People occasionally ask me how they can increase the number of followers they have on Twitter. My response is always to take a straightforward approach. Write tweets and share content that people want to read. Do it consistently for long enough, and your audience will grow.

It’s worth mentioning that the number of people who follow you isn’t nearly as important as having followers that engage with you. You want followers who share your tweets and links and who reply to you. You can use a service that artificially inflates your follower count, but those followers are nearly as beneficial as those who interact with you and promote your message.

Having said that, if you want to vary your Twitter strategy and try some new ideas occasionally, here are six ideas that might help people find – and hopefully follow – you.

Use images in your tweets.

Twitter has evolved in recent months to work much like Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook. Several studies have shown that tweets with images are more likely to be retweeted than text-only tweets. You can share more than just personal photos. You can try images with motivational quotes, graphs or maps to reinforce statistics and other topics. Try a few and see how people respond.

Also read:
Ways to get started on Twitter
9 “don’ts” of Twitter

Tweet during live events.

I’m not sure that I would send out 30 tweets in a row, but writing a few tweets during the Oscars or a huge football game, using the appropriate hashtag, could expose you to people who wouldn’t otherwise find you. If you could make a connection between the live event and one of your messages, that’s even better.

Comment on trending topics.

This strategy can expand your exposure in the same way as the live events can. Rarely do the topics currently trending on Twitter have anything to do with healthcare. If you can find a way to make a connection to your brand without blatant self-promotion, it might work. Maybe
you see a trend for #EMS or #paramedics. You might tweet about the importance of emergency medical services at sporting events and thank emergency providers for all they do.

Follow interesting people and interact with them.

Find healthcare providers who are active in social media and respond to their tweets. Find others who talk about topics related to your field and reply to their tweets. More often than not, they will respond to you, and you will start a long-lasting a dialogue.

Also read:
6 ways doctors and health professionals can use Twitter
Building your social media platform isn’t easy

Share articles.

Content curation can be a great way to develop a following. Look through health articles and research journals. Pick articles that you think can benefit the public. Don’t just tweet the title and link, though. Try to add a few words with your thoughts on the subject too.

Ask questions.

It can be good to show that you don’t have all the answers. Ask questions and listen to what people have to say. People will appreciate that you value their opinions. They might be more likely to follow you and share your tweets if they know you listen too.