#Unexpected: How Trying to Gain Followers Ended in a Surprising Twist

Well, it’s been a week since the beginning of what I like to call the #TwitterFollowerChallenge, and the results are in! This week has really pushed the boundaries of what social media is exactly and to what extent it can be utilized.

A Newfound Appreciation for #SocialMediaGurus

I now have a better understanding of the job duties that someone who is a Social Media Specialist for a company has. Not only do they have to constantly be engaging with users and customers, but they also have to create innovative ways to push the brand and brand loyalty. We’ve seen this done with the livestreaming option on Facebook.

Along with this, holding various giveaways that require users to share the status are a great way to increase involvement while also using your consumer base to recruit others that may not have known about your brand in the first place. This type of work ethic is both very admirable and astonishing.

#SocialMediasStrategy101

First, let’s take a look at what my main strategies were and what I learned from trying to gain Twitter followers:

1. Most important: Double-check your #Privacy settings. I was pretty embarrassed to realize that my first couple of tweets were published when my account was still set to private. This meant that all of my hashtags were made in vain as the only people that could read my tweets were existing followers.
2. Always try to incorporate popular hashtags in posts. This included the hashtags #NationalSiblingsDay and #NationalWalkingDay.
3. Try to post during the peak hours of the day. This seems like common sense, but far too often I see people posting updates either late at night or very early in the morning. Most of the time, the peak users in your region will be checking their social media throughout the work day. I know I personally do this.
4. Retweet popular accounts that write about important events. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel when it comes to important events or hashtags. Instead, spread the message of someone with a larger following. Who knows, maybe their followers will start following you.

#DidThatJustHappen??

My original follower count. Notice the lock icon indicating my account is private.

My Updated Follower Count

Okay, so I actually technically gained two new unique followers from the beginning of the challenge. Unfortunately, I also lost more than gained, actually accruing a -1 follower count, which probably means I won’t win any of those #AwesomePoints.

I’m pretty sure that this must have been an anomaly and nothing directly related to my above strategies. Follower numbers are always going to fluctuate, and this fluctuation gets more noticeable the more followers you have.

The #SilverLining

I have come to the conclusion that losing followers is probably a really good thing for me. It was because of this that I decided to check the amount of followers I had and who exactly I was following.

I realized that a majority of the people that I’m following and even more of my followers I don’t actually know in person. There were mostly random people from around the world that I theorize are just spam account bots that follow anyone and everyone on Twitter. Since that realization I have been periodically blocking these spam accounts in order to make my profile more secure. I suggest that anyone reading this do the same, you can never be too safe when it comes to social media.

Read my previous blog on @Blogger for a discussion of the importance that secure social plays in your professional life and make sure to follow me on Twitter @b700dyr34pr.