How a Non-Profit Can Find More Twitter Followers

So last week I posed the question "Do you follow #FollowFriday suggestions on Twitter?" This question was asked because of some of my findings in this post and my discussions with others on Twitter. The findings were not surprising - #FF is becoming more noise in the system than a useful tool. But it is still resulting in some following.

That begs the question - What is the best way to gain followers for your non-profit?

Before I address that question, let me answer the basic question - "What's #FF?" This was the response of 14% of the poll's respondents. It started on January 16, 2009, when Micah Baldwin posted the following on Twitter:

It resulted in one of the most common hashtag campaigns on Twitter. The idea works because it is easy, has some good karma behind it (if I #FollowFriday you, maybe you'll do the same for me), and it is perfect for the Twitter medium. If you want to know more about the history of #FF (as it is commonly referred to), you can visit the Mashable article on the topic.

As for the results of the poll, the number one response was "I rarely follow #FF suggestions." Other responses below (click on the graph for a larger, more detailed version).

So how do you gain followers? First we have to examine that question... is the number of followers your most critical statistic on Twitter? No. It used to be a big deal to inflate your follower number... particularly if your name was Ashton Kutcher. Now - unless you're selling weight-loss products or energy drinks - it is more important to find quality followers rather than quantity. That being said, how do you find more followers and the right followers.

1. Be active.

Twitter isn't for checking into twice a month.

2. Have great content.

Great content gets users engaged, retweeting & clicking on links. Lousy content gets users to click "unfollow."

3. Have balanced sources.

If you constantly send people to your blog or website, people will start to ignore you... as you'll seem like you're only focused on self-promotion. On the other hand, if you only post other users' material, you'll lose any status as an authority.

4. Seek out the best in your field.

Follow them. Engage them (without seeming like an annoying "groupie").

5. Follow @moredonors

See how I just threw that in there for fun? In reality, you need to mention it on your website and in press releases or blog posts. Your Twitter button should be prominent on your website, as I mentioned in the post 8 Common Social Media Mistakes.

6. Plug your account at live events.

You can even provide a laptop for Twitter users to follow you or non-users to sign-up during events.

7. Ask questions.

Questions result in answers, which results in curiosity and broadcasting of your username... which results in more followers.

8. Be grateful.

Thank people for following and their input. Answer their questions. Avoid saying "Thanks for the RTs" every few posts, though.

9. Use bit.ly to shorten URLs... then use retwt.me to redirect.

Bit.ly provides easy tracking and searching of previously shortened URLs. Retwt.me provides a nudge and almost-subliminal suggestion to retweeting your links.

10. Follow other non-profits like your own.

This will help you see best practice examples and generate new ideas and partnerships for your organization.

11. To auto-respond or not to auto-respond, that is the question.

I'm not a big fan of auto-responding to followers, because it is so obviously an auto-response and is worse than no message at all. That being said, if you were to use language like "Thanks for following! This is a auto-response, but to start a real dialog, tell me what question you have for us / like about our organization / would do to improve our efforts / etc." That would avoid the appearance that you're trying to pass off an auto-response as genuine and personal.

Updated to include an example:

12. If appropriate, have multiple accounts (and only if you can manage them!)

Organization, CEO, material experts, etc. However, if you can't manage them, stick with one.

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What other thoughts do you have on the topic?

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