There is a magic number of followers on Twitter

Gaining followers on Twitter can take time and effort. But at what point does it get easier to gain those followers?

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I’ve been on Twitter since 2009 but I’ve not really ever pushed it hard. Twitter was something I simply enjoyed posting on. Most of that time I wasn’t looking to build new followers, I was happy with what I had. New followers were slow to build up because I wasn’t seeking them out with hashtags or following back.

The Twitter magic number

I noticed that once I hit 5,000 followers there was a noticeable increase in daily followers. Not only that many of those new followers had a BIG following themselves. The big boys and girls suddenly started to notice my account. Those with low follows but high followers were now taking notice of me.

What was happening before 5k?

I would get maybe one or two new followers a day. If I engaged more then that would go up to maybe five or six new followers a day.

What started happening after 5k?

Now I get five to ten new followers a day and if I engage more that figure can go up to thirty or forty a day.

Looking for new followers.

These are not big figures but remember, I’m NOT actively seeking them out, they are coming to me with little effort on my part. I’m not doing any follow/unfollow campaigns to boost these numbers. If I were to push harder and start a follow/following campaign those numbers would go much, much higher (100-300 a day).

There are 5k lists that I’ve been added to, an increase in messages and tweets to me. The bigger players are now more likely to engage back. The difference is quite noticeable once you reach it.

I’m barely on a hundred followers, what do I do?

Initially it can be very slow because people are less likely to follow accounts with few followers. Some tips are:

  • Remember the ‘social’ part of social media. Engage with followers and from tweets from people you don’t follow.
  • Don’t just re-tweet, quote the tweet instead and add your own opinion to it.
  • Keep your ‘follows’ lower than those following you (1/1 ratio is the maximum but try to aim well under that).
  • Use images, gifs and videos when you can. They always gain more notice in a feed.

I have a few posts on this blog that will also help:

So there we go, 5,000 seems to be a good magic number to aim for. Now come on my Twitter account and let me know your results and comments.

Simon Day

If you have a wedding, portrait, event or festival coming up please contact me. Likewise for portraits. Check out my social media channels: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter