6 Ways To Grow Your Online Community Using Twitter

I’m at where I am today all because of Twitter.

You see, before Twitter my circle of friends was confined to the people I knew through school. Connecting with new people was tough.

When I started Twitter the first response I got was from someone I didn’t know. He was from the United States – somewhere I had no connection whatsoever! I knew then that Twitter was huge!

I quickly focused all my attention on it.

Long story short, I was able to build a community with Twitter. Today, I have friends from all over the world.

1. Tweet Useful Information

You won’t grow a community if you’re only tweeting links to what you’re selling. I was lucky because I started out of curiosity and with nothing to sell. The only way I knew to connect with people was to add value to people’s timeline. That was what helped me to grow over 450,000 followers today.

Read useful articles on the web and share them with your fans. Add your personal touches to them as well. That simple gesture is what makes you stand out.

You can also add quotes and share photos too. On Post Planner we have a feature called ‘Viral Photos’ which helps you find some of the most viral photos on Facebook so that you can share on other social networks, including Twitter.

 2. Join Twitter chats

These chats are one of the best ways to meet new people. It’s like a book club where people gather weekly to chat about a particular topic. Joining one will allow you to share your thoughts on the topic, show off your expertise and connect and build relationship with others.

This is how people will start noticing you. There are many Twitter chats organized weekly. Topics range from business, music, to even travel chats organized by large brands such as Expedia.

That’s right, even the multi-billion dollar company Expedia uses chats to get recognized.

 3. Search for conversations

Have you used Twitter search before? You should! It’s a powerful tool that people underestimate. But unlike other marketers, I’m not going to tell you to search conversations so you can sell your product.

This is all about building a community on Twitter remember? The way to do this is to search for ‘interests’. Think about what your fans might be interested in.

Let’s say your potential customers might be a fan of coffee. What you do is search for that topic, then click ‘near you’.

This will show people near you who are tweeting about coffee. That way those people can also relate to you and discuss on perhaps some of your favorite cafes nearby. Who knows, this might lead to you having a quick meetup with some of your followers one day.

4. Tweet others

Not only do you need to share useful links, you need to tweet other people too. Don’t be shy to say hello and start a conversation with them.

Another way to do it is to respond to their tweets. That usually gets their attention. Remember, if you want to stand out, you gotta be quick! Add them to your Twitter list and respond as soon as they post those tweets.

 5. Follow the right people

Yes, you can grow a community organically by waiting for them to follow you. But that takes a very long time. It’s like waiting for someone to come to your shop instead of reaching out to them.

For me, following people first is the best way to grow a community. How? The trick is to follow the RIGHT people.

Here are two of my favorite ways to do just that.

1. Search for relevant retweeters

You can do this by searching for headlines that are being used for blog posts. Find a popular blog, copy and paste it on your Twitter search and follow those people.

2. Follow the list

Go to one of your favorite Twitter users and find out what list they are listed in. Once you’ve done that, follow everyone else on that list.

If you need more lists, we actually have over 101 Twitter lists you can follow.

 6. Retweet

Last but not least, retweet others! This can help you grow your community too because not only are you sharing valuable links with your followers, you’re also connecting with the person who you are retweeting from.

I like to say “retweet someone once they will notice you, retweet them a few times, they will remember you’

Summing up:

These tips are pretty basic, but it doesn’t take much to build a community on Twitter. As long as you focus on building relationships with others and not focus entirely on you, your products, or your business, then you’re on the right track to grow a strong community on Twitter.