Twitter followers will be more likely to retweet your content if they like, know, and trust you.
But what does one do to develop a strong network on Twitter?
Here are three strategies to help you build a stronger network on Twitter.
1. Search-Building
An important part of any online strategy is search. How will people find you when they want to find you now?
You build your organization’s web search profile with Twitter, paying particular attention to the prevalent keywords in each tweet.
Here are three habits to develop to create search-optimized tweets:
- Always be listening to what your community is talking about. This will clue you into keywords you should focus on using on Twitter, and also in blog posts. Use their words, not your jargon.
- Pay attention to trending topics related your cause. Twitter shows you what topics are trending in your location, of network (as shown below).
- Note the hashtags around those trending topics. Get to know the most popular hashtags. Check out the trending feature at hashtags.org.
2. Raft-Building
One of the best uses of Twitter is to build a strong community of mutually supportive advocates. Together you can accomplish more than each of you can separately.
Imagine you’re whitewater rafting with a bunch of friend who each have their own rafts.
The water is initially calm, but eventually you come to a place in the river where the rapids are much more intense.
Being smart, you reach out and grab your friends’ rafts pull them close to you. You tie them all together with a rope, creating one huge raft that will never flip over!
The rope, of course, is your investment in these relationships. You retweet their content, say thanks, and make an effort to go out of your way to promote their agenda. Naturally, many of them will return the favor!
3. Klout-Building
Although it’s not perfect, Klout is at least one number that quickly tells you if your influence is growing or shrinking.
It can also show you who is influential among your network.
You build Klout on Twitter in a number of different ways, but mostly by creating value for your followers.
More specifically, you build your Klout by following these four tips:
- Share content that’s valuable. You can’t build Klout if you’re mostly sharing garbage.
- Connect with other influencers in your cause who have a high Klout score. Use the Klout extension to display Klout scores on Twitter.com (as shown below).
- Starting meaningful discussions by asking questions.
- Pay attention to other networks. Klout scores are based on the strength of all of your social networks, not just Twitter. Make sure you’re applying these strategies to Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
Learn by Copying
The best way to learn how to build a stronger Twitter presence is to copy what the pros do. Here’s a list of social savvy nonprofits and top nonprofits you can start with.