…. and other challenges
The month of June was full of challenges & interesting outcomes for this solo-preneur (me!). I had set some personal and business goals I really didn’t think I’d be able to achieve after bumping up against a health challenge (okay, I consider my 1st root canal a health challenge, it’s true. Tooth pain is intense & makes me very crabby). I had set out to blog every day, write every day (with the Merry Inksters), keep up with my studies in Bschool, Goddess Leonies’ Business Goddess program and Launch Your Blog. I also wanted to break through some barriers I felt were holding me back from truly connecting with people. I haven’t been able to follow more than 10 people at a time on twitter, without unfollowing 30 for so long I can hardly remember (okay, it was sometime in 2009), and I had an overflowing email inbox in a program I’d completely outgrown. It was so bad I was actually having trouble sleeping some nights, because I knew I wasn’t fully connecting with people who I wanted to connect with. I knew there was a better way, but I hadn’t found it yet. I set myself a goal for the end of June, not entirely believing I’d achieve it.
But it happened. I did reach my goal.
- My inbox has less than 100 messages
@jeunesse1 was my 2000th follower on June 30th (yes, cutting it to the wire, but I really wanted to do this organically & not use any weird or spammy systems or tools)
https://twitter.com/lahara/status/219139817697579008
- I wrote every single day. Mostly handwritten.
- I’ve gone through all of my homework (and then some)
- bonus: 100 followers on my Facebook Fan page.
- and I spent 3 very interesting days with one of the nicest dentists I’ve ever met.
How did I do it?
Well, I’m going to leave the secrets of reducing my email inbox hell for another post, and I don’t know how I reached 100 in Facebook. Instead I’ll jump right into sharing what happened with breaking through the Twitter 2000 follow threshold (read my other post for more info).
Organic Twitter Growth Tips:
- Find someone who has a similar niche to you. Click on their followers (the list of people who are following your “competitor”), and follow as many of them as you can. A large portion will follow you back – they’re also your ideal clients. (Tip: don’t follow the list, follow the individual people in the list)
- If you know of conferences or events hosting a large group of your ideal customer, follow the event hashtag and connect with the people who are tweeting.
- Revoked access to some of the unfollow Apps I’d been using. (inspired by this help file)
- Install a program like Buffer(we both get something free if you click on that link) so that I was constantly being reminded to add things to twitter throughout the day. I’m using the free account which also means I get a “nagging” message in my inbox at least once per day. (apparently this goes away in the paid version. I’m not sure this is a good thing)
- Retweeted other peoples things, all month long
- Gained traction and connected with some amazing people through my paper.li editions (something I’d set up last year) You can read them here: Portable Business Lifestyle, RHH BSchool Daily News and the YYJ Freelancer Daily
I’m told I might still be faced with challenges – not being able to follow who I want to. But I’m hopeful. Here’s an interesting help file about the follow limit AFTER the 2000 limit.
So, on this Canada Day, instead of sitting inside and writing a stack of blog posts like I thought I would, I’m going out to enjoy the sunshine. But before I go I thought I’d share a few pictures of this glorious country I live in.
Happy Canada Day!
p.s. If you’d like to receive the highlights of my Ultimate Blog Challenge Post, subscribe to my weekly blog updates in the sign up box below.
Great post Loralee! You have inspired me to follow your tips and challenge myself for the month of July – and I’m already two days behind! Getting started right now…
BTW I love this plugin you are using that allows commenters to leave links to their most recent posts. What plugin is it?
Great post, Loralee! Will definitely put this into practice and keep you informed of the outcome. 🙂 x
Oh, I just took a look & you’ve been super active in Twitter today (maybe that’s normal for you?) Way to go! Have fun! ~ Loralee
I’ve been so inspired by this post that I’ve just “calendered” my own hour today to ACT! I’ve been a frustrated solopreneur on Twitter and haven’t felt that I would see the return, but I’m definitely going to tweak my strategy thanks to you! Thanks for these helpful and honest tips!
Oh Chelsea! This makes me smile from ear to ear. Drop me a note and let me know how that 1 hour went? Can’t wait to hear. xo ~ Loralee
Great tips Loralee and congrats on moving on by 2000! I’ll get there some day, maybe sooner rather than later w/your tips!
Great post with some great tips for building up followers on Twitter. Can’t wait to put these into practise!
Oh dearest Loralee, you are so together! An inspiration always….will get back on twitter I guess!!
Send me a tweet when you’re back on Twitter, okay? And you, my dear, are an inspiration! Love your travel journeys.
Hello! Thank you for the wonderful tips, like yourself I am trying to reach 2000 followers.. I think I need 1100 more! I was using the follow technique you provided, but now I am capped at 2000 following – looks like I’ll need to unfollow some folks to retry my steps again.
