Starting with twitter - What worked for me in the first week
Last week I became active on twitter for the first time in several years. And just my 2nd post [0] got me 40+ followers (in a single day), with a decent engagement. I wanted to share how It worked out so others can find some food for thought.
I know that these stats are not monumental for many people, but If you have recently started using twitter, you will know it's not easy to climb the ladder when you are in lower end. I had ~70 followers to begin with. Very few friends are on twitter, hence I didn't inherit much from college :)
I like to do things in a scientific way. So I have been studying a lot about word-of-mouth, mostly research papers and experiments from likes Jonah Berger (author of Contagious) and Albert Barabasi (expert at network science).
Truth about social networks
We all know this but better to be said -
- Social Networks have a long tail distribution. That means only a few do well. This also leads to a preferential attachment (rich get richer)
- Word-of-mouth always happens because of personal need, there is nothing called generosity.
Preferential attachment
The first thing I worried about is preferential attachment. How do you get over the cold start?
I found that the twitter stars (with 10+ followers) come in 4 categories.
(i) they are affiliated with a popular thing (celebrities)
(ii) they have created a story that people want to keep up with (example - Daniel Vassalo)
(iii) resource builders - they share resources and tips to keep you updated on skills
(iv) exceptional content creators (e.g. Jack Butcher)
I know that I am nowhere close to (i) yet, for (ii) i would have to build story on other platforms like medium, podcast etc but (iv) looked feasible. I like teaching and I could create content that will be useful for many. One perk was I enjoy creative content.
Picking a topic
To create best resource, I had to pick a topic I know really well. While my intention is to get a subset of this audience - I am going after - but to break the cold start I have no other option but teach the topic I am good at. I also wanted to create visual content, which works well for technical topics
Picking target audience
I realised that last time when i used any social network, I tried to post something I find interesting. The challenge with this is - The content automatically becomes targeted for your peers. It also means, given your skill level there are exceptional tiny fraction of things that you know will be liked by your peers.
But this time, i created content based on the struggles i had when I started in the target field. The first day or first week of struggle, the answers I didn't find easily.
Format
Format of the content also matters. I learn the best when ideas are visual. And when there is a reference to everyday object that everyone can relate to.
Finding the connector
I found a person who has 20k followers and whose skill level is yet to reach my level. I created my first thread, and around same time started engaging in conversation with him. After a few exchanges, he followed me.
Then, I posted my second thread.
This person (in Gladwell's terms - Connector), created a thread on top of mine and posted it. I started noticing several notifications in twitter unlike I had seen before.
Reason why the connector shared my thread
To grow his own following, the connectors try to be good at curating good content and they also want to add their own value. they want to be seen as someone who brings unique newness.
If you find a connector, in your space, find out what kind of content he/she creates. Try to create something that goes along with it.
If you are thinking, 40+ followers in a day is not a big deal.
For someone like me, who just started in the first week it is. Just on the basis of content. It also proves that my content is worthy and I can earn dividends if I promote it.
Hope this helps you build your own journey. Good luck.
[0] My twitter: https://twitter.com/aumbark
[1] Why I am building twitter: For a case study in my book https://w.amols.blog/non-zero
Hahahaha for fucks sake, I average at about 1 new follower each month...
No worries. You will get there. This just takes time and focus. sometimes there are other important things.
That's a great post. Although we all know there is not secret sauce to social media success, I think this gives a great insight about what people are looking for in them, and how to give it to them 🤔 Thanks
spot on. I learnt that there is a fair bit of audience using twitter to learn. It works like a habit loop of learning. you get in there and learn something new.
if we create content that is easily digestible on a regular basis, people will follow.
I used to think what i write can be found in books etc but the key aspect of twitter content is habit formation. People have a habit of opening twitter everyday. They won't go to a site or book like that often.
I haven't made it yet but I am keen to take this approach.
Hi @aumbark, that's a great insight that you've shared, especially on the 4 categories of Twitter stars. I've been trying to grow my audience in Twitter as well, but having some problems with what content to share.
Seeing your tweets just gave me an idea to start my own though :)
I have about 70 followers at the start of 2020, and now I have 150.
On the side, your content looks a lot like Jack Butcher though (the black background) Have you taken the VV course?
This is an insightful post @aumbark! As someone who is only reaching 70ish now, I haven’t yet found the secret - this gives me at least a good starting point or a few puzzle pieces to start with :) could u elaborate a bit more on how u engaged in conversation with the 20k connector person?
Good work Amol!
Great post and very useful tips, Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing this, somehow only few people talk about the challenges when just starting out like this!
Looking up to accounts with 10s of thousands of followers seems like an impossible thing to reach if you see your own numbers change 1 by 1. But I guess the network effects start to kick in after a certain point.
Nice approach. This is similar to what I'm suggesting in my tw500 newsletter course.
New twitter accounts will simply tweet into void if they just post regular tweets. They have to be seen. You did very well by identifying someone with larger following base. You can contribute there with things you know, and you can be seen.
If anyone is interested, I'm currently running a newsletter that could potentially help small-sized twitter accounts reach 500 followers.
https://www.subscribepage.com/tw500
Thanks for the tip! Am still relatively new to Twitter.
Very good summary. Next year will be the Twitter year for me. So every information is valuable.
Great post, thanks for sharing. Interested to dive a little deeper into the four categories of Twitter star, is your primary indicator the size of followers they have? Would you look at any other stats? I've found the Following to Follower ratio important too, as it culls the accounts who use followback techniques. From there, engagement rate per follower also provides a good insight into how well the account resonates with their given audience. I admit that these sorts of statistical indicators can only go so far, as you do need to review the actual tweet content too, but I find that running this sort of analysis first, it can save time when looking for good accounts to follow!
You just got +1 follower :) Great, down to earth description, thanks.
thank you
Hey @aumbark
Looks like you've put a lot of thought into growth and it has clearly worked out for you, great job. I looked through your Twitter and couldn't find exactly what you were talking about, is it this post: https://twitter.com/aumbark/status/1333475448039174144?
Interestingly enough, I also started using Twitter this last week @harlan_zw and went for the high-quality content route as well. Currently, 63 followers from basically zero so fairly happy.
I wrote an article about a fairly niche topic. but something I thought developers in my field were interested in. It didn't do overly well on Twitter (did really well on Reddit), I guess it could have done better if I posted some of the key concepts as a thread and had more technical followers.
What has worked better so far in terms of engagements and attracting followers has been my site launch tweet and posting something I thought was funny.
Interesting how that works, going to stick with the high-quality content and see how it works out over a couple of months. Will think more about how I can leverage people who have a higher following than me for future posts too.
By the way, the Twitter you have linked on your IH profile is broken.
thanks. I will correct the twitter link in IH. The thread that worked for me is pinned in my twitter profile.
I think the reach is limited to people with followers. So there is no better option than someone with huge following retweet your content. For that to happen, the content needs to be re-usable. Something the connector or resource ful guy can reuse by adding his/her bits.
So far, I don't see anyone re-tweeting original message but adding their own value on top.
Thanks for sharing your knowledges! It was interesting and useful for me
glad you found it interesting.
@aumbark Thanks for sharing these ideas! Personally I felt that growing on Twitter is an extremely hard thing and takes a really long time. I am eager to try your idea and see if it works on ruttl.
Good luck Harsh. Hope this works out for you.
Thanks a lot!
Great post! Will follow :)
good luck
Great work! And thanks for sharing your tips.