So we’re talking about Twitter, which is a micro-blogging service that has seen exponential growth in the last few months. Twitter has been in the news media more and more in recent times which has exploded the ranks of its users.

So in this article I’m going to talk a little bit about how to get people to follow you. What sorts of the things should you Twitter about that will get people to follow you and more importantly, what are some things you should not Twitter about that’ll most likely keep people from following you.

There are lots of different schools of thought as far as how to get people to follow you, this is what I believe:

1. Don’t spam: what I mean by this is don’t just send out offers to join your list, or send out offers for special products, and tweets that are only related to your business. Let me rephrase that, unless you’re Dell, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, or some other business that is on Twitter, don’t only send out messages related to your business. Most people don’t care. Most people will care about you and what you are doing rather than what your company is doing unless you happen to be one of the above mentioned companies, or you happen to have or happen to be Twittering under a company account.
2. Be engaging: like I mentioned people want to follow people not companies. What the above companies are doing on Twitter is that they are engaging their followers. I’m telling you here to be engaging. These companies are going to where the users or customers are and then engaging their customers where their customers are at. Don’t just be a marketing robot. Yes, Twitter can be a marketing tool. Having said that, I feel that you should not only use Twitter for marketing.
3. Be entertaining: say something fun, refer people to a fun website it can be your own website by the way, the more funny you are the more people will follow you. Of course there’s always an exception to the rule, however, most people want to have a good time on Twitter so if you’re always recommending things that are fun, or interesting you’ll get a a lot of followers.

I should mention, that you should not look at your number of followers as a scorecard. It doesn’t matter if you have 10,000 followers, 50 followers or 10 followers. You should try to interact with everyone on your list at least once or twice. And if you have too many followers to always engage with then only engage the people that you find interesting.

These are just some general tips for what to do in order to get people to follow you.

Your Twitter profile is one of the greatest factors of social media success. These are seven common but devastating Twitter profile mistakes that can hurt your chances of getting new followers.

1. No Photo

When your potential prospects decide on whether to add you or not, they first make their decisions on your appearances. The biggest mistake you can make is not have a photo and look like a spammer. Studies have shown that decreases your chances of being followed a whopping 80%.

2. A Non-personal Photo

You may have a lot of interests, so you may tend to put a photo of your favourite guitar or car. Bad mistakes. People relate to people, not objects. Plus you look like one of those MLM spammers hawking your BMW dreams.

3. A Photo of Your Hero

You may idolize Mother Theresa or even business gurus like Robert Allan. Unfortunately, people prefer the real you. You’re probably going to be tagged (again) a spammer, or just plain ignored because we have enough real friends to keep up with.

4. A Sexy Photo

You may be hot and have the assets to prove it, but those webcam shots are better suited to MySpace. Spammers have been using photos of scantily-clad women for months and you’re at risk of being tagged as one of them.

5. A Boring Photo

Nowadays when your followers receive more than 20 invitations a day, they make snap decisions. If you’re showing a grainy mobile phone photo or something of inferior quality they will just tune you out. Followers are that superficial, and that’s because of a clutter of information.

6. A Group Photo

Individuals want to connect with individuals. Combine a mass of bodies together with Twitter’s obscenely small framing and you’ll get a repulsive mess anyone wants to avoid for sake of simplicity. Exceptions to the rule include married couples, of course.

7. An Amateur Photo

If you’re using Twitter for professional networking. It’s best you use a professionally shot of you looking your professional best. They get high click throughs because your picture has a high perceived value. If you want to be a maven, you need to look the part.

Now, you know how to avoid these common mistakes for Twitter business. Start making money on Twitter the right way.

BONUS TIP:
Put a photo of your pet or your family. Cute animals and kids are magnets for people. Use this psychological trait to your advantage. You create really quick bonding that way.

And now I would like to invite you to claim your instant free access to my Twitter marketing and psychology videos by going to http://DarkSideOfTwitter.com

Plus, you also get a mother lode of other limited-edition social media tutorials and articles.

From Kenneth Yu – The Puppet Master and Social Influence Marketer