by Alena Isami

Created on: March 03, 2010

Everyone who actively Twitters knows that this social network is fun, easy to use, and a great way to maintain and build relationships.  Twitter is among the top social networks of choice and that means the people opportunities are there.  The one thing that remains is learning how to build your Twitter following effectively, naturally, and without spamming.  Here’s how to do it.

The Basics of Building a Twitter Following

Doing the following steps are the basics and it sets your baseline group of followers.  These people are often your family, friends, and any contacts you’ve already established.  For the business person, you may opt to not Twitter family or friends, but you may already have a group of ready followers from your website, blog, or Facebook page.

1)  Complete your profile.  Doing this makes you more searchable on Twitter.

2)  Follow your existing contacts (i.e. – family, friends, co-workers, other existing contacts)

3)  Click on “Find People” and then “Browse Suggestions” to find people, businesses, or other organizations you want to follow.

The reason you want to “follow” people is to initiate contact.  Many times, what you’ll find is that the people you choose to follow will be more than willing to follow you in return.  This permission based activity is also Twitter etiquette.

Be Someone that People Want to Follow

Now that you’ve established your baseline group of followers, there are other key aspects in building and gaining momentum as you build your Twitter following.

1)  Add value to your followers – providing useful or helpful information will go a long way in obtaining and keeping your followers.  Sending tweets such as “going to the gym” is great for personal use, but for a business, that can kill your following.  The basic idea is know who’s following you and why they want to be connected with you.

2)  Be consistent – active Twitterers receive tons of tweets daily.  Posting often will increase your visibility and help to make sure that your followers have the opportunity to see your tweet before it gets buried.  Depending upon what information you’re tweeting, posting often could mean sending anywhere between 2 to 12 posts daily.

3)  Join the conversation – engaging and interacting with your followers is the primary benefit of

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