Most recent numbers show that Twitter has a 326 million users. And while this is a slight drop from the first quarter of 2018, it’s still a large digit you can’t (and shouldn’t) ignore.

Yet, there are countless businesses overlooking this tool as a means to drive traffic and conversions for their brand. After all, this platform receives a stunning 2 billion search queries each day.

And roughly 93% of Twitter users who follow small- and medium-sized businesses are planning to make a purchase from those brands. In fact, nearly 70% have already purchased at least once.

But it’s not just your real followers that are a gold mine – it’s the other users who are actively discovering brands. Over 66% of Twitter users discovered a new SMB using this platform.

With stats like this, you can see why smart brands are promoting their businesses on Twitter. If you’re looking to do the same but are struggling with gaining a following, then continue reading.

Let’s take a look at what you can do to grow your account with real Twitter followers.

Promote the Heck Out of Your Tweets

They say it’s not good to always talk about yourself – and they’re right. This can harm both personal and professional relationships.

This is also true when it comes to marketing – at least, when you’re using content. While the content you publish on Twitter shouldn’t be self-gloating advertisements, this doesn’t mean you can’t market yourself.

What we’re suggesting is that you boost your posts. And the reason you should is because roughly 36% of people on Twitter learn about SMBs this way.

What’s great about promoted tweets is that you don’t have to pay anything upfront. Like with ads, you can create a budget and once the limit is reached, your promoted tweet is taken down.

You only spend money when your promoted tweet is clicked on, retweeted, or replied to. If there’s no engagement, then you spend nothing. And it doesn’t matter how many impressions it receives.

Since a large percentage of users are finding these tweets and following businesses because of them, you can increase your chances of getting found.

Now, if you’re thinking you can sidestep using this feature, then you better think twice. Especially since Twitter’s algorithm significantly decreased organic reach per fan.

In other words, your tweets aren’t reaching as broad of an audience as it once did several years ago. So by using promoted tweets, you can ensure your tweets are showing up to the audience you’re targeting.

If your posts are on point, you can earn yourself a number of new real followers.

Create Targeted Twitter Advertising Campaigns

Besides using promoted tweets to gain attention and a following, you can use Twitter ads. Advertising on social media is the wave of the future, especially since organic growth reach is practically non-existent on various networks.

With an ad campaign, you can target a specific audience to increase your engagement and conversions. According to Twitter, 85% of Twitter users believe promoted accounts allow them to find new businesses.

And just as many are noticing promoted accounts on Twitter. Nearly 70% of these users end up following an SMB after seeing their ad on Twitter.

This goes to show how powerful Twitter advertisements are for businesses. Not only does it get your brand profile noticed, but it can help boost your list of followers.

When you’re creating your ads, make sure you split test your campaigns to see which topics, promotions, and headlines convert the most. It’s also essential to use the targeting features to ensure your ads are showing up to the right market.

Otherwise, you’ll end up wasting money on impressions and clicks from folks who aren’t interested in what your brand has to offer.

Be More an Informant and Less a Promoter

While it’s key to promote your business on Twitter using boosted posts and social ads, this isn’t the only way to capture the attention and interest of your audience.

If you’re able to produce content that informs your audience in a way that relates to them, then you can capitalize on this as well. Information is king of the web – after all, folks are turning to search engines to find information on products, services, and solutions to problems.

By offering up your expertise on certain topics, you can gain authority and a following. Unfortunately, the majority of Twitter users – 80% – are “meforners.” This is a Twitter user who constantly posts about themselves.

They’re adding no real value to their audience, which can make it harder to get more followers (or even keep the ones you have).

Let’s face it, no one likes hearing about others all the time. So what makes you think your followers always want to hear about you and your business?

What consumers care about is themselves and how they can improve their lives. If you got solutions, then share them in a no-strings-attached way.

Who knows, maybe you’ll become a go-to resource for your Twitter followers. And let’s not forget that Twitter users who follow SMBs are more inclined to purchase from a brand more than once.

So before you tweet, ask yourself how it relates to your followers and how it can benefit them.

Leverage Your Other Social Media Accounts

When you’re first starting out, you want to grow your Twitter following as quickly as possible. However, the quality of your followers is everything.

You don’t want to end up with thousands of followers who ignore your posts. You want followers who will engage with your posts. The more engagement your posts receive, the more visibility it’ll receive.

But if you’re struggling with getting folks to follow you on Twitter, there is a solution. Stats show that Twitter accounts with a large number of followers tend to get more followers.

An astounding 96% of followers base their decision to follow a brand on the number of followers they already have.

So with this notion, you should focus on getting some followers to help attract even more followers. And one way of doing this is to leverage your other social media accounts.

This is a great idea, especially since most adult Twitter users are on several other social media platforms. For example, 93% is on Facebook, 65% is on Instagram, 48% is on Pinterest, and 54% is on LinkedIn.

If you already have a following on other platforms, you can drive this traffic over to your Twitter account. These people already know and like you enough to follow you on other platforms.

This will help to beef up your follower list, which will make your account more appealing to new users stumbling on your profile for the first time.

Use the Autofollow/Followback Technique

You hear all the time about the importance of having quality followers. And while this is true, it’s hard to earn their trust when you’re a brand new page with a handful of followers (mostly made up of your friends and family).

With the autofollow and followback method, you can quickly grow your list of followers. All you have to do is follow other people. It’s a good idea to look for folks who are talking on topics related to your business and industry.

In many cases, those you follow will end up following you back. So it’s important to try and follow those you want following you back. However, you don’t have to be too picky at this point.

The purpose of this technique is to quickly inflate your list of followers so you can attract the attention of your core audience. If the idea of finding and following thousands of people is problematic (after all, you have a business to run), then you can use automation tools.

These will automatically follow lots of Twitter accounts.

Then once you reach a number you’re satisfied with, you can use the yank method. This is when you unfollow everyone on your list.

Why do this? Because it’ll make your account look more interesting. For instance, they’ll see you have hundreds of posts, tens of thousands of followers, and then only a handful of people you’re following.

You’ll notice this same trend among celebrities and other notables. This makes you appear less thirsty and more like a legit business who’s picky about who it follows.

Finding Your Twitter Marketing Sweet Spot

There are so many ways you can use Twitter to help with your business marketing. With the right tools, techniques, and know-how, you can turn your Twitter account into a marketing machine.

In the above tips, you learned how to use promoted tweets, Twitters ads, and leverage your social media accounts to grow your Twitter following.

Then when things get really hectic, you can use the autofollow method to drive more users to follow you back.

The idea is to experiment as much as you can to see what works for your brand. So give these tips a try and let us know which of them work for you!