow somebody if their friend is following them. This is sort of like internet “word-of-mouth” marketing. The more people that are following you, the more presence you have, and the greater potential for more fans.

6) If somebody sees your brand on twitter, they may check it out and write about it on their blog, facebook, etc. Their readers could become followers and potential fans of the brand as well. Once again, more presence = more potential.

There are thousands of write-ups on the subject, but this is just what I’ve gathered from my own experiences on twitter.  Now go get build a following!

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER!

-Loren
@dropthebeet