Twitter - The Follow Friday Phenomenon

The Only Follow Friday Tip you need:

Follow Friday has been a Twitter phenomenon for a few years now. Twitter users, just like yourself, tweet out the usernames of other Twitter users they think are worth following. They do this to give recognition to those users sending out informative, helpful, amusing, cool, interesting, insightful or otherwise follow-worthy tweets.

There is, however, an optimum way to carry out a Follow Friday for maximum effect.

A great many people misuse the #FollowFriday and #FF hashtags, and are therefore not getting the most out of Follow Friday. There is only one tip you need to implement if you want to participate effectively – and it will only take about 30 seconds of your time.

If you’re tweeting a Follow Friday like this:

“#FF @SharpSuit @PowerDresser @CaptainOfIndustry @BusinessGuru”

Then you are doing it all wrong!

Why? Well, it’s really quite simple. Nobody reading your tweet has any idea WHY you think these people are worth following.

Are they interesting or informative? Do they offer any helpful advice?  WHY are they worth following?  You have to give your followers a good enough reason for them to follow your recommended user otherwise they are unlikely to do so.

So instead of cramming six usernames into a tweet with the #FF hashtag, try splitting up each username into a tweet of their own and then explaining why you believe they are worth a follow. 

For instance:

“Sustainability in every sense @UKSustainable #FF Building contractors with energy efficiency in mind from new builds to external insulation”

It makes it easier for your followers to make the decision to follow or not AND they are much more likely to check out one username then be bothered to take a peek at six in a row!!

When you think about it, the whole notion of Follow Friday is based on having respect for other businesses, colleagues and even friends.  If you send out Follow Fridays that show genuine respect for them and not ones that are just paying lip service in the form of a long list of usernames, then they are much more likely to show you the same respect and Follow Friday your business as a result.