There are many reasons for guest blogging, such as getting exposure and backlinks for your website, positioning yourself as an authority in your niche, and so on. Can increasing your Twitter following be a benefit of guest posting? Absolutely!
So what do you have to help ensure that readers of your guest posts also become a follower on Twitter?
1. Put your Twitter handle in your bio.
This one seems pretty obvious, but is surprisingly not done that often. People want to capitalize on the links in their bio by using them for their website, RSS feed, opt-in list, etc., and generally overlook attraction marketing or including their Twitter link.
But even if you don’t want to give up your bio link, you can still possibly add it as text – most people will know what to do if they simply saw “Follow me @kikolani” regardless of whether it is a hyperlink. This may also help you get more retweets linked to your user name if people can easily find your handle, associating you to that awesome blog you are guest posting on!
2. Tweet your post.
Duh, of course you’re going to tweet your post. But don’t just RT @stayonsearch Grow Your Twitter Following Through Guest Blogging http://bit.ly/fyPpIr. Make sure to include My guest post @stayonsearch Grow Your Twitter Following Through Guest Blogging http://bit.ly/fyPpIr. This way, when someone retweet you, their followers will see that you’re not only someone the person they follow likes, but they’ll see the awesome site you write for and (hopefully) start following you.
3. Thank the people that retweet your guest post.
Here’s where you can drive it home and really grab some followers. Install the Topsy Trackbacks Bookmarklet onto your browser. Then, go to your guest post and click on it. This will show you the number of times your post has been tweeted AND who has retweeted it.
Using this information, thank people for tweeting your post. Not just “Thanks for the retweet” but “Thanks for the RTs of my Stay on Search post” so that those users will know you were behind the awesome content.
Now, you may ask, what if your post is getting hundreds or even thousands of retweets? How can you thank them all?
First off, you’re a lucky duck to be getting that many retweets!
If your post has that many tweets, it’s sure to be something memorable, therefore this could be a good time to try to get some of the stronger Twitter influencers on your side. Simply change the view to Influential instead of All, and this will show users that have the highest follower count and influence.
Your Strategy for Increasing Twitter Followers
Can you think of some other ways to increase your follower count through guest blogging? Please share your thoughts below!
