One question I constantly get on Twitter:
“I’ve been tweeting every day, but my following isn’t growing… what should I do?”

I’d be lying if I didn’t ask the same question to someone when I started.

Story Time.

Pandemic hit in March ‘20. I had just lost my biggest client to lockdown and eventually started a new project (GOAT Book Club)

But I never stopped using Twitter. For over 6-8 months I’ve been spending time reading really interesting stuff on Twitter

Then I said to myself I need to start writing. I need to gain some following too.
But Prado, Followers numbers is just a vanity metric? Sure, Yes I agree and “Why you should gain a following on Twitter” is something I’d like to talk about some other day.

Anyway with only 80 followers in May ‘20, I started connecting with people, became a reply guy, turned on notifications, all that usual stuff.

There was this specific guy growing massively week after week. He came up with a “How to grow on Twitter eBook” (I couldn’t afford it but I had previously engaged with him on DMs… so I thought I’ll give it a shot) Here’s what happened next.

Look at the date, time and his response. Especially the line where he says,

“When they think of Prado they should think X”

That’s it. That’s the only thing you need to figure out when you are starting. Figure that out and start working on it.

My answer was simple, I want to tell more stories. I want to be the “Story Guy”

Even though I’m more of a generalist guy who touches a broad amount of topics than most do… I had to narrow it down.
But now I’ve reached a point where I can talk about anything and it reaches a good amount of people if it provides value.

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I want to talk about three specific points on how to grow.

1. General Advice
2. Few tactics that worked for me
3. Few products that can help you grow

General Advice

• Find your ‘X’ – What do you want to be known for?
• Fall in love with Twitter and it’s people (It’s definitely better than any other social media out there)
• Fall in love with Writing.
• Know that it takes time. One step at a time. Help people around you.
• Write everyday.
• Schedule only for 2-3 days in advance.
• Follow right people (VERY IMPORTANT)
• Build Relationships. Gain new perspectives.

Here are the tactics that worked for me:

1. Threads.
   Threads work. Period.
   But Prado, isn’t everyone writing threads these days? You are right.
   If you can find and understand what do your audience specifically need, only those threads will work. Twitter is known as Micro blogging platform.
   
2. People
   Following the right people is everything.
   First I followed celebrities, then I followed companies and then it hit me.
   I unfollowed them all and started from scratch.
   
   Writers, Marketers, Authors, Technology geeks, Nerds, Visakanv, Manish Bhai, only followed Interesting people.
   
3. Connecting with them:
   They didn’t follow me back right away.
   I started providing value on their comments, sent them postcards, new year emails, shared interesting things with them on DMs.
   
   Building relationships.
   
4. Writing:
   
   Constantly writing.
   
   “More I wrote, More they read.
   The more they read, the more interesting people I found.
   More people, more learning.
   The more I learned, the more I wrote”
   
   A beautiful loop.
   
5. Find people like you:
   
   Answer questions like
   “Who do you want to spend time with the rest of your life?”
   “Who got interesting ideas and perspectives?”
   “Who is worth connecting with?”
   
   Sometimes you find them and sometimes they find you.

Alright, these are very generic tips, Prado.
Twitter’s Algo keeps changing constantly and here are a few things that will always work.

1. Making readers go to your profile (Don’t ask me how, just try it out)
2. Getting on calls with interesting people and sharing the proof.
3. Shitposting on current events.
4. Writing a thread without the word thread in the first tweet.
5. Asking questions (meaningful ones) and sharing pictures.

Check these out and thank me later 👇

1. Twemex: Chrome extension which shares the best tweet of a user and also works as a search bar.
   Plus it hides all the trends BS… so thanks. Also, it’s free (atleast for now)

2. Tweet Hunter
   This product is like a rabbit hole.
   
   • There is an AI that writes tweets based on your previous tweets.
   • You can engage with people,
   • Schedule tweets and threads,
   • Get tweet inspirations specialised for you,
   • get ideas for hooks (which is very important)
   • Auto-retweet your best tweets from time ago.
   • Make variations of your own tweet
   • Tag evergreen tweets and find tweets that generally do well.
     
     Lots of really good stuff and I’m still exploring.
     
     This app gave me an idea:
     If I ever handle a company’s Twitter handle, I’d use Tweet Hunter and start doing magical stuff.
     Paying some money every month and upside is massive. Plus it’s doing most of the job for you.
     
     Also, lots of the fast growing people on Twitter are using this product… almost nobody know about this.

I also wanted to talk about the hidden side of Twitter.

I’ll be writing part 2 of this essay where I also talk about Why you should grow a following on Twitter.

Hope this essay helps you.

Remember: Use Twitter to develop your writing, build relationships, share things you know, gain new perspectives and support others

If you really want to grow on Twitter, you have to provide Quality Education.