Home » Blog » How to Get Twitter Followers: The Dos and Don’ts
Let’s be honest, growing a Twitter (now X) following is far from easy. If you scroll through the platform, you’re sure to come across accounts created in 2018, 2017, 2016, or even earlier, sitting at a few hundred followers — a testament to just how challenging it can be to grow a community.
But here’s the thing: you’re also bound to find accounts that are only months or a few years old with thousands of followers. What sets them apart from the rest? Unlike some content creators assume, it has little to do with luck. If you take a deep dive into successful profiles, you’ll find that many employ the same strategies.
In this guide, we explore tried-and-tested X growth strategies. We provide tips to help you get Twitter followers, as well as look at some of the mistakes creators make when trying to grow their accounts.
The Dos of Growing Your Twitter Following
There’s no magic formula for getting Twitter followers. It takes implementing the right strategies to grow on the platform. Below are tried-and-tested tips that can help you:
Optimize Your Profile
A quick look at some of the most followed Twitter accounts will reveal one thing: a great profile is non-negotiable. Your profile plays a huge role in the kind of impression potential followers have of your brand. If it’s well-designed and clearly highlights who you are and what you do, your chances of attracting new followers increase. To optimize your X profile:
Use a high-quality profile picture: If you’re a content creator, use a photo of yourself to promote recognition. If you’re a brand, use your logo or a recognizable mascot.
Add an attention-grabbing cover image: As with your profile picture, it should clearly communicate who you are.
Write a compelling bio: Let page visitors know what you have to offer by highlighting your value proposition. Also, naturally include your niche’s keywords to boost visibility in X search results.
Pin valuable tweets: Pin high-engagement posts or tweets that provide more context on what you have to offer to create a good impression and streamline user experiences.
Codie Sanchez‘s profile is an excellent example. It features a distinctive photo of herself as the profile picture, a banner and a bio that highlight her value proposition, and a pinned tweet that showcases what she does.
Warm Up New X Accounts
While it might seem like a good idea to post right away after creating a new account, it isn’t. X’s automated systems are extra vigilant when it comes to new profiles. They watch out for signs that may point to bots, such as mass-following accounts or posting aggressively, which could see you get shadowbanned even before you have a chance to get followers.
To reduce your risk, warm up every new Twitter account. This shows X’s systems that there’s a real user behind the screen, giving you a fighting chance. Twitter account warmups also send positive signals to the X algorithm by gradually increasing activity. This could mean more visibility on users’ timelines, helping you grow your following.
If you need help warming up new accounts, GeeLark has you covered. GeeLark is a cloud phone solution that helps isolate multiple X accounts to reduce the risk of being banned. More than that, it offers X account warmup templates to help you build your credibility across multiple accounts.
The templates mimic actual user behavior by gradually increasing your activity. They can start with browsing tweets and then move on to engaging and following accounts that align with your niche, all the while pacing themselves to avoid raising bot flags. Further, they warm up accounts using cloud phones rather than APIs. This makes it appear as if you’re browsing the platform yourself.
Imagine coming across an account that posts business, fashion, fitness, and construction content. Would you follow it? Probably not, right?
Contrary to popular belief, being a jack of all trades isn’t a good idea. It dilutes your authority, reducing your chances of securing loyal followers. What’s more, it makes it harder for the X algorithm to categorize your content, which can limit your visibility in users’ “For You” feeds — the last thing you want when trying to build your audience.
Rather than jumping from one niche to another, find what you’re good at and what resonates with your target audience and stick with it. If you plan to explore different niches, you can create multiple X accounts and manage each one efficiently with GeeLark, keeping everything organized in one streamlined workspace.
Don’t focus solely on posting your own content; engage with other creators’ discussions and respond to users’ replies on your posts as well. Joining conversations boosts your visibility by exposing your profile to other participants. It also increases your overall engagement, which is a positive signal to the X algorithm.
This isn’t to say that you should participate in every trending discussion on X. Be selective, focusing primarily on niche-relevant conversations. Doing this exposes your profile to users who are already interested in your type of content.
Also, be sure to provide value in discussions. Offer new insights or share well-informed opinions instead of replying with generic responses like “I agree.” Providing value builds your authority, which can encourage users to follow your account.
Collaborate With Other Twitter Creators
Don’t go at it alone. Working with other accounts can accelerate your growth by allowing you to tap into their audiences.
There are various ways to grow your following via collaborations. You can create threads with like-minded creators, arrange for shout-outs, or even host X Spaces together. For optimal results, be sure to offer value to your audience.
Say you decide to host X Spaces with investment managers. Explore trending topics, such as crypto assets, and provide new insights or unique perspectives. This helps build your authority and attract new followers interested in your discussions.
