If you have a twitter account, you may have happily started tweeting away to the world, but is anybody listening? A fundamental part of Twitter is attracting targeted followers and engaging with like minded people and potential clients who may benefit from the services/products you provide.

Here are a few tips to help you get more twitter followers.

1) Twitter Follower Exchange

If you were to follow 1000 Twitter users today, how many would you expect to follow you back? – 60%, maybe 40% or it could be as low as 20%. That said, it means if you follow 1000 new people, at least 200 will follow you back –  and if you were to keep this up on a consistent basis you can have thousands of Twitter followers for free!

2) Website referrals

If you have a website, blog or facebook page which is getting traffic, then now might be the time to begin using it as a means of getting more followers on Twitter. Mention to the readers of these sites that they should go and check out your company on Twitter and become a follower. Also, if you haven’t yet added a Facebook or Twitter button to your website, be sure to do so as you may be missing out on a great deal of traffic and possible followers.

3) Be Interactive

Don’t be a “hit and run” tweeter! In other words, don’t just log into Twitter to tell people what you are doing or link to your post and then leave. Respond to tweets, ask questions, and answer questions. Twitter is a conversation, not a monologue, and the more you participate, the more you will get out of it. For example the more people are re-tweeting you or recommending you to their friends, the faster your community will grow.

4) Optimise your twitter profile page to make it more engaging

Your profile page is the first thing new followers will see and it is your main visual presence on the site. It is important that you optimise this page to its full potential.

Two simple ways to optimise your profile page include:

Utilise your Profile “Bio” to your Best Advantage.
Your profile bio gives you a chance to be clever, be witty, or just be yourself! In a few words, sum up who you are and make it sound interesting. A good bio will help to instil trust in potential followers and inspire them to follow you. This is also a great opportunity to point your audience somewhere else, for example, your website.

Create a Custom Profile Page Background

Since the visual impact of your Twitter background is the strongest tool you have available, customize it to really maximise your promotional opportunity here.

You can use your twitter background to give people an insight to what you do. This can be achieved by including a list of your products or services, adding your strapline and even product images. You may also wish to carry on with the branding from your main website to be consistent i.e. logo, colors, fonts etc. You can also use this space to tell people how best to contact you by including your email address, phone numbers and website url.

You can make your own image on your computer and upload it under Settings – Design – Change Background Image. The first 200-250 pixels width on the left hand side is a great place to put additional profile information and list websites.

Here are some examples of great twitter backgrounds, demonstrating the above factors…

Strapline – http://twitter.com/#!/bickov

Services and contact info – http://twitter.com/#!/heartinternet

Branding – http://twitter.com/#!/sitepointdotcom

5) Content is king

Having great quality content will help to keep your followers interested and feel impelled to read your content and engage with you by re-tweeting etc. This can help grow your following as you will start to get people who like what you say and they may have even found you by searching for related terms/hashtags. If you do not have good content, you may get empty followers who are not actually listening to you.