When people don’t follow you back on Twitter, you may wonder, “Is it something I said?” Maybe. But some people may not even get far enough to read your tweets. Here are, in my humble opinion, the top five reasons why people don’t follow you back. (Of course we’re assuming you’re not a spammer or porn star. And let’s also assume that you know why you’re on Twitter, but that’s fodder for a future post.)
1. You show the egg in your profile.
If you take the time to add a simple profile picture, you appear to be a genuine human being, which is what you are, right? People follow those they know, like and trust. It’s hard to know, like and trust an egg. Unless you’re a chicken.
2. You have no bio.
If you don’t complete your bio, the people of Twitterland don’t know who you are. Share a little about yourself and why we should want to read your tweets. Include a link to your blog or website. Twitter gives you 160 characters for your bio (vs. 140 for a tweet). Use them. Take a look at what my friend Bonnie Dean has done with her bio. (Click image to enlarge.)
3. All your tweets are in broadcast mode.
Unless you’re a Twitter superstar (hello, @GuyKawasaki), people expect to see engagement in your tweets. Try @ replying to people and retweeting others’ tweets. Your Twitter stream shouldn’t all be about you, you, you. Make it interesting.
4. Worse, you haven’t tweeted anything at all.
Don’t commit the newbie error of following people on Twitter before you’ve squeezed out a single tweet. Be sure there are at least a dozen bits of brilliance in your stream before you begin following. We want to see what you’re tweeting so we can determine whether to follow back.
5. We don’t speak Dutch.
Some of the people who follow me write exclusively in Portuguese or Dutch or other languages I can’t read, so I won’t follow back.
So how do you encourage followers?
- Add a photo and write your 160-character bio.
- Show your personality.
- Tweet interesting content; engage with people.
Do you have other reasons for not following back?
