Below are ten reasons you are not followed on Twitter.
1. You're a 'social media guru.'
The only people who call themselves "social media gurus" almost
certainly aren't, so don't use this awful expression. The same goes for
"maven," "expert" or "ninja."
You may work in the social media realm, but it's such a fascinating
and ever-changing communications landscape that there is always more to
learn.
This came up time and time again in our research as a phrase that
puts people off, so find a more creative way to describe yourself and
you'll find more followers.
2. You look like an egg.
The egg look really isn't in vogue. You only have a few chances to engage people visually on Twitter, so don't waste them.
Users are seriously dissuaded to follow an account if they can't
"see" the personality behind it. Don't leave your avatar as the default
egg, an image of a celebrity or someone who isn't you, or anything too
risqué. We'd also advise steering clear of GIFs as profile images, which
don't always display correctly across platforms.
The best Twitter avatar is a genuine pic of you and, considering how
small the image is often displayed, preferably a head and shoulders
shot. Remember: You can get more creative with your Twitter header photo
and background.
3. You're on #TeamFollowBack.
Begging people to follow you in your bio, and promising that you
always follow back, is not an attractive premise.
Twitter isn't about following blindly without good reason — it's
about curating your own stream of content that's interesting and
ultimately tailored to you. It's perfectly acceptable not to follow
people that choose to follow you.
If you're making promises to follow everyone for the sole reason that
they chose to follow you, you're diluting your Twitter stream with
content that may not be of interest, and ultimately cheapening the value
of your own attention span.
4. Your following ratio is disproportionate.
A lopsided ratio of users you follow to users who follow you is often a red flag that an account is spam.
It's understandable — and expected — that you'll follow more accounts
than are following you, but a large disparity in these numbers makes
your profile look suspicious.
Try to gather some followers before you go crazy with the "Follow"
button, or people won't want to join your strangely small list of
followers.
5. You wrote your bio in third person.
There is dubious advice out there that writing a bio in the third
person, as if it's been written by someone else, will make it sound more
professional and objective.
This is bad advice. A third person bio makes you look pompous. It's obvious you haven't asked anyone else to write it — who
would you ask, your mom? "Bob is very good at social media and always sets the table for dinner."
Even if you're using it for professional reasons, Twitter is a
personal, social platform and your bio should reflect that. A simple,
modest bio — or even a lighthearted, funny version — will attract more
followers than a grandiose one.
6. You tweet too much.
Twitter went live mid-2006. If you joined the microblogging site at
launch and tweeted three times a day every day since then, you would
have penned around 8,000 tweets.
This helps put the number of tweets shown on your account in
perspective. If you have tweeted over that 8,000 benchmark, then you're
obviously an above-average tweeter. If you've tweeted
significantly over that number, it may give people pause when considering whether to follow you.
7. You humblebrag.
In addition to your bio basics and account stats, most people will
read your last two tweets when they are checking out your Twitter
profile.
One of the things that came up in our research was hatred of the "humblebrag," and self-aggrandizement in general.
If one of your two most recent tweets contains even a hint of a
humblebrag, that potential follower is going to think twice. If you
retweet an entire compliment or flattering @ mention, that's even worse.
8. Robots craft your tweets.
Do you schedule tweets? Or are you signed up to services that auto
tweet on your behalf? If your recent tweets look like they were
automatically generated, people aren't going to follow you.
What people want on Twitter is to hear your genuine voice, in real
time. They don't want lofty quotes that you've scheduled to go live at
strategic periods, stats from your latest workout or what your "top
stories" are via a third-party curation service.
Twitter is about engagement, not just broadcasting meaningless words.
If you don't reply to other Twitter users, or otherwise react to tweets
and trending topics you see in your stream, you're doing it wrong.
9. You're selling something.
If you work in a sales or marketing role, then by all means mention
it in your bio. Do not, however, turn your bio into a sales pitch.
It's bad enough if you use your bio to push a product or service, but
if your recent tweets show that you're all about the hard sell, too, no
one is going to be interested in your profile.
Put simply, if you're using Twitter to sell something in a crude
manner, people will not follow you. We all see enough unwelcome
advertising on a daily basis without it invading our Twitter streams.
10. You send DM spam.
Finally, if someone has made the decision to follow you, and you
automatically DM them a self-promotional or sales message, chances are
you can kiss that new follower goodbye.
Direct messages that thank the person for following and urge them to
check out a link, such as a page on Facebook or a blog for "more amazing
content," are crass and impersonal.
Don't be tempted by this ultra-lazy form of marketing, or you'll deservedly lose followers as soon as you manage to gain them.
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