One of the best advantages of Twitter over other social networks is your ability to connect with Twitter users without them initiating the relationship by “Following” or “Liking” your brand. Now, you may have recently been pitched by a company selling Twitter followers by the bulk, but consider this: why buy followers when you can obtain them free of charge? While it will take some time and effort, you will find that growing your Twitter followers organically will result in more valuable Twitter relationships and connections for your practice!
Here are a few ways to grow your Twitter followers:
- Reach out to your network. Send out an email blast with your Twitter URL to your family, friends, patients and colleagues.
- Follow first! Use Twitter @Connect and #Discover tabs to find those who tweet about your popular keywords, and those in your location. Simply search for terms related to your healthcare specialty and names of nearby towns and cities and follow users you feel would benefit from being connected to your account. The more you follow, the more will follow you back! But don’t go to follow-crazy! Twitter penalizes users who follow too aggressively. According to Twitter’s help center, if you don’t follow or un-follow hundreds of users in a single day, you should be fine. Read more about Twitter Following rules and best practices here.
- Join Directories.
- Listorious is a directory of people and Twitter lists. Sign in with Twitter, and add yourself and up to six tags you want to be associated with. For example, “#healthcare,” “#dermatology,” or “#botox.” Users searching those terms on Listorious will find you.
- Twellow is the Twitter yellow pages. To join, you can either log in with Facebook or create a user name and password. Then, connect with Twitter to browse through users to follow, or list yourself under related categories to get followers. A great feature of Twellow is its “Twellowhood” tab, where you can find local Twitter users! This is a great way to reach potential patients and other businesses in your area.
- WeFollow is a user-powered Twitter directory. It displays and categorizes Twitter users according to tags and lists users based on the number of followers they have.
- Retweet and Reply. Now that you’re following related professionals and local tweeters, you can reply and retweet them. This will help establish relationships with other users and increase your changes of being retweeted— which expands your reach to a whole new audience of potential followers.
- Use Hashtags. Use hashtags (e.g. #heartdisease) related to your tweets so that you’re more searchable by others.
- Join Twitter Chats. Join in on related healthcare Twitter chats. Symplur has a comprehensive list — view it here and choose which fit your practice best. By joining the conversation and interacting with other professionals, you’ll build a network of connections, and hence, more followers.
Staying Active with Social Media
Staying active on Twitter and other social media sites is important if you want to build a valuable network and base of referrals. Can’t find the time? Let MyAdvice help! Visit our site to learn about our social media marketing service. Contact us to learn more.
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