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Confession time: I am a Twitter snob. In fact, some may even call me a diva.
I only add people of value to my network, and I’ve developed a simple process for “following back.” In simple terms: whenever someone follows me on Twitter, I do a quick scan to determine if I should follow them back.
Below is my three-part checklist for scanning Twitter profiles. Given the social world’s obsession with follower count (which I believe is misguided—but that’s another post altogether), this is critical to your social success on Twitter.
- Photo Check
- Are you a real person?
- If you are an egg, you will not get a follow back.
- If you are simply a logo, I will be skeptical.
- If you are a stock photo, you will not get a follow back.
- Are you a real person?
- Bio Check
- How do you choose to identify yourself? What’s important to you?
- I’m interested in a few of your interests (some business related, some personal).
- If your location isn’t filled out, I will not follow back.
- If your bio is hashtag-stuffed, you will not get a follow back.
- If the link on your bio appears sketchy (especially if it has a tracking aspect to it) I will not follow you back.
- How do you choose to identify yourself? What’s important to you?
- Timeline Check
- What kind of information are you sharing?
- If your timeline is completely RTs, I will not follow back.
- If I don’t see any interaction at all (@mentions), I will not follow you back.
- Twitter Tip: when you start a Tweet with @username, only people following both of you will see the Tweet. Do not be afraid to engage!
- If you post nothing but links, you will not get a follow back. Even worse if it’s the same link over and over.
- If you haven’t Tweeted yet or rarely Tweet, you will not get a follow back.
- What kind of information are you sharing?
A Few Other Twitter Pet Peeves
#TeamFollowBack: This is a cheap ploy and an annoyance to social media divas like me. If you only care about a high follower count, this is a great way to show your cards. But keep in mind that if you use this hashtag to grow your network, your timeline is going to be filled with Tweets that only talk about following back. Is that relevant to your personal or professional brand? I don’t think so.
- If I see #TeamFollowBack mentioned in your bio, you will not get a followback.
- If I look at your timeline and most of your Tweets beg for followers and use the #TeamFollowBack hashtag, I will not follow you.
Auto DMing: sending me a ‘Thank you for following, let’s connect on Facebook as well’ private message after I follow you is the fastest way to a bad impression. Why? It’s completely, totally superficial. Do you want me to know that all you care about is getting people to follow you on various social platforms? Gross.
- Sending me an auto DM of any kind will get you unfollowed and (most likely) a DM expressing my disgust. If I want to connect with you on any other platform, I’ll to reach out to you. Don’t force it down my throat.
- Sending me a DM and asking me to do something for you (like share a post) when we’ve never spoken is not going to go over well, either. #justsaying
I know what you’re thinking; you don’t do any of these things, but you still don’t get a follow back. Don’t worry! I have a simple solution for you. If there is someone you really want to add to your network, Tweet them. Don’t wait for them to notice you – get in front of them! Stand out from the Tweeting crowd! Introduce yourself and ask a question to get the conversation going.
What do you look for in a profile when deciding to follow back on Twitter? What are some of your Twitter pet peeves? Share them in the comments below, or Tweet them to me at @lediamedia.
Leah Beatty
@lediamedia
Latest posts by Leah Beatty (see all)
- Slingshotters On Twitter – And Why You Should Follow Them (Part 5) - December 14, 2012
- Slingshotters On Twitter – And Why You Should Follow Them (Part 4) - December 7, 2012
- [Guide] Twitter Chats for Inbound Marketers - November 19, 2012
Great points, Leah!
I think if you’re trying to get people to follow you back, then you’re doing it wrong.
Your goal should be to share interesting content so that people want to follow you—not to follow people and hope that they decide to follow you back.
Here’s my rules for following people who follow me:
1) If I know you from in-person interactions, I’ll follow you back
2) If you work at a company I respect, I’ll follow you back
3) If you live in my city (Indianapolis represent!), I’ll follow you back
4) BUT if your content is offensive, lame, highly automated or non-existent, the above rules are off.
Great points, Robby. When you share good content you won’t need to use the #teamfollowback hashtag to get followers. I like to follow locals as well — unless they violate a lot of things on my check list
.
Thanks for reading.
Leah – love the checklist and pet peeves. I totally agree with the insincerity of auto DMs, and I never hesitate to unfollow the senders.
My immediate reaction to a new follower is to check the number of profiles he or she is following. If I am one of 40,000, I don’t follow back because my tweets would get lost in the overwhelming stream of tweets. There’s no potential to genuinely connect.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Good to know there are other Twitter snobs out there.
Nice to meet a follow Twitter snob
Glad you liked my post.
GREAT point about high follower counts! It’s better to follow back those with a smaller, more manageable network. The chances of your tweets being seen greatly increases. I think it makes building a real connection easier, too.
Thanks for reading.
Leah,
I agree with Robby that you make some great points. I also agree with Robby that people are doing it wrong if they follow someone expecting them to repay the favor.
I follow people that I have an interest in, that share interesting content or organizations I represent may have an interest in.
If you find my content on Twitter interesting enough to follow me, that doesn’t mean I see the need to follow your feed in return. On the flip side, if I follow you, I do so with the understanding that my content may not be information you want to follow.
Twitter to me is about sharing ideas and learning, not about gaining followers.
I love what you said here, “Twitter to me is about sharing ideas and learning, not about gaining followers.” SPOT ON!
Thanks for the reminder about following and following back: stay focused on those who bring value to your feed. Just because you like what they have to say doesn’t mean they will like what you have to say. I forget that sometimes!
Thanks for reading.
Leah!
Coming from a LinkedIn discussion, I decided to shut-off Automated Welcome Message last month but implemented it right now. I’m just listening to my target audience and engaging them with my content 140 Characters. I want to get followers but for me most important thing is to get business not many followers. I only share credible information into my tweets because I think my followers trust on my Tweets. I call it Twitter Etiquettes and I am sure that you’ll follow me back after visiting my Timeline.
Thanks for the feedback. Why did you decide to turn auto DM back on? I’m curious.
Thanks for reading my post.
Leah, great post and point one gets to me no matter the social space. I was just tweeting with Robby S. this week about that same topic on LinkedIN. It’s much easier to network if I can put a face to the profile.
What are your thoughts about Private Twitter accounts and do they hinder follow backs?
Great question Aaron! Thanks for reading my post!
As far as private Twitter accounts … what’s the point? I feel that Twitter is a public forum for sharing useful information quickly; if you want privacy, head to Facebook or LinkedIn.
When your account is locked I wonder what you are hiding. What don’t you want me to see? I hate having to request to follow in order to check out what you’ve been sharing. It’s a waste of time.
Thanks for the great article, Leah! Definitely never realized that tweets with an @ mention at the beginning are only seen by those following both parties. Now that you mentioned it, I’m seeing that a lot of the most “popular” people I follow on Twitter put a “.” before the @ sign to get around this. Definitely going to have to keep that in mind moving forward!