Here are some tips:

The Followback Method – This method involves following people in hopes they will follow you back (reciprocal tweet building). If you are looking to target followers in a certain industry, you can use the search feature to focus on let’s say “Social Media Marketing”. Once you get the results, simply start following people and watch the followbacks roll in.

Keep in mind, if you are looking to generate traffic to a website, blindly following people is not your best bet since when you post news or updates they will not be as incentivized to follow your link since it is not relevant to their interests. However, if you work hard to narrow your target audience with follows, you will convert more tweets to hits.

A few tips:

Twitter throttles your follows to 1,000 a day, and 2000 maximum followers (until you surpass an undisclosed followers/following ratio). This is important because if you are seeking followbacks and you dump your 2000 follows into unlikely followbacks and end up generating a meager 150 follows, then you are screwed. Now you will have to go back and unfollow non-followbacks and reinvest those follows into people more likely to reciprocate. Invest the time and effort to just do it right the first time and skip the backtracking!

To help manage your unfollowing, visit JustUnfollow.

Target people with close following/followers ratios. If you are looking to get people to followback, following someone like @SethGodin who follows ZERO people is not a good investment. For best results, follow Tweeters with close to 1:1 ratios (e.g. 31,532 following  33,374 followers), they are more likely to reciprocate the follow.

**IMPORTANT**: If you are using the followback method, be sure to check your followers tab everyday and follow people who have followed you or else they may unfollow.

Twitter has a rule against “aggressive following”, so I recommend that if you are using the followback method you follow just a few hundred people a day as to avoid account suspension or deactivation.

Twiends.com – Twiends is a website design to give incentive for people to follow each other on Twitter. After signing up for Twiends you are encouraged to give and recieve a virtual currency called “seeds”. By following someone you recieve seeds from them, and when people follow you they recieve your seeds. The trick here is to follow people to accrue seeds in order to offer an attractive number of seeds as a reward for people following you.

Twitclub.com – Twitclub is a website dedicated to gaining you followbacks. When you sign up, you agree to allow Twitclub to automatically followback anyone who follows you through Twitclub. This means you can visit the website and get a 100% followback on every person you choose to follow.

LinkeIn.com – LinkedIn is a social networking website where you can find “groups” dedicated to growing Twitter, Facebook, Google+ followers and likes. You can find discussions where thousands of people post their ID’s so you can easily identify others looking to build their network. Once accepted to these groups (some of them are “open”, meaning anyone can join), you can post your own ID’s for people to add or “like” you. Just be sure to reciprocate!

Some of these groups are:

1. Facebook & Twitter For Business

2. twitter innovators Innovation & Creativity Network of Tweeters

3. Twitter Strategies

4. Twitter

5. Twitter, Google-Plus, and Facebook for Sourcing and Recruiting

Tribes – Tribes are groups of people who promote and/or follow people within similar niches. This means if I run a website dedicated to photography, I can join a Tribe dedicated to photography so we all can follow/”like” each other, link exchange, and otherwise help promote one another.

If you are interested in checking out how Tribes work, visit: Twibes.

Tweet – Tweeting is a great way to gain followers. The more you tweet, the more visible you are, the more likely people will follow you (or retweet you!). Personally, I enjoy opening up the Twitter timeline and scrolling through to find tweets relevant to my interests and replying to, or retweeting them. Take as little as 15 minutes a day to engage your followers and other tweeters to build your exposure and gain followers.

**IMPORTANT**: Use https://bitly.com/ to shorten any links you tweet to save valuable space for the message you would like to accompany your link!.

Retweeting is another way to gain followers. If you like a tweet, you can retweet – this is generally regarded as one of the greatest compliments you can give another tweeter, and often times they will repay your kindness with a follow.

For those of us strapped for time, you can use Buffer to increase your Twitter visibility. Buffer allows you to preload tweets to be tweeted at peak times of the day without you being present (you can tweak when the tweets fire, if you desire different timing).

Buy Follows – Buying followers or Twitter accounts is strictly against Twitter terms of use (not to mention being unethical, shady and disrespectful to every legitimate tweeter out there), so I highly discourage it.

Twitter Adder – Twitter Adder is a program you can purchase which will automate searching, following, followbacks and unfollowing. I don’t use it, but it seems to be extremely popular.

