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@katherinelouisa (198) analyses Twitter followers
28th January 2011. Posted by Katie White. Trackback
Whilst quietly working away at our desks on Wednesday afternoon, myself and Sam, our Senior Account Exec, were interrupted by a bright and bubbly lady togged up in Orange (the brand, not the colour) promo gear. Completely baffled as to why she had popped up in our office she plied us with delicious hot chocolate and wrapped us up in cosy woollen scarves. She took photos of us and disappeared again just as quickly as she had arrived.
What was the first thing we did? Logged onto our Tweetdeck and HootSuite (there’s a very clear divide in our office – if you sit on the right you’re a Tweetdeck user, if you sit on the left, you tend to use HootSuite) to find out what on earth was going on. It turned out that Orange had launched a campaign called ‘The Feed’. Basically, as their website describes, you can ‘send a winter warmer to a friend [by] tweeting #WinterWarmer with your friend’s name or Twitter name. We’ll ask you for their address and race over to your mate with a van full of hot chocolates and scarves.’
We didn’t want to be left out so immediately started following and suggested some friends in the city centre who we thought would like a nice Winter Warmer to brighten up their afternoon. Where had this twitter site come from? Well, we hadn’t actively searched for it but with this clever bit of marketing, @OrangeTheFeed already has 1,278 followers.
A question that we often get asked in our office, as individuals and as an agency, is, how do you have so many followers?
As a PR firm that actively uses social media on both personal and professional levels, it tallies up that we would have a fairly decent number of Twitter followers. But, how did we manage that? And are we starting to be defined by how many followers we have? For example, just because one brand has double the amount of followers as their competitor is their message much more important?
I decided to do a quick trip around the office and ask each member of the Rewired (sorry, @RewiredPR) team what their top tip would be for gaining followers.
@RuthPipkin (1,138) said that she had noticed spikes in followers after attending events and using the designated hashtag. “People do use hashtags to search for information, particularly during large events, conferences and seminars. Using the correct hashtag increases your chances of people pulling up your name while searching the site, and consequently increases the chances of you being followed by someone you don’t necessarily know.”
@SamDowling (515) suggests that being responsive is key, “answering questions and responding to people on subjects that interest you is really important. Twitter is about starting and joining conversations rather than just talking at people.”
@Tom_Braithwaite (160) agrees with this point saying, “Although Twitter is a great platform to communicate with brands, you shouldn’t just use it to have a rant or to shout about things that annoy you.”
@TaraTomes (1,324), our highest scoring member (so listen carefully), thinks that re-tweeting interesting links is very important. “If you agree with someone then you should let them know by sharing their information with your followers. To find out this information, though, you should take the time to search for people that are relevant to you. You aren’t going to gain followers without following anyone first.”
@BecsHart (107), as our newest member and newbie to Twitter, is in the process of building her Twitter site. “Follow Fridays are really popular, particularly amongst the media, and there is a really strong #ff community in Birmingham. It has been a real help having people suggest me as someone to follow now that I have joined the Rewired team.”
Right, I best dash now, it is the end of another Friday and I want to go and check how many new followers I have gained. Oh, and it’s @katherinelouisa (198) you’ve been listening to for the past few minutes, just in case you wondered.