Create Threads
Twitter threads are great for a couple of reasons. One, they allow you to deliver more value to your audience and showcase your expertise. For example, you can provide a crash course on building a social media audience.
Two, they keep people on your profile for longer and increase your engagement. This can signal value to the algorithm, prompting it to show your content to more users.
However, don’t create threads just to have them on your profile. Start with a strong hook to capture users’ attention, and make sure every post in your thread is valuable to keep them engaged.
Post at High-Engagement Timeframes
Some people believe that timing doesn’t matter because Twitter no longer has a chronological timeline. However, timing is still important. If you post when your audience is active, your chances of getting immediate engagement increase. And, as you know, the more your engagement, the more the algorithm pushes your content.
Generally, the best time to post on X is 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. That said, every account’s audience is different — while most users may be active at this time, your audience may be active in the afternoon or evening. Try different posting times and monitor metrics such as impressions, likes, and replies to identify your ideal posting window. Once you do, use GeeLark to schedule posts. This reduces the risk of missing engagement.
GeeLark offers automation templates that can handle posting on your behalf, allowing you to capitalize on high-engagement windows — even when you’re offline. As with the warmup templates, GeeLark’s posting automation tools use cloud phones and mimic real user behavior, reducing the risk of raising red flags.
As with many social media platforms, X loves active accounts. The more consistently you post, the likelier you are to show up in your target audience’s feeds. Consistency also builds familiarity, which can prompt users to visit and follow your profile.
A good rule of thumb is to post at least twice a day. If you can do more, even better. Tweets tend to have a short lifespan, so it’s easy for your profile to disappear if you don’t post regularly.
To streamline regular posting, lean on automation solutions like GeeLark’s templates. These templates can handle tweet publishing at scale, making it easier to maintain consistency across all your X accounts.
Getting X’s blue checkmark can make your account more appealing. It signals authenticity and trust to some users, increasing their likelihood of following you. This is especially true if there are other accounts with names almost identical to yours.
That’s not all. An X verification also boosts your account’s visibility. According to social media management platform Buffer, Premium accounts (which all verified profiles are) register up to 10x more reach per post than regular accounts. This means you have more chances to wow your audience than standard accounts.
To get verified on X:
Upgrade to X Premium.
Complete your profile — make sure you upload a profile photo and add your display name.
Be active — your account needs to have been active in the past 30 days.
If you meet these qualities, submit your verification request and wait for X’s team to review it. If everything checks out, you’ll get your blue checkmark.
The Don’ts of Getting Twitter Followers
Just as there are great strategies to grow your Twitter following, there are wrong ones that might end up getting you into trouble. These include:
Buying followers: This is the easiest way to grow your account. However, it’s far too risky, as it violates X’s rules. If discovered, X may shadowban, temporarily ban, or permanently ban your account. What’s more, artificial followers don’t contribute to engagement. So, you may have 100,000 followers and fewer than 100 likes. This screams inauthenticity, which can affect users’ impression of your brand.
Engaging in follow-for-follow schemes: While this can give you real followers, they don’t typically provide meaningful engagement — which is crucial if you want to keep growing on X. Further, some accounts may unfollow you after some time, negating your efforts.
Being a “Reply Account”: Engaging in other accounts’ conversations does help with growth. But not if you become the “That’s true” or “Nice post” kind of account. Only engage in conversations where you can provide actual value, to build your authority and attract new followers.
Joining every conversation: As mentioned earlier, you should be selective about the kinds of conversations you join. If you participate in every niche’s discussions, you can’t build authority in any of them.
Ignoring your analytics: Analytics provide insights into what’s working and what’s not. If you ignore them, you may end up directing resources to strategies that don’t work.
Use GeeLark to Get Twitter Followers
Getting followers on Twitter can feel like an impossible task, especially if you don’t know how to go about it. Luckily, you do. To grow your following, start by optimizing your profile and warming up new accounts. Then, continually engage in conversations, collaborate with other creators, create threads, and post consistently at high-engagement timeframes.
GeeLark can help you get more followers by automating account warmups and tweet publishing. The cloud phone solution can also come in handy when you want to target different niches, as it helps you isolate multiple accounts. Whether you’re a new Twitter user or a veteran looking to streamline multi-account management, the platform has you covered.
Sure. In fact, many accounts grow their followings organically. To do the same, optimize your profile, regularly offer valuable insights in niche-relevant conversations, engage with other users and creators, create threads, and post consistently at times when your audience is online.
At least two times a day. If you can post even more, go for it. However, be careful not to come across as spammy. Also, prioritize post quality over volume.
Far from it. Fake followers can trigger Twitter’s systems, potentially resulting in temporary or permanent bans. Further, they can hurt your credibility by causing a drastic mismatch between your follower count and engagement numbers.
The length varies by account. That said, you should see some growth within weeks if you put in consistent effort and focus on the right strategies.