Twitter Buttons – Add a Twitter button to your blog, website or forum to catch the eye of visitors and encourage them to follow you. A few great websites for Twitter Buttons:

1. http://www.twitterflash.net/
2. http://www.twitterbuttons.org/
3. http://twittercounter.com/pages/buttons

In closing, I want to say that while there are many “easy” ways to build Twitter followers, you really need to consider why you want them. If you are just looking to spam people with offers/sales, don’t bother – most users are smart enough to see what you are up to and avoid you. If you are looking to engage other users, then you are on the right track! Good luck!

With kind regards,

Dan

P.S. Please follow me on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/CommandCS

Fact #2: Some of you are about to take great exception with what follows, and for that I am genuinly sorry, but I challenge you to prove me wrong on any point (pistols at dawn!). I put my 30 days up against you and however long you’ve been a denizen of the social media circus – pound for pound.

So let’s dance.

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, Redit, Google+, Tagged, Yelp, Foursquare, SEO, blah, blah, blah – you name it, I researched it, signed up for it or tried it (with an emphasis on Leadership), and placed forth the herculean effort to become fluent with them (work in progress!).

After being only a month old on the Social Media scene, something became painfully clear to me:

Fact #3: 90% of #Leadership on Twitter is a cesspool of regurgitated leadership quotes so bludgeoned to death that they have become nothing more than lifeless, shapeless, formless, meaningless grease stains on the faux motivation shag carpet of the interwebs.

These quotes are incessantly tweeted and retweeted by people who are so incapable of squeezing a single original thought out of that dollop of gray matter in thier fat melons that they collectively feel the need to share their favorite nugget of wisdom from Dwight Eisenhower or Sun-Tzu (for the bazillionth time).

The #Leadership masses are a horde of undead, feasting on the brains and innards of all that is pure and sacred in the world of genuine, interpersonal, and meaningful inspirational social media communication.

“Excuse me sir, you have some corporate leader-speak running down your chin”

(Note: the above statement may or may not be a double entendre)

I mean, why dream up and tweet original content capable of touching the human spirit when we can just google “leadership quotes”, cut and paste some delicious ear candy and go make a sandwich since we’ve done our part to enrich the social media habitat?

What I can’t seem to wrap my head around is how these empty calorie tweeters rack up such an amazing number of followers who hang around like hungry stray dogs waiting to be thrown a pompous 140 character platitude to gnaw on and bury in the back yard like some prized possession.

I also dread to think that there are people out there who are actually so starved for personal and professional guidance that they need RandomLeadershipTweetGuy to provide them Tweet Sustenance with a side of Copy Pasta.

Dear diary,

I just woke up, still amidst the iron grip of my deep depression. I don’t have the willpower to make it through another dark and sullen day.

So here I am with the belt around my neck, ready to kick the chair out from under me so…wait…what’s this? A new tweet from GenericLeadershipQuoteTweeter?

“The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.” –Harvey S. Firestone

Never-mind diary, I have suddenly found within myself a powerful wellspring of passion for life.

Thank you, Mr. Firestone for saving me!

-Dan

Phew, crisis averted!

And am I the only person on the planet who feels as though these quotes suffer from “Quote Bloat” and inflation: the more abundant they are, the less they are worth?

*Crickets*

Guess so…

Folks, just like being too liberal with praise devalues it, as such it is with quotes.

So let’s take it down a notch? Ok…

Now don’t get me wrong, I think Twitter is an amazing resource, I just think we are all doing it wrong. When was the last time you opened twitter, searched #Leadership and attempted to open up a dialogue with someone? Oh, never?

Isn’t being part of a community about bringing people together?

Or is it just about bullshit quotes and spamming our latest blogs for traffic?

-Dan

Potent Skills

As a leader, the ability to build rapport with your people is the most potent skill you can master.

Creating an environment where your people believe you are truly invested in them personally, professionally, and emotionally, and that they play a significant role in the success of the team must be paramount.

Employees who are engaged, motivated and satisfied with their job are far more likely to convert customers into “advocates” for your business, increasing your teams chance for success (and bottom line).

I believe people respond according to how they are treated: treat them as though they are valuable asset and a valuable asset they will aspire to be.

Yesterday I interviewed a woman who retired from her 25 year career with the same company. When I inquired about what kept her with the company for so long, she replied that she simply loved the people she worked for. This was a testament to the power of strong leadership within the company building rapport with their people to create lasting and memorable relationships.

The 5 Simple Techniques

1) Know your people: I take 2-3 minutes every day to chat with my people about non-work topics. I know which employees are interested sports, cooking, politics, crafts, movies, music, or TV. When I see things in the media that might interest them, I make a mental note and bring it up the next time I see them. This opens a dialogue and lets them know I pay attention to them as a person and regard them as more than just an “employee” (which I genuinely do).

