In the words of wise Guy Kawasaki, “There are two kinds of people on social networks: those who want more followers and those who are lying.” Let’s be honest here, everyone on Twitter wants more followers because everyone wants to be cool.

Unfortunately, gaining followers in much easier said than done. It’s always going to be a struggle racking up an impressive follower count but there are some tricks you can use to move more smoothly through the process. Here are 10 hacks that can help you gain more followers on this influential social media platform called Twitter.

1. Shout out to your peeps online

One of the easiest ways to get people to follow you is by asking them. Go ahead and ask your friends and followers from other social media platforms to follow you on Twitter. Most of these people are already your friends or have some sort of connection with you from these sites, and it will be easier to get them to follow you on Twitter as well.

2. Clean up your account’s appearance

How you present yourself on Twitter determines whether people will follow you or not. For people to follow you, they want to know who you are and what your account is about. Tell people who you are on your profile. It gives people a preview of why they should follow you. Use an image of yourself or your brand logo for your profile photos. Your bio should have a clear description of you and your business.

3. Build a bridge from your website

A website can be another great source for picking up followers. Visitors to your website or blog would likely want to follow you on Twitter because it’s a better way of keeping up with you for possible promotions or product releases. By having a Twitter button on your website or blog, you are going to see an increase in the number of followers you have.

4. Hashtags… Do you do it?

Twitter was one of the very first social media platforms to introduce the use of hashtags, and they still are one of the most prominent features on the platform. By using hashtags, you create more visibility and a wider reach for your tweets, since they can be seen even by users who do not follow you. If your tweets are interesting or informative, some of the people following that particular hashtag will end up following you.

5. Timely tweets will take you far

Many people normally use Twitter as a source of news, and therefore, if you can provide people with news, they will follow you. If there is some breaking news story that is related to your industry, tweet it to your followers with a clever spin. You can also attend industry events and live tweet the proceedings at the event, thereby establishing yourself as a trusted voice within your industry. If you can’t attend the event, find others talking about the event on Twitter and join the conversation. This will definitely bring you more followers.

6. Get listed in the directory

You can also gain followers by making use of Twitter directories. These are places where Twitter users can search for and discover interesting people and brands. By signing up for Twitter directories, you add yet another easy way for people to find and follow you on Twitter.

7. Sign off your emails with Twitter

Email is another great tool you can use to find followers for your Twitter account, especially for brands. If you send a lot of emails, make sure to add your Twitter handle to your email signature, and prompt people to follow you there. By doing this, you will find that a percentage of your recipients are going to follow you.

8. Good ol’ ads and promotion

Another hack to increase your follower count is to make sure you’re advertising and promoting to a wider sphere. Promoting your Twitter account is an effective way to increase the visibility of your profile and gain more followers. There are different ways of advertising your Twitter account, such as official Twitter ads, using sponsored tweets and crowd marketing.

9. Provide great customer service through your account

Most businesses are now turning to Twitter to provide customer service. This doubles as an effective method for increasing the number of followers you have. Users have to follow you to be able to send you direct messages. By using Twitter to provide support for your clients, you will find more people following you on the platform.

10. Buy followers

Lastly, you can simply buy followers. Buying followers will help to boost your social credibility and establish you as an authority in your field, because people are more likely to take you seriously if they think many others have already done the same. Basically, the more followers you have at any given time, the faster you’ll grow.

Pro tip: Although buying Twitter followers is an effective method to boost your follower count, it comes with risks. Buying followers from cheap providers will most likely get you follows from Twitter bots and spam accounts, which Twitter’s algorithm will easily identify and eliminate. However, you can avoid these pitfalls by buying followers from high-quality vendors.

High-quality vendors will provide you with follows from well-refined accounts rather than bot accounts. To evaluate a seller and ensure you don’t fall into the low-quality follower trap, check out reviews of different services before your buy.

Interested in learning more? Check out our reviews of the top 10 providers for Twitter followers.