I look forward to your posts!
I’m following you now! 🙂 Maybe try http://manageflitter.com to help you unfollow people who aren’t terribly active right now? You can always follow them again later, once you’re over 2000 (or, that’s what I tell myself). Be careful with this tool though. It wants to post messages about how many people you unfollowed (you don’t have to say ‘yes’) and sometimes I’m sure I’ve chatted with a person in the past 2 months, yet it says they’ve been inactive for a full year. Like any tool, it’s best to use our brains & the tool at the same time, for it to work 🙂 Good luck April! xo ~ Loralee
I was really interested in this article as I am taking part in the Ultimate Blog Challenge as well. I am really new to the likes of Twitter and blogging so reading some of these tips has really helped me to understand the best way to grow my twitter followers.
Thanks
Twitter can seem like a foreign country, I know. Take it all in stride 🙂 Kudos for jumping in…Have fun in the Ultimate Blog Challenge Keith.
Good tips, Loralee!
I took a class on Twitter strategies this past week and some of the “strategies” were a bit sketchy. I prefer for things to happen naturally/organically and appreciate the info to help me do that.
Best of luck in all of your programs and with the Blog Challenge!
Cathy
I hope I avoid the “sketchy” strategies. Sometimes I wonder if I do them by accident, or by being naive?! Best of luck to you too Cathy!
Hi Loralee,
Congrats on making your goals for June. I have a mortal fear of a clear email inbox (although I have freaking gmail so it’s not like they all go away if I archive them! What’s my deal, yo?) and Twitter feels like noise to me (but I follow a lot of political peeps on my other non-biz handle and they live on there 24/7 it seems). Maybe this is a nudge to get back to finding my ideal peeps under my biz name!
Looking forward to following along on the UBC with you!
aah Lisa! The inbox solution actually includes a little dance with Gmail. Can’t wait to share it with you. xo ~ Loralee
Good tips! It sounds like a lot of work but worth it! I still need to grasp the whole idea behind twitter better than I do. It is coming! Happy Canada Day! ~Cathy
Spaced out over an entire month it wasn’t really all that much work. Well, the courses & homework was, but not the twitter piece was just 10 minutes or so every day. I should have mentioned that in the post 🙂
p.s. you may want to add your twitter handle to the digg digg feature on your blog. Helps people connect easily with you. Plus, you can see who’s tweeting your great work 🙂
Your twitter tips are spot on Loralee. Your tip to find people to follow from your competitor’s list of followers has really worked for me. I call it “mining for followers.” I now have more than 1500 followers and have built some great relationships. Thanks for sharing your tips. I’m going to follow some and see what else I can make work on Twitter.
I love that! Mining for Followers!! I sure could have used your advice months ago! So glad to connect now. xo ~ Loralee
Great tips and tricks. We all want to be able to relax and get away from our desk. Can’t wait to read how you got your inbox down to 100.
Thank you! And I truly can hardly wait to share these tips. I’m putting things together now & want to make sure I don’t have any bugs in the setup before making the official ‘share’! Wouldn’t want to lead anyone down a bumpy road 🙂
Hi Loralee, These were such great twitter tips – I hadn’t even thought of them. Thanks – they are very valuable. I’m also a Babe – and there’s a lot of work! I’ve just caught up for the new module tomorrow. Thanks so much for the twitter tips. I’m off to visit your FB page and make it 101 likes! Sarah
Sarah! So glad to connect with you here too! You’re awesome!
Loralee – I love how you show that it takes work and effort to achieve your goals! Nothing worthwhile came easy! A lot of folks make it seem that getting followers is effortless, but you explain what to do! No magic steps… just a bit of work! LOL!
Keep it Real!
Be Well.
Paul.
Love that! “no magic steps!”. It is the way I roll… Thanks for noticing Paul!
Hi, Loralee! Congrats on your successes! Happy Canada Day to you as well :). I like your tip about following the followers of someone in a similar niche. I’ve known about that for a while, but haven’t really done it diligently. I think I’ll have to give it a try.
To my fellow Canadian & Bschool friend ~ thank you! Let me know if it works for you?
I resonate very much with growing an organic, Twitter following. Yet, I sometimes use apps to make sure my ratio is 1:1…or, else, I’m on there for 4-5 hours per day cleaning things up. Your tips though are very helpful and appreciated 🙂 Thanks 🙂
I’m guessing I could learn a thing or two from your 1:1 ratio strategy Lisa. 4-5 hours per day of anything that isn’t revenue generating doesn’t sound like much fun at all. Thank YOU for your awesome comment. xo ~Loralee