How to Get Famous on Twitter

There may not be a guaranteed way to become successful on Twitter.  The folks behind the site are pretty good at limiting mass self-promotion and spam.  But we have taken a look at a few people who have achieved success through social media.  And we have created a list of common themes that shot these folks into Twitter stardom.  Here are 5 things to keep in mind when trying to rack up the followers:

1.  Cater to the Audience.
If you want people to pay attention to you online, create media that relates to the internet.  @Feliciaday (known for her appearances on Buffy The Vampire Slayer) wrote an online show called ‘The Guild’ – a web series that caters to the geeks of the online world.  Her Twitter audience is now massive.

Solei Moon Frye was also famous before she hit the twittersphere.  But her interraction with her audience made her fanbase explode.

Sure both of these women carried followers from their other work.  But their social activity on Twitter makes their interaction with fans is quite intimate in nature.  Intimacy is a wonderful tactic because many Twitter ‘performers’ don’t seem to want to clutter their page with @replies (because they want the world to see only the well-thought-out insightful tweets.)  But we advise against this, after looking at these two Twitter Stars.

If people are following you, they know the lingo.  Tweet about trending topics.  Respond to @replies.  Don’t avoid responding to people because it clutters your profile – or because your amazing tweets get lost in a mess of conversations..  The twitter-sphere understands.  Be sure to socialize.  No one wishes to follow a robot.  Prove you are a human and interact with your followers.

2.  Celebrity Endorsement
There is a trend on YouTube where users will comment, “Blank sent me here.”  They fill in the blank with the name of a celebrity who posted a link to the video on Twitter.  If you can convince a celebrity to mention your web page, you can instantly inherit a decent percent of their followers.  A 19-year-old woman by the name of Sarah Killen was blessed with thousands of new followers when Conan O’Brien started following her; and he broadcasted it to the public.  Conan decided he would pick a follower at random and return the favor. @lovelybutton was the lucky user who shot up to 20, 000 subscribers after the TV star mentioned her account.  She hit the Twitter jackpot!

Toss a celebrity an e-mail.  Maybe you’ll get lucky.

3. Recreate Fictional Characters
People on Twitter love following their favorite fictional characters.  Harry Potter’s Lord Voldemort (@Lord_Voldemort7) has some of the top tweets, every single day.  We suggest creating a fake profile as soon as something becomes popular.  Next time Hollywood predicts a big blockbuster, make a twitter account for one of the characters.  People will find the tweets hilarious as they imagine the character existing beyond the cinema.  Copyright infringement may be an issue.  But, you might as well give it a shot.

Creating your own character seems to work, too.  @Sockington is a cat with over 1 million followers!  Anthropomorphise an animal or an object, and it may spark some interest.  If you ReTweet people who mention things that relate to your character, they will likely find it hilarious.  And you have a decent chance at snagging a new follower – without having to follow them first.  Afterall, many Twitter users are skeptical of a profile where the follower number is lower than the followee number.  Let’s say you create a profile for an Ostrich.  Search the word ‘Ostrich’ and ReTweet anyone who has tweeted that word.  And add ostrich-related tweets to your timeline.  It sounds silly.  But it seems to work.  You just have to be willing to accept the anonymity of it all.

4.  Be Hilarious

Whether or not the TV adaptation makes you laugh, Justin Halpern – Creator of S** My Dad Says – blew up because of his humorous tweets.  And though the account may be based off a fictional character, the Twitter-sphere fell in love with the cynical words of wisdom of Halpern’s father.  The tweets recently led to a television show staring William Shatner.

Funnyman @sween is also extremely successful thanks to his entertainment value.   This gentleman devotes his feed to hilarious original jokes and non sequitur tweets.  You may hesitate to post your jokes or great ideas online for the world to see.  There is nothing protecting them from plagiarism.  But hey, these gentleman blew up thanks to their public posts.

5.  Have Other Outlets.
YouTube stars such as ShayCarl, iJustine, LisaNova and FluffeeTalks often use twitter as a medium for promoting their other websites.  If you have a small business, a YouTube account, a band, or you are an artist, use Twitter as an inside scoop to your goods!  Any time Shay Carl uploads a new video blog, he posts about it on Twitter.  And there are immediately thousands of views when you follow the link.

So, don’t simply hope that Twitter will sky rocket you to stardom.  Use it as a means for advertising.  But again, seem human and interact with your supporters.  No one wants to follow a person who is only on Twitter in order to post advertisements.

Tags: internet