2) Give Feedback: We each ask a great deal from our people on a daily basis, so we should be obligated to let them know we appreciate their hard work and effort. Lack of recognition is one of the leading causes of turnover. Most often, this is the result of leaders only providing feedback when an action or behavior negatively affects their business.

3) Be Accessible: Check in with your people regularly, ask questions, and answer questions. Routinely following up with your people during a project will not only allow you to gauge their progress, but will also afford you the opportunity to coach them if they have questions. Coaching strengthens the bond between you and your team members since directly enhancing their skill set proves you are there to support their growth.

4) Say Hello and Goodbye: I know this concept is old as the hills, but I see so many leaders not following through with it. Taking 30 seconds out of your day to welcome your team members to work or wish them a great day when you (or they) leave lets them know you care. It’s a small but meaningful gesture.

5) Remind Them of Their Value: When providing feedback to your team members, frame their contributions in the context of the overall team’s success. Telling them that they have done a great job is good, but illustrating how they have significantly impacted the entire team is great.

1. Did you go to work today intent on building strong relationships with your people?
2. What are different ways we can show our people their value?
3. Can you name the interests and hobbies of those who report to you?

Johnny’s mom is in your line and she needs the latest, greatest, super-fantastic, amazing, mind-blowing mega-widget that’s exploded on the kid’s market this year, and she needs it NOW! NOW! NOW!

Anything less is unacceptable, of course.

(Note: things falling into the “anything less” category include waiting patiently behind the people waiting patiently in front of her)

You know this time of year: where one employee “calling out” can hamstring your organization; one out-of-stock item can be devastating, and at the very end of the day when you want nothing more than to sit down and relax for a moment – you realize you are standing amidst the rubble of the post apocalyptic wasteland which once served as your finely tuned and well cared for store.

Oh, and by the way – it needs to be put back together piece by pillaged piece.

(Note: you do this while knowing the torch and pitchfork carrying masses will ravage it again tomorrow! I think of it as “Groundhog Day” meets “The Road”)

But I’m not here to paint an ugly picture and leave you hanging (yourself)! There are a few things I encourage you to remember:

Your Employees

During this busy time of the year you have the highest number of employees on the floor than any other. Personally, I very much look forward to working with every one of my people, and the more on at any given time the better.

This gives me an opportunity to meet with my team (as a team), check in on them to see how they are doing, and do everything in my power to keep them enthusiastic and in good spirits so we can offer the best customer service experience possible.

I find that motivating a large group of people at once is far easier than doing so one-on-one, so this time of the year is like shooting fish in a barrel. Enthusiam is contagious, so I wear the mantle of “patient zero: the super spreader” (yes, it sounds like a SyFy Original movie, but I assure you that it isn’t – yet…)

Your Customers

Ok, here is the deal: Yes, I get it, some people are just plain grouchy and unreasonable.

They have been fighting the traffic, they are stressed because money is tight, they don’t want to let a loved one down because they failed to get them that perfect gift, or they expect you are going to be another in a long line of customer service failures they have already endured this season, so they preemptively treat you as such.

And yes, I know we get it unfairly dumped straight onto our heads with not so much as a simple Hello, Thank You, or Goodbye.

But here is what I implore you to keep in mind:

1. You are going to have far more friendly and amazing customers than you are going to have unreasonable ones. Take care not to forget that you are offering a special service to these people: you are helping them have a great holiday season with their family and (most times) they greatly appreciate you taking the time to help them whether they say so, or not.
2. The unreasonable ones are the ones you need to engage the hardest and prove to them why you and your business are different, and to remind them that there still are people out there who understand, care, and genuinely want to help (even under duress!). It’s like the scene from “Good Will Hunting” where Robin Williams (you!) hugs the troubled Matt Damon character (angry customer!) and keeps repeating “it’s not your fault” over and over until they cry together and become life-long friends.

(Note: there might be an f-bomb or two in this clip, just saying…)

Your Business

With the holiday season bringing so much traffic into your stores, you need to be building relationships with every customer – good, bad and ugly alike – to keep them coming back all year long. If they see you are willing to take time to show genuine personal care during your busiest, most stressful time of the year, then they know you will surely do so during the slower ones (when you need it most!)

This time of the year grants you the greatest exposure, you would be foolish not to take advantage of every second of it.

Best of luck during this season!

-